Yin Yang Café was a hotbed for the neo-soul movement, so called for the artists’ smooth vocals, use of real instruments and their melodic references to classic R&B. “Being an alternative to that gave me an identity,” she said. She left SCAD and began performing regularly at Atlanta’s Yin Yang Café (now Apache Café), where she developed her sound.Īrie’s acoustic guitar-based songs set her apart from the slicker productions of the more established female R&B artists like Toni Braxton and TLC, who were on the scene at the time. But when a boyfriend gave her an acoustic guitar, she began writing songs and her metalsmithing days were over. She always had a creative streak, so after high school she went to SCAD in Savannah to study metalsmithing. The daughter of a Motown singer and an NBA basketball player, Arie was 12 when she moved to Atlanta from Denver following her parents’ divorce. She no longer controlled her own life, thanks to a chaotic schedule, and her mission to spread “peace, love and healing” through her music had lost its focus. But the success had begun to feel hollow. She’d racked up 21 Grammy nominations, garnering four wins, and sold more than 10 million records worldwide. Riding high on hit songs including “Video” and “I Am Not My Hair,” Arie had been a frequent presence on the R&B charts throughout the 2000s. I thought what I wanted to do at that time was retire.” “I was like,, just tell me what it is, because I want to feel good about my life. “Once I admitted to myself that I didn’t like my life and that I needed to make changes, I was willing to do whatever it took,” she said. I felt like I was going in search of something and didn’t know what it was,” said Arie, 38, speaking last month from Seattle, where she kicked off a two-month tour supporting her fifth and latest release, “SongVersation.”
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