It’s a cold night in London, and nursing a warming drink in the corner of the hotel bar is Ms Ra-Re Valverde. Before JustSoul.net is sued for defamation of character one should add that Ra-Re is a drunk wanting to tell her life story to the friendly bar staff. Rather this native New Yorker wants a quiet spot to tell Just Soul about her journeys as a singer and how her current project came into being.
Ra-Re has been working the music industry for a while, but with the release of her debut album A Beautiful Mess she takes a step into the limelight on her own. Many had encouraged her over the years to take that step, but she wanted to wait until the right time. Ra-Re values the first hand schooling she has received by watching artists work and tour. When we meet Ra-Re she is on a night off from touring with Jill Scott across continents. Ra-Re has had the opportunity to see what goes into creating these shows, how it is managed and had a chance to meet serious movers and shakers in the industry. Seriously how many people can say they met Stevie Wonder and Prince all in the same day? Long time backing singer for Rahsaan Patterson, she has been seen singing behind the soul wonder for 11 years, and has no immediate plans to quit just yet.
The album A Beautiful Mess has been over two years in the making and over 200 tracks were recorded before it was whittled down to the 14 tracks that make up the album. Fully embracing the new age of music and technology Ra-Re said “I would put stuff out on my myspace page to see the reaction of people”. Indeed some of the producers she worked with she found via myspace, sending her tracks to listen to from miles away, on continents and in countries that Ra-Re would not have imagined would be interested in her music and sound. Aside from her melodic vocal ability Ra-Re also has amazing writing skills; writing honestly, frankly yet very insightfully.
Ra-Re plans to remain an independent artist but understands that there is a difference between independent artists like Radiohead and herself. Ra-Re knows that long hours, hard work, and lots of self sacrifice will be needed to make this work, and she is ready to take this on. Look out for Ra-Re in 2008; she plans on playing a few dates here and there to promote her album, which has already sold out of its first assignment on CdBaby. What will the shows look like? One can only wonder. When you have worked with Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Rahsaan Patterson, been in love Prince all your life, and the first track on your cd is Outside the Box, then I would say that anything goes.
Read the review of A Beautiful Mess on Just Soul here and check out her page on MySpace.
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