Voices in the Room With Me: Musical Influences of a Soul Singer

When people ask about my musical influences, I always start with Whitney Houston. She was my first teacher—long before vocal coaches or formal training. Through her voice, I learned about tone, phrasing, breath, emotion, and storytelling. Whitney taught me that power and vulnerability could live in the same note. That foundation shaped how I approach soul music, neo soul, and progressive R&B to this day.

Whitney, My First Teacher

Whitney’s voice lives rent free in my head. I learned so much just from listening—how to deliver a lyric with intention, how to let emotion lead without losing control. Even before I had the language for technique, Whitney was teaching me how to sing with truth.

Elegance, Subtlety, and Emotional Control

Growing up, I was also deeply inspired by Vanessa Williams, Sade, Anita Baker, and Barbara Weathers of Atlantic Starr. These women showed me that soul could whisper and still cut deep. Their elegance helped me understand that music didn’t have to be loud to be powerful. Tone, restraint, and intention became tools I carried with me long before I knew what to call them.

Falling in Love With Neo Soul

In the 90s, everything clicked. Neo soul arrived with groove, introspection, hip hop, poetry, jazz, and humanity. Artists like Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, D’Angelo, Maxwell, Lauryn Hill, Musiq Soulchild, and India.Arie were creating music that felt like a warm conversation. That era made complete sense to me. It felt like someone had designed a genre specifically for my heart. Neo soul honored tradition while leaving room for experimentation and softness, It became the foundation of how I understood myself as an artist. 

Redefining Soul for Myself

To be honest, I did not always connect with traditional soul music. It felt raw in a way that overwhelmed me. I remember riding to a gig with a band leader and talking about what we each loved about music. She said she loved soul because it carried pain and grit. I told her, “I sing because I want to hear pretty things.” That moment taught me how personal our musical relationships are. Which is why I was so surprised when a woman leaned in after a Whitney Houston tribute concert and whispered, “Your voice is so soulful.” It caught me off guard, but it also opened something in me. It pushed me to redefine what soul meant, not from the outside world but from my own experience. Soul, I learned, is not volume. Soul is truth.

Jazz: The Teacher That Stretched Me

In my late twenties, I started paying closer attention to jazz vocalists like Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn and others in that lineage. Jazz stretched me. It sharpened my ear, deepened my phrasing, and taught me how to play inside the rhythm instead of sitting on top of it. Jazz is where I learned to improvise, to listen, and to trust my voice as an instrument. And while I do not consider myself a jazz singer, I have a deep appreciation for the genre. Jazz pushes me to grow, to explore new textures, and to stay curious as an artist. It challenges me in the best way and reminds me that there is always more to learn, more to stretch into, and more space to evolve.

Expanding My Musical Brain

As I kept building my repertoire, I was exposed to so many musicians, genres, and performance styles. Every new influence expanded my musical brain and gave me another way to express myself. 80’s R&B and pop icons, neo soul innovators, jazz masters, rock bands on late night TV, even the drag queens I later performed with, they all shaped me.

All My Influences, One Voice

Every influence—80s R&B, neo soul, jazz, pop, live bands, even unexpected spaces like drag performance—expanded my musical brain. All of it shows up in my music today: the storytelling, the groove, the phrasing, and the emotional honesty. It’s the sound of my lived experience meeting my influences and becoming something of my own.

If you’re curious how these influences come together in real time, listen to my live EP Live at Parkville Sounds. It captures the intimacy, groove, and soulful storytelling that shape my work—just as it’s meant to be heard.