Jody Watley is a GRAMMY award winning multi-platinum singer/songwriter/producer/label owner. With a diverse music discography spanning R&B / Pop / Dance /Hip Hop / Electronic / Jazz / Adult Contemporary 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s, 20s Jody Watley is recognized as a style icon and one of the architects of 21st century Pop/R&B/Dance music, a 2022 inductee into the Women’s Songwriters Hall Of Fame, listed in Billboard as one of the Top 60 Female Artists of All Time, Top 25 Dance Artists of All Time, Top 100 Black Solo Artists Of All Time. From her groundbreaking marriage of rap and R&B (1987's "Friends", ground-breaking collaboration with hip hop legends Eric B. & Rakim) to her vision forward-marriage of high fashion, street fashion and music in the 80's (long before it became the norm), to her fusion of jazz and underground club culture with keen pop instincts, and the ease with which she crossed and still crosses genre, Jody Watley forged the template that is now everybody's playbook. Since her brief tenure as an original member of the trio Shalamar (1978-1983), Watley's entire solo career is about looking forward, drawing inspiration from personal heroes and iconoclasts who were and are always ten steps ahead of the pack. The Chicago native's eclectic hits-filled repertoire is built on a positive vision and a strong sense for authenticity, artistic and aesthetic risk. ~ Ernest Hardy