To commemorate 20 years of the festival, we decided to give artists the opportunity to pitch to us who they would like to tribute and what other artists they would like to assist them in tributing that artist. If you missed our first installment with Sebastian Mikael you can go here. This week we have Essence Festival 2014 Mainstage artist Ledisi:
“I’m so weird because it’s in-between either a Luther [Vandross] tribute or a Tina Turner tribute. Would you go smooth or would you go rock. We forget that our music is also rock music. Rock soul and Tina Turner comes from R&B and we don’t tribute that style. We only see the traditional R&B style. There is this rock soul thing that we keep ignoring and I don’t like that so I’m going to go with that. I would have Alice Smith. I would also have Chaka [Khan.] Then I think I want a gospel singer to do a rock soul Tina Turner song. That would be Karen Clark Sheard. Lastly, Kimberly Nichole. She can do church, but she can rock out. I love her voice.”
We unveil a new Essence Fest Dream Team every Wednesday, so check back each week to see who your favorite artists consider worthy of a tribute on the main stage.