Solas B. Lalgee

Solas B. Lalgee is a man-ifestation occuring before your very eyes. Born and raised in the Bay Area, CA, Solas was born infused with sense that in this world of titles, boxes, expect- and limit-tations, he would have to strive every day to show the world that riding the fence sometimes is not a choice. Thanks be to the one above he was encouraged and supported by an incredible community of artists, teachers and family/friends who gave him every tool to become the artist he is now and who he will be in the years to come. At the early age of seven, folks around Solas noticted a talent for singing that soon became a huge part of his identity and afforded him many wonderful opportunities including the San Francisco Childrens Opera and Bay Area Revels. Around Jr. High School his repertoire expanded vastly into the world of Gospel, R&B, Jazz, and acapella music. In 1993 Solas joined the Oakland Youth Chorus headed by Trente Morant. This organization was the major catalyst for Solas' musical education and continues to affect his life in terms of the musical and personal relationships that even now make up the soon to be major players of this generations upcoming artists including Valerie Troutt, Jennifer Johns, Latoya London, and Goapele. His voice attracted the attention of great artists/teachers such as Nancy Wilson, Mark Murphy,and Dianne Warren among others. During his High School tenure between Berkeley High and the School of the Arts-San Francisco he performed with the All American Grammy Jazz Band Ensembles three years in a row and as a result was awarded multiple scholarships to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. In the year 1997 Solas graduated from High School but not before racking up the top awards and scholarships from the National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts and received the Presidential Scholar of the Arts award from the official delegation headed by the Department of Education in Washington D.C. In 2003 Solas finished his education at Berklee College of Music and returned home to the Bay to pursue his career after recording his first album in the group Tsunami. Deep House and Down Tempo made a graceful entrance into his life at this point and was majorly influenced by a mind, body and soul-saving journey to Brazil which highly influenced his perception of vocal stylization and further encouraged him to expand his voice to the likes of Indian classical voice and middle-eastern vocal approaches. Since then he has become a member of the DeepDicKollective ( a gay activist hip-hop group) worked with the afore-named artists in addition to other such as Tim'm West, Ledisi, Crown City Rockers, Gregory del Piero and has releases on Sublimial and Om records. As for musical style this man has every intention of remaining his true self according to true fence-rider style. His vocals range from sultry and gentle to body-grinding groove always delivering an ever deepening definition of what happens when you have no choice but to be unconventional.