When Goapele signed with Sony in 2004, she had already sold 70,000 rcords.

Brother Namane Mohlabane (foreground) and Theo Rodrigues have crafted a well-oiled marketing machine that has allowed the singer to prosper outside the major-label apparatus.

Industry, Skyblaze seems inured to the effects of a bad economy and the At a time of mass bloodletting in the record New live music venue on San Pablo Avenue, in the building that once Is partnering with San Francisco club owner Michael O’Connor to open a Release the singer’s third album in October. Skyblaze Recordings, has remained thoroughly intact and is poised to But much of it can be credited to a homegrownīusiness model that benefitted her more than her major-label deal with Partly to an unusual vocal style that blends African influences withĪmerican R&B. Goapele’s success owes partly to her mysterious, Delphic persona and Well-put-together cottage industry backing her up. Still a couple of years awayįrom inking a deal with Sony, the young singer had an extremely

Goapele had even broken the glass ceilingĪt 106 KMEL, appearing on the Chuy Gomez morning show and garneringįrequent radio play at a time when Bay Area artists were all but Several thousand units of her debut album, Closer, and become an She also stood right on the cusp of fame, having sold Unconventional way: long and narrow, with wiry braids and pristineįacial symmetry. Seven years ago, Goapele Mohlabane would flit in and out of hip-hop

Goapele closer to my dreams