Rachelle Ferrell

Ferrell is a gifted vocalist whose recordings have found her playing two separate roles: contemporary jazz pianist/vocalist and sophisticated R&B chanteuse. The latter style has gained her far more fame, but it's with the former that her fluid, multi-octave voice is free to stretch out. Her unusual scatting puts a fresh spin on a sometimes familiar style. It took a lot of hard work for Ferrell to break out in the Urban and Smooth Jazz markets, but it paid off with the success of 2000's Individuality (Can I Be Me?).