Nikola Rachelle

Biography October 2006:
"Now THAT was fun!” Nikola Rachelle is beaming. She's just come off stage at London's Jazz Cafe and is conducting the ceremonial after show post-mortem with her band. It's smiles all round. "Great crowd....WOW! I love feeling that connection with each person in the audience and the intensity of those moments." She does indeed have every right to feel jubilant. By the end of her set the audience are in her hands, transfixed by her voice and passionate delivery of the heart -wrenching ballard, "Don't Talk About This Love", singing the words with her on the chorus of the totally infectious "Bullet", swaying, cheering and even clicking their fingers at her request. Support gigs are notoriously difficult for an aspiring artist but Nikola seems completely unphased even by the famously picky Jazz Cafe punters which she has just made her own.
During conversation, it becomes apparent very quickly how someone so young is so confident and composed. Even at 22, Nikola has been at it for a few years. “My family will tell you they had to ask me to stop singing while I was washing dishes. The echoes of my high notes would pierce the upstairs of the house where my siblings would be doing school work. When you’re studying for exams, the high-pitched riffs of a 12 year old trying to hit the top notes can be very distracting!” Singing on stage beside her brother and sister Nikola learnt about harmonies, backing vocals, and performing. They would go through vocal routines in their spare time when they were not home schooling and tended to travel a lot singing around Europe.. (“SOOO much fun!” she adds.). At the age of 15 she wrote her first songs that she was proud enough of to show her family.
What is apparent from Nikola’s songs is their breadth and diversity, but all knitted together by an extraordinary voice and a sublime delivery. “I listen to A LOT of music!” she says talking about her influences. I find such relief in the melancholy of the Cranberries, the smoothness, emotion and soul of Aretha Franklin, Nat King Cole, Sinatra, bands like The Fugees and The Roots. I’ve also grown up on Miles Davis, Bjork, Radiohead, U2, Angie Stone, Muse, Fiona Apple, Jeff Buckley, Eva Cassidy…..Oh and my brother’s ballads.... I can't fault them! (Both Nikola’s Brother and Sister are well known artists in their own right).
"Writing has always been the way I've been able to process and find new ways of enjoying life. My songs are mainly drawn from experiences and my observations. I'm also inspired by art because it's what the soul sees and feels.....that's what my music is all about. Sometimes I'll write four or five poems a night because my heart is so full of emotion and ideas". Musically she lies somewhere between Bill Withers and Sade, a dash of Lisa Stansfield and a healthy sprinkling of Norah Jones but like all these great singers, she is unique. Sometimes delivering with an electrifying delicacy she can effortlessly ascend to a commanding and soulful explosion.
-Nikola Rachelle’s debut release, Don’t Talk About This Love EP is released on AWAL on 30th October 2006 and will be available exclusively through iTunes.
-‘Bullet’ will be iTunes SINGLE OF THE WEEK November 14th 2006
Don’t Talk About This Love EP
1) Don’t Talk About This Love
2) The Man from Venezuela
3) Colour of Your Skin
Download the EP from iTunes. CLICK HERE: ..
Nikola's Message:
Hi lovely peeps Im thrilled to be part of this massive, exciting, internet, crazy myspace thang! Got lots of music and pics coming up... My music is very mixed in style.. Soul, Jazz, bits of Bjork, Progressive rock..... For me, writing songs and poetry have always been the way Ive been able to process and find new ways to enjoy life. The songs in my up-coming album are all true, either experiences that my friends or I have gone through. I get a lot of inspiration from art because its about what the soul sees and feels and sometimes Ill write four poems in a night because my heart is so full of emotion and ideas.Songwriting is something I have done since I was 12, it really is my passion.