Kendra Janelle Ross (born December 4, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, music business executive, and community organizer from

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, Pennsylvania. She was born in

Youngstown Youngstown is a city in Mahoning County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, 11th-most populous city in Ohio with a population of 60,068 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Mahoning ...

, Ohio.

Career

She got her start singing in church and performing with the Civic Light Opera Mini Stars of Pittsburgh. After many years of working in musical theater, Ross went on to work as a vocalist and songwriter with artists such as

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

Talib Kweli Talib Kweli Greene (; born October 3, 1975) is an American rapper. He first earned recognition through his collaboration with fellow Brooklyn rapper Mos Def (now known as Yasiin Bey) in 1997, when they formed the group Black Star. Kweli's music ...

, Idle Warship, Res,

Omar Umar ibn al-Khattab (; ), also spelled Omar, was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () and is regarded as a senior companion and father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muh ...

Faith Evans Faith Renée Evans (born June 10, 1973) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and actress. Born in Lakeland, Florida, and raised in New Jersey, she relocated to Los Angeles in 1991 in pursuit of a recording career. Evans initially performed as ...

Rita Coolidge Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945) is an American recording artist. During the 1970s and 1980s, her songs were on ''Billboard'' magazine's pop, country, adult contemporary, and jazz charts, and she won two Grammy Awards with fellow musician and th ...

, Tamar-kali and many more. She has appeared on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...

'' and

BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

's ''

106 & Park ''106 & Park'' is an American hip hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that was broadcast on weekdays at 6:00 pm ET/5:00 pm CT on BET; it aired on a one-day delay on BET International. It was the network's highest- rated ...

'' and has been featured in ''

O, The Oprah Magazine ''O, The Oprah Magazine'', also known simply as ''O'', is an American monthly magazine founded by talk show host Oprah Winfrey and Hearst Communications. In 2021, Winfrey and Hearst rebranded it as ''Oprah Daily''. Overview It was first pu ...

''. Ross has opened for musicians

Babyface Babyface or Baby Face can refer to: Nicknames * Lester Joseph Gillis a.k.a. Baby Face Nelson, an infamous 1930s bank robber * Roosevelt "Baby Face" Willette (1933–1971), an American hard bop and soul-jazz musician * "Baby Face", Jimmy McLarnin ...

and

Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records in the 1960s, serving as an in-house songwr ...

. Ross' debut album titled ''New Voice'' was released in June 2007. The album was co-produced with longtime collaborator/music director Christian Ver Halen and features appearances by Talib Kweli,

Eric Roberson Eric Roberson is an American singer, songwriter, former rapper and music producer. He is sometimes referred to simply as Erro, the name which he later used as part of his label Blue Erro Soul. His first single, "Represent", was released through W ...

, and more. Many touring and session musicians are also featured on the album, including Teodross Avery (

Amy Winehouse Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer, songwriter, musician, and businesswoman. With over 30 million records sold worldwide, she was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix ...

), Maurice Brown (

Wynton Marsalis Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, and music instructor, who is currently the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has been active in promoting classical and jazz music, often to young ...

Lonnie Plaxico Lonnie Plaxico (born September 4, 1960) is an American jazz double bassist. Biography Plaxico was born in Chicago, into a musical family, and started playing the bass at the age of twelve, turning professional at fourteen (playing both double ba ...

(

Cassandra Wilson Cassandra Wilson (born December 4, 1955) is an American jazz singer, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. She is one of the most successful female jazz singers and has been described by critic Gary Giddins as "a singer blessed wit ...

), Chris Rob (

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He began his musical career working behind the scenes for other artists, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Every ...

), Daniel Sadownick (

Matisyahu Matthew Paul Miller (born June 30, 1979), known by his stage name Matisyahu (; ), is an American singer, rapper, beatboxer, and musician. Known for blending spiritual themes with reggae, rock and hip hop beatboxing sounds, Matisyahu's 2005 sin ...

), and Skoota Warner (

Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer * Sailboat designs by W. D. Schock Corp ** Santana 20 ** Santan ...

). The album has been well received in the U.S. and Japan where it was released by

P-Vine Records P-Vine Records is an independent record label based in Tokyo, Japan. History It was started in 1976 by Blues Interactions, a firm founded in 1975 by Yasufumi Higurashi and Akira Kochi, as a record label focused on black music. The label name ...

in December 2007. Ross won for New Artist of the Year at the 2007 SoulTracks Readers' Choice Awards in Detroit on November 16, 2007.

Hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

recording artist Talib Kweli wrote in the liner notes of his 2002 album ''

Quality Quality may refer to: Concepts *Quality (business), the ''non-inferiority'' or ''superiority'' of something *Quality (philosophy), an attribute or a property *Quality (physics), in response theory *Energy quality, used in various science discipli ...

'' (on which she wrote and performed): "Kendra's talented, beautiful, and one of a kind." Ross is also an independent feminist scholar and

cultural anthropologist Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The term s ...

who cites

Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American writer, anthropologist, folklorist, and documentary filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-20th-century American South and published research on Hoodoo ...

and

Katherine Dunham Katherine Mary Dunham (June 22, 1909 – May 21, 2006) was an African American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and social activist. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers of the 20th century and directed her own dance compan ...

as two of her greatest academic influences. She received a

Bachelor of Music A Bachelor of Music (BMus; sometimes conferred as Bachelor of Musical Arts) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. The degree may be awarded for performance, music ed ...

from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

and a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

and another in Anthropology from

The New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR), previously known as The University in Exile and The New School University, is a graduate-level educational division of The New School in New York City, United States. NSSR enrolls more than 1,000 stud ...

in New York City. She also holds a PhD in Community Engagement from

Point Park University Point Park University is a private university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Formerly known as Point Park College, the school name was revised in 2004 to reflect the number of graduate programs being offered. In 2021, it had a total undergraduate ...

. Ross is set to release a new EP of original music in 2024.

Discography and appearances

*1997 Encore/Ill Advised ackground vocals*1997 Never Put U Down/Rahsheed ackground vocals*2000 Train of Thought/Reflection Eternal (Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek) ead and background vocals*2001 Too Close/A Hundred Birds(Japan) ongwriter; background vocals*2002 Quality/Talib Kweli ongwriting; featured and background vocals*2003 Space Under Sun/Ari Gold ongwriting; featured and background vocals*2004 Beautiful Struggle/Talib Kweli ongwriting*2005 Right About Now/Talib Kweli ackground vocals*2005 Rawkus Records Best of Decade I 1995–2005 ocals*2006 Live Shot/The Rooftop eatured vocals*2007 Kendra Ross/New Voice (debut album) xecutive producer, co-producer, arranger, and lead and background vocals*2007 Art of Life/Charon Don ackground vocals*2007 Eardrum/Talib Kweli ackground vocals*2010 Q: Soul Bossa Nostra/Quincy Jones eatured and background vocals*2010 Sleeping Beauty: You Are the One You've Been Waiting On/Abby Dobson ackground vocals*2011 Gutter Rainbows/Talib Kweli ongwriting; featured and background vocals; production coordination*2011 Habits of the Heart/Idle Warship (Talib Kweli & Res) ongwriting; background vocals*2014 Enough to Go Around o-producer, arranger, and lead and background vocals*2014 Prisoner of Conscious LIVE/Talib Kweli ackground vocals*2015 F--- The Money/Talib Kweli ongwriting/featured vocalist*2015 Indie 500/9th Wonder & Talib Kweli eatured vocalist*2017 Heads Up Eyes Open/Talib Kweli ft. Rick Ross & Yummy Bingham ackground vocalist/background arrangements*2020 Kendra Ross/You Don’t Know What Love Is over/single*2024 Kendra Ross/Hideous Want

ingle Ingle may refer to: People * Ingle (surname), includes a list of people with the name * Ingle Martin (born 1982), American former football quarterback Places in the United States * Ingle, California, a community * Ingle, Florida, an unincorporate ...

*2025 Kendra Ross/This Womanist's Work EP ORTHCOMING*2025 Kendra Ross/Sister Americana EP ORTHCOMING

References

External links

Official website
*
Sonicbids EPK
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Kendra 1975 births Living people African-American activists African-American women singer-songwriters American women singer-songwriters American jazz singers American rhythm and blues singer-songwriters American feminist musicians Brooklyn College alumni Singers from New York City Musicians from Pittsburgh American neo soul singers Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development alumni Musicians from Brooklyn Musicians from Youngstown, Ohio Singer-songwriters from Pennsylvania Singer-songwriters from Ohio Jazz musicians from New York (state) Jazz musicians from Pennsylvania Jazz musicians from Ohio 21st-century African-American women singers 21st-century American women singers Singer-songwriters from New York (state) 20th-century African-American women singers 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singers