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It was February of 2020 and Kendra Erika was in great spirits as she watched her current single “Break the Wheel” climb the Billboard dance chart into the Top Ten, her fifth track to do so in 36 months. The song had the prophetic chorus of “I'm so over it”, a month before the world changed forever. A week after the track peaked the Covid virus hit, and hit hard, and suddenly clubs and the dance charts were no more and traveling for tour dates and recording sadly disappeared from Kendra’s world and the entire music community.
Never comfortable sitting still, and while quarantined in Boca Raton Florida, Kendra decided this was her time to focus on creating new music. In conjunction with a new management team of Paul Fishkin, Scott Ross, and Marcus Peterzell who have worked with a wide range of hit artists including Stevie Nicks, The Cure, Nine Inch Nails, Todd Rungren, Poe and Andy Grammer, they devised a plan to have Kendra start writing and recording with top producers across the U.S., albeit all virtually. Within a month Kendra connected with a bevy of Grammy winning producers including Charlie Midnight (Billy Joel, James Brown, Joni Mitchell); Jan Fairchild (Elton John, Mary J Blige); John DeNicola (Hungry Eyes and Time of my Life from Dirty Dancing); Damon Sharpe (Ariana Grande, Jennifer Lopez); Ned Cameron (Kid Ink, Lil Wayne); Mark Mangold (Cher, Michael Bolton); and Luigie "LUGO" Gonzalez (Janet Jackson, Madonna, Barbra Streisand). According to Kendra “It was hard at first to co-write with these amazing producers via my computer, but since I didn’t have to travel I was able to collaborate more quickly, focus on my vocals, and I am thrilled with the results of these new tracks”
Kendra spent the next three months virtually writing and recording with these platinum producers via zoom. Then it came down to capturing her vocals, and luckily Kendra connected with Lazaro Rodriguez - sound engineer for the famed Gibb family, who had a studio minutes from her home, where each producer could supervise the sessions from thousands of miles of away.
The result is a collection of haunting and engaging songs to be released as a new album, tentatively titled “Songs for my People” in 2021. The first single “So fly” co-written by Gerina Di Marco and Luigie “LUGO” Gonzalez and produced by Luigie “LUGO” Gonzalez will be released August 28th via Kendra’s label Oystershell Music via a new distribution deal with industry leader Symphonic distribution. According to Luigie “Kendra had a voice with no limit that needed to be unleashed, and we felt ‘So Fly’ was the perfect vehicle; this is going to be a hit!”.
- Genre
- Pop