Out Spotlight

Today’s Out Spotlight is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, bassist, and vocalist. Her music frequently confronts social and sexual issues, including racial identity, same-sex attraction, and homophobia. Today’s Out Spotlight is ten time Grammy nominated musician Meshell Ndegeocello.

Meshell Ndegeocello was born Michelle Lynn Johnson on August 29, 1968, in Berlin, Germany, where her father, a U.S. Army lieutenant and saxophonist father Jacques Johnson was stationed, and her mother Helen, a health care worker. She was raised in Washington, D.C. where she attended Duke Ellington School of the Arts and Oxon Hill High School. was stationed. As a teenager she chose the name "Ndegeocello," which is Swahili for "free like a bird." After high school she briefly studied music at Howard University.

Meshell Ndegeocello is pronounced Mee-shell N-deh-gay-o-chel-o. Early pressings of her debut album Plantation Lullabies were stickered with instructions who to pronounce it. She has changed the spelling of this name a number of times during her career; however, the correct spelling is Meshell Ndegeocello.

Throughout her career, Ndegeocello has been open about her bisexuality. In interviews, she has spoken about her relationships with choreographer Winifred R. Harris and feminist writer and activist Rebecca Walker, and she sports a "Rebecca" tattoo on her neck. She gave birth to a son Askia in 1989.

While she continues to sing and write about sexual identity and sexuality, since the break-up of her relationship with Walker, Ndegeocello has become more discreet about details of her private relationships with lovers, friends, and family members. She suffers from photosensitive epilepsy and is susceptible to seizures induced by flash photography when she is performing live.

"My personal life is my haven, my sanctuary," she told Michele Kort of The Advocate, "so I'm going to treat it as such."

She honed her musical skills on the D.C. go-go circuit in the late 1980s with the bands Prophecy, Little Bennie and the Masters, and Rare Essence She unsuccessfully tried out for Living Colour's bassist position, vacated by Muzz Skillings in 1992.

After the birth to a son and she moved from Washington, D. C. to New York, where she performed as a solo artist in clubs and attracted the attention of several record labels. She was on of the first artists who signed with Madonna's Maverick Records and released Plantation Lullabies in 1993.

Her music incorporates a wide variety of influences, including funk, soul, hip hop, reggae, R&B, rock, and jazz. She has received significant critical acclaim throughout her career, and has been credited for having "sparked the neo-soul movement." As a result of her eclecticism, Ndegeocello's music is difficult to categorize according to genre. Commercial radio often neglects her music because it does not fit neatly into stations' mandated formats.

Her biggest hit is a duet with John Mellencamp, a cover version of Van Morrison's "Wild Night", which reached #3 on the Billboard charts. Her only other Billboard Hot 100 hit besides "Wild Night" has been her self-penned "If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night)", which peaked at #73 in 1994. Also in 1994, Nedegeocello collaborated with Herbie Hancock on "Nocturnal Sunshine," a track for the Red Hot Organization's compilation album, Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool. The album, meant to raise awareness and funds in support of the AIDS epidemic in relation to the African American community, was heralded as "Album of the Year" by Time magazine.

In 1996, she had a Dance #1 hit with a Bill Withers cover song called "Who Is He (and What Is He To You?)" (featured in the film Jerry Maguire) as well as Dance Top 20 hits with "Earth", "Leviticus: Faggot", "Stay" and"If That's Your Boyfriend.. Last Night)". She also played bass, was also tapped, at the last minute, to rap on "I'd Rather be Your Lover" for Madonna on her album Bedtime Stories.

The songs on Ndegeocello's second solo release, Peace Beyond Passion (1996), focus on the connection between the spiritual and the sexual, a theme that occurs throughout her work. Rather than envisioning a world of boundaries, her songs explore the intermingling of spirituality and sexuality. Several songs reference the Bible in their titles, as she interpreted biblical texts through the lenses of racial and sexual identities.

Her song "Leviticus: Faggot," ” addresses religious sanctioning of homophobia by addressing Leviticus 20:13: ‘If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.’”

