'I'm a Grammy nominated singer but had to work harder due to racism', says Kelli-Leigh

Kelli-Leigh admits that she feels she has "constant overlooked-ness" as a woman of colour in music.

The Grammy Award nominated singer and songwriter has been active in the music industry for over a decade, performing on some of the biggest hits – often without being credited. Famously, Kelli-Leigh, 39, is the voice of Duke Dumont and Jax Jones' smash anthem, I Got U. However, her vocals were left uncredited, despite the track hitting the Number One spot in the UK and on the US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart.

Over the years, Kelli-Leigh has performed backing vocals for the likes of Adele and Leona Lewis, as well as putting her name to some of the biggest hits in the dance pop industry, including teaming up with Diplo and bagging a Grammy nomination. But despite her talent and abilities, Kelli-Leigh felt herself being used in a game of monopoly by big wigs in the industry who would often have her work with less known musicians, while her white counterparts were often collaborating with major artists at the top of their game.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Mirror, the Unconditional songstress admits that she feels as though she has constantly been "overlooked" in the industry. "A lot of us can feel unified on, we'll all have a very slightly different experience," she said before adding: "But there'll be this general feeling of assumptions made of us – the amount of people when I first started putting out music would call me R&B – my music is dance, pop or dance pop, it's not R&B.

"Just because I'm a woman of colour, people will instantly go to R&B and I'd have to correct them. There brilliant R&B singers but that's not my space. I have to work three times as hard, I have to prove myself three times as hard as my white counterpart would have to. You get uncomfortable saying these kind of things. That's why it was good in lockdown, the Black experience – people would say 'Oh you're playing the race card' but you get that fear of saying things and it's just another form of microaggression to stop you from saying what you need to say."

Kelli-Leigh went on to explain that she has informed people to "do their own research" into what she has sung compared to other female artists in dance, explaining that she hadn't had "investment or full label support." In the past ten years, Kelli-Leigh has had two songs signed to a label, with an additional track being upscaled. "One was in 2021 on Warner and one was just now on a small indie label for my new single, Favourite Things," she commented before explaining: "Then Unconditional, I put out myself and it got upscaled by Armada Music – this year is my most successful year in terms of having records on other labels. My entire career has been independent."

The London-born musician explained that after seeing other artists achieving less but being signed by major records and having investment or feature opportunities with credits, she often thinks: "Ok, there's something going on here and whether you want to acknowledge it or not, the evidence is so clear."

"You kind of see a pattern and go 'Oh, hold on, this is misogyny and wrapped in a little but of racism' because the signed vocal artists in dance weren't necessarily women of colour," she says. Over the course of her career, the More Than Friends singer has used her platform in the industry to become a voice to help other artists receive equal treatment and opportunities. Although she has suffered hardships, Kelli-Leigh found herself rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest names in music after bagging herself a Grammy nomination.

"When I first had it with I Got U, I got to walk the red carpet, it really was mind blowing," she said. Kelli-Leigh admits she "cried" due to the overwhelming feeling of being proud at the annual Grammy Awards for the first time and informed herself that she would "be there" again if she kept honing her craft.

Kelli-Leigh's manifestation paid off as last year she found herself nominated again for a Grammy Award for her songwriting. "At the beginning of last year, I was Grammy nominated for a writing cut on Diplo's album, it was like 'Ok, ok let's keep going', now I've become a Grammy member, I'm part of the Academy so I can vote now – it's wild!" she exclaimed.

The star admits her success makes her feel as though she is "inching that little bit closer" to her dream, having bagged herself a string of nominations, as well as performing for Radio One and Capital Dance Ibiza. "It feels like I'm cutting through," she explained. Kelli-Leigh added: "It's taken me a while, it's taken time but it's my time coming. I'm doing what I believe in, I'm doing and being me, it might be slower than some people that manage to catch on trend and absolutely kill it. They might may or may not disappear, I feel really proud that people are seeing me."

Now, Kelli-Leigh has invested in her own label after Unconditional wasn't picked up by a label after initially sending it around. However, one thing she has noticed is the large amount of musicians having burnout and breakdowns due to the increased demand from music bosses, whether it be touring, releasing a new album every year or on a constant promotional tour. Kelli-Leigh is now on the board for the FAC [Featured Artists Coalition], alongside the likes of Imogen Heap, which is ran for artists by artists.

The organisation fights for artists rights as there was previously no space for artists to turn to when they needed help. "It's been really interesting learning about what legislation is going on behind the scenes," Kelli-Leigh said. She added: "I'm really glad that artists are having a bit of a voice in the room because there were some people definitely making decisions who weren't too bothered about the artist experience, it was more about the bottom line of it."

Kelli-Leigh once appeared on Britain's Got Talent – but quit the show due to the production aspect of the programme. In a recent podcast, she claimed that producers of the show had wanted her to speak about working as a backing vocalist for Adele and wanted to step out into the spotlight for herself.

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