Danielle Ponder is an American musician and lawyer. Before becoming a musician, she worked as a

public defender A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Belgium, Hungary and Si ...

. She released her debut album, ''Some of Us are Brave'', in 2022.

Early life

Ponder is from

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

and was born in 1982. At home, her father often played an instrument or sang. As a teenager, she received her first music equipment, a guitar, from her father.

Career

Legal career

After college, Ponder attended law school at the

Northeastern University School of Law The Northeastern University School of Law is the law school of Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. History Northeastern University School of Law was founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in 1898 as the f ...

, graduating with a ''

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

'' in 2011. Following this, she worked as a public defender in the Monroe County Public Defender's Office. In 2018, she pursued music but eventually returned to the legal field.

Music career

In December 2021, she left her public defender position to pursue a career in music. In 2022, she performed on ''

Late Night with Seth Meyers ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' is an American late-night news and political satire variety talk show hosted by Seth Meyers on NBC. The show premiered on February 24, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. Airing w ...

''. In the fall of 2022, she released her debut album, ''Some of Us are Brave''., which featured 8 songs characterized as a mix of

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

, R&B, and

trip hop Trip hop is a musical genre that has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound. The style emerged as a more experimental music, experimental var ...

. In April 2023, she performed on ''

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera created by Frank and Doris Hursley which has been broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC since April 1, 1963. Originally a half-hour seria ...

''. In August 2023, she performed at

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza () is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, with Chicago becoming its permanent location beginning in 2005. Music genres i ...

. In September 2023, the deluxe edition of ''Some of Us are Brave'' was released, featuring one new song, a demo, three live recordings and a remix by

Georgia Anne Muldrow Georgia Anne Muldrow (born 1983) is an American soul and hip hop singer, producer, and songwriter from Los Angeles. In 2008, she co-founded the SomeOthaShip Connect record label with fellow artist and former husband Dudley Perkins. Life and car ...

. That new song, ''Roll the Credits,'' was later used by Apple in their iPhone 16 advertising campaign in October 2024. The song was also used in the end credits of '' Dragon Age: Veilguard''.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Some of Us Are Brave'' (2022)

Singles

* "Holding Me Down" (2019) * "Creep (Live)" (2020) * "Poor Man's Pain" (2020) * "Be Gentle" (2020) * "Look Around" // "Little Bit" (with Karate Boogaloo) (2020) * "So Long" (2022) * "The Only Way Out" (2022) * "The Difficult Kind" (with

Adrian Younge Adrian Younge (born May 7, 1978) is an American composer, arranger and music producer based in the Los Angeles area. Background Younge grew up in Fontana, California, United States. His father is a lawyer and Younge himself earned a Juris Doct ...

and

Ali Shaheed Muhammad Ali Shaheed Muhammad (born August 11, 1970) is an American hip hop DJ, record producer, rapper and bass guitarist, best known as a member of A Tribe Called Quest. With Q-Tip (musician), Q-Tip and Phife Dawg (and sometimes Jarobi White), the grou ...

) ''(from

Reasonable Doubt Beyond (a) reasonable doubt is a legal standard of proof required to validate a criminal conviction in most adversarial legal systems. It is a higher standard of proof than the standard of balance of probabilities (US English: preponderance of ...

)'' (2022) * "Spiraling" (2023) * "Roll the Credits" (2023)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ponder, Danielle Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Musicians from Rochester, New York Lawyers from Rochester, New York 21st-century African-American women singers 21st-century American women singers 21st-century African-American lawyers American women lawyers 21st-century American women lawyers 21st-century American lawyers American soul singers American contemporary R&B singers American trip hop musicians