The song tells the story of a father who kicks his sixteen-year-old gay son out of the house while a complicit mother watches, praying that God will save her son from a sinful homosexual life. The son does not need saving from homosexuality; rather, he needs to be saved from the violence and intolerance of his family and religion. The video for the song highlights the heavy price of religious intolerance: the danger the gay son faces hustling on the street is less of a threat than the violence he is subjected to at the hands of his Christian father.

For her album entitled Bitter she shifted that electronic, funk-heavy vibe to a softer sound, that utilized orchestral strings and acoustic guitars. The shift caught many fans off guard, and alienated many. But Bitter was critically well received, and she was compared to such musical legends as Nina Simone and Joni Mitchell.

Her fourth release, Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape in 2002, Ndegeocello explores racial, national, sexual, and cultural identities, as well as individual and social transformations. "Berry Farms,” tells the story of Shorty, a woman who enjoys sex with the female narrator of the song but makes sure that people see her out with her boyfriend rather than with a female lover. Ndegeocello asks, "Can you love me without shame?" Even though Shorty enjoys sex with women, she retreats into the closet, afraid to live her life openly loving someone to whom she is attracted.

Her album Comfort Woman shifted to a soul-infused reggae groove with songs focused on the peace achieved through fulfilling romantic relationships; many critics have noted that the songs on Comfort Woman, which include "Love Song #1" and "Love Song #2," represented a notable departure from those about the disappointments of love relationships found on Bitter.

In 2002, she collaborated with Yerba Buena on a track featuring Ron Black for another Red Hot Organization project, a tribute album to Fela Kuti, Red Hot and Riot. Proceeds from the album went to various AIDS charities, per the Red Hot Organization's mission.

Ndegeocello was a part of the documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown, about The Funk Brothers, studio performers who created the Motown sound (ed. note great documentary - if you like Motown or music - see it), singing The Miracles' "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" and The Temptations' "Cloud Nine". In the late ‘90s, she toured with Lilith Fair. She also did a remake of the song, "Two Doors Down" on the 2003 release, Just Because I'm A Woman: The Songs of Dolly Parton. In June 2010, she contributed a cover of U2's "40" to the Enough Project and Downtown Records' Raise Hope for Congo compilation. Proceeds went to the protection and empowerment of Congo’s women, as well as inspire individuals around the world to raise their voice for peace in Congo.

Ndegeocello‘s music has been featured in a number of film soundtracks including How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Lost & Delirious, Batman & Robin, Love Jones, Love & Basketball, Talk To Me, Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls,The Best Man, Higher Learning, Down in the Delta, The Hurricane, and Soul Men.

She has appeared on recordings by Basement Jaxx, Indigo Girls and The Blind Boys of Alabama. She also played bass on the Rolling Stones' 1997 album Bridges to Babylon’s song "Saint Of Me". She also played on Alanis Morissette's 2002 album Under Rug Swept she plays bass on the songs "So Unsexy" and "You Owe Me Nothing in Return".

Ndegeocello has expressed her distaste for the commercial aspects of music. Her outspoken insistence upon artistic integrity and her refusal to record more commercially viable music has resulted in some criticizing her for not recording music that appeals to a broader commercial base.

However, her music continues to attract fans who become loyal supporters. FreeMyHeart.com, a web site that Ndegeocello has described as being the "definitive" authority on her career, was developed and is maintained entirely by volunteers without any corporate contributions.

After converting to Islam, Ndegeocello legally changed her name to Meshell Suhaila Bashir-Shakur. Although she still records using the name Meshell Ndegeocello, she produced The Spirit Music Jamia: Dance of the Infidel in 2005 as Meshell Suhaila Bashir-Shakur.

While she rarely speaks publicly about her conversion to Islam, much of her music has always focused on spirituality, and has made references to various religions (including Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam). In an interview with Washington Post, she spoke of having been raised as Baptist, where she was used to "fire-and-brimstone ideas going through the house,” and now as a Muslim, she prays five times a day. Prayer, she said "gives you a moment to stop, to think outside yourself, not wallow in your own dismay."


Standing in the Shadows of Motown: You Really Got a Hold on Me.