Flow with
May 5, 2011
fLO
Pop Artist
San Francisco, CA
"CALL ME fLO"
Biography
Talent in Full fLO
At a tiny dance studio in the heart of San Francisco's Mission District, a group of young girls wrap up a new hip-hop routine and head out into the bright afternoon. As they leave, they cheerily wave goodbye to their inspiring teacher - the young dancer, singer, and songwriter whom the world will soon know as fLO.
As ever, the 21-year old dance teacher stays in her studio to work on new dance routines for the live shows and music videos that have so far helped make fLO one of the country's hottest emerging pop artists. Club appearances in the Bay Area have seen fLO amass a loyal local fan base, while her online presence has enabled thousands of people across the world to hear her music, watch her videos, and follow her on social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter. Those numbers are sure to increase with the June release of her debut album The Exhibition, which launches on June 01st - the same day as her first big televised live performance on BET's 106 & Park.
"I can't wait for it," says fLO, "I've already shown I can build a fan base doing it on my own, so I'm excited about the opportunity to reach a new and bigger audience."
Yet being a pop star is not an ambition fLO has always held, despite the fact that she has been writing songs since the age of 11. For most of her life, dance has been her main focus, from attending San Francisco's ODC Dance School at the age of eight, to touring California with the Mind Over Matter dance troupe when she was 16. Though she always wrote songs and sang in her local choir, her musical talents lay largely undeveloped until a friend, who had asked fLO to write her a song, brought her to the attention of Bay Area producer and composer, Rashaad Wiggins.
"People would tell me that I was talented and I could be a singer, but no one actually helped me," explains fLO, "when I met Rashaad, it was different."
Wiggins immediately heard something special in fLO's music and the pair began writing and recording dozens of songs together. Meanwhile, his wife Nadine became involved as fLO's manager, schooling her in the business of making music. In a little over a year, fLO went from a dance troupe member to the next big pop sensation.
It has been a phenomenally busy period of writing songs, recording singles, performing live, and making music videos, especially as fLO is heavily involved in each aspect. This unwillingness to take a back seat and let others drive her career is something that sets her apart from many other aspiring pop stars. For fLO, being a pop artist is not about just becoming famous.
"I love the creative process," she says, "I want to be proud of my own achievement and not just be the face of someone else's work."
Her artistic urge is evident in her songs, which result from the various experiences and emotions of her life. The sexy swagger of club smash Like Me is a riposte to a vindictive former friend, while the tender vulnerability of Platinum Love captures the feeling of falling in love.
These songs also highlight the diversity of the fLO sound, which seems to straddle multiple genres, while remaining firmly in the pop arena. She attributes this to the variety of music she was exposed to by her English mother and a Senegalese father.
"Not many young girls grew up listening to the likes of Youssou N'Dour," she laughs, "but having heard all this world music helps me bring a different slant to things and be open-minded about what I can create. I'm happy to be considered a pop singer, but really I would love to be genre-less."
Fans will get a chance to experience her "genre-less" pop in full fLO when The Exhibition is released in June, and she's confident her live performance for 106 & Park's television audience will have lots of new fans checking out her music.
And with that, she's back on the studio dance floor, working on her routines long into the evening. Such hard work and dedication is the unglamorous side of a successful music career, but combine it with fLO's talent and beauty and it's not hard to predict where pop's next star will shine.
Talent in Full fLO
At a tiny dance studio in the heart of San Francisco's Mission District, a group of young girls wrap up a new hip-hop routine and head out into the bright afternoon. As they leave, they cheerily wave goodbye to their inspiring teacher - the young dancer, singer, and songwriter whom the world will soon know as fLO.
As ever, the 21-year old dance teacher stays in her studio to work on new dance routines for the live shows and music videos that have so far helped make fLO one of the country's hottest emerging pop artists. Club appearances in the Bay Area have seen fLO amass a loyal local fan base, while her online presence has enabled thousands of people across the world to hear her music, watch her videos, and follow her on social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter. Those numbers are sure to increase with the June release of her debut album The Exhibition, which launches on June 01st - the same day as her first big televised live performance on BET's 106 & Park.
"I can't wait for it," says fLO, "I've already shown I can build a fan base doing it on my own, so I'm excited about the opportunity to reach a new and bigger audience."
Yet being a pop star is not an ambition fLO has always held, despite the fact that she has been writing songs since the age of 11. For most of her life, dance has been her main focus, from attending San Francisco's ODC Dance School at the age of eight, to touring California with the Mind Over Matter dance troupe when she was 16. Though she always wrote songs and sang in her local choir, her musical talents lay largely undeveloped until a friend, who had asked fLO to write her a song, brought her to the attention of Bay Area producer and composer, Rashaad Wiggins.
"People would tell me that I was talented and I could be a singer, but no one actually helped me," explains fLO, "when I met Rashaad, it was different."
Wiggins immediately heard something special in fLO's music and the pair began writing and recording dozens of songs together. Meanwhile, his wife Nadine became involved as fLO's manager, schooling her in the business of making music. In a little over a year, fLO went from a dance troupe member to the next big pop sensation.
It has been a phenomenally busy period of writing songs, recording singles, performing live, and making music videos, especially as fLO is heavily involved in each aspect. This unwillingness to take a back seat and let others drive her career is something that sets her apart from many other aspiring pop stars. For fLO, being a pop artist is not about just becoming famous.
"I love the creative process," she says, "I want to be proud of my own achievement and not just be the face of someone else's work."
Her artistic urge is evident in her songs, which result from the various experiences and emotions of her life. The sexy swagger of club smash Like Me is a riposte to a vindictive former friend, while the tender vulnerability of Platinum Love captures the feeling of falling in love.
These songs also highlight the diversity of the fLO sound, which seems to straddle multiple genres, while remaining firmly in the pop arena. She attributes this to the variety of music she was exposed to by her English mother and a Senegalese father.
"Not many young girls grew up listening to the likes of Youssou N'Dour," she laughs, "but having heard all this world music helps me bring a different slant to things and be open-minded about what I can create. I'm happy to be considered a pop singer, but really I would love to be genre-less."
Fans will get a chance to experience her "genre-less" pop in full fLO when The Exhibition is released in June, and she's confident her live performance for 106 & Park's television audience will have lots of new fans checking out her music.
And with that, she's back on the studio dance floor, working on her routines long into the evening. Such hard work and dedication is the unglamorous side of a successful music career, but combine it with fLO's talent and beauty and it's not hard to predict where pop's next star will shine.
Links
--
Rashaad Wiggins
Producer | Composer
rashaadwiggins.com
rashaadwiggins@gmail.com
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