Goapele

Goapele Bio

Goapele Mohlabane (July 11, 1977), better known as Goapele, is an American singer and songwriter. Gaopele had always had an interest in music and went on to further study music theory at the Berklee College of Music. Upon graduating, she returned to her home in Oakland, California, self-releasing her first album, ‘Closer’ in 2001. She devoted herself to performing live around San Francisco to promote her album, which she re-released as ‘Even Closer’ in 2002, along with her start-up independent label, Skyblaze Recordings. Her lead single from the album, ‘Closer’, landed on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart at number 63 and was featured in the 2003 film, Honey. In 2004, Columbia Record absorbed Skyblaze Recordings and reissued a worldwide distribution for ‘Even Closer’, which peaked at 24 on the Billboard Charts for Independent Albums. Her contemporary R&B and iridescent voice yielded more demand and thus, released her second album, ‘Change It All’ in 2005. By 2006, the album landed at number 32 on Billboard Top R&B/Hip Hop Album Charts. After the release of her second album, Gaopele went on to perform on several late night and news TV and was named the number 5 artist on Rolling Stone’s 2003 article, Artists to Watch. In 2011, she released ‘Break of Dawn’, which featured many musicians such as Kanye West, Bedrock, Drumma Boy and Bobby Ozuna amongst many others. Gaopele released her fifth studio album, ‘Strong As Glass’ in 2014 featuring a single with Snoop Dogg and ‘Dreamseeker’ in 2017. Her single, ‘Closer’, remains iconic today and currently has 14.8 million plays on Spotify.