Bio
The Many Facets of Cheryl Keyes
As an Artist:
Singer-songwriter-pianist and flutist Cheryl Keyes began
her musical journey in the rich musical heritage of Louisiana. Exposed
to blues, gospel, jazz, zydeco, soul, rhythm and blues, funk, and
classical music, and a healthy sonic dose of Mahalia Jackson, Nancy
Wilson, Aretha Franklin, and Sarah Vaughan, Keyes started to study
piano at 7, flute at 11. Influenced by Michel Legrand, Lalo Schifrin
and Quincy Jones, she took an interest in arranging and composing.
Accordingly, she wrote her first band arrangement at the age of
13. Upon graduating from Southern University Laboratory High School,
she entered Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans on a music
scholarship. Performing occasionally on the local scene with jazz
clarinetist Alvin Batiste, and appearing on flute and piano with
Clark Terry and his All-Girls All-Star Band at the Wichita (Kansas)
Jazz Festival, Keyes culminated her New Orleans years with two LPs
under her belt, The Other Side of Eddie Bo, in which she
was featured on flute, piano, and as a composer-arranger alongside
the legendary New Orleans rhythm and blues singer-piano player Eddie
Bo, and as keyboardist on Alvin Batiste’s LP Musique d’Afrique
Nouvelle Orleans. Following her graduation from Xavier, Keyes
wanted to explore other passions. As such, she attended graduate
school at Indiana University, Bloomington, where she studied music
education and pursued a doctorate in ethnomusicology.
Within the last decade, Cheryl Keyes returned to the music scene
with a refreshed perspective and musical vision. In the summer of
2005, she made her Los Angeles debut where she performed as vocalist,
pianist, flutist, and was featured as a composer-arranger with the
Instrumental Women® Project’s Lady Jazz concert series held at the
Ford Amphitheatre. Don Heckman, jazz critic for the Los Angeles
Times, sums up Keyes’s “inventive flute soloing and dark-toned
vocals on ‘Sleeping With the Enemy’ [as] superb….” The following
year, she performed at the Playboy Jazz Festival at the historic
Hollywood Bowl, and was invited to serve as musical-artistic director
for the Lady Jazz: Blues in the Summertime concert at the
Ford Amphitheatre, which was a sell-out performance.
In the fall of 2008, Cheryl Keyes released her debut CD, Let
Me Take You There. Unlike so many singers today, Keyes is distinguished
by her versatility at songwriting, composing, arranging, and performing
in various styles from contemporary jazz, rhythm and blues, soul
to world music, as well as by her unique voice. In quoting Jerry Moss,
co-founder of A&M Records, “Keyes has a style all her own.” Among her honors to date is winning an NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding World Music Album of 2008." Without a doubt, Cheryl Keyes is truly
a phenomenal talent! -- Dr. Charles E. Moore, Producer
As an Entrepreneur:
Cheryl Keyes officially launched Keycan Records on January
7, 2008. Its name derives from part of Keyes as “Key”,
and the verb “Can”, which is short for “Keyes
can do it.” Keycan Records is also the house for Cangom Publishing,
an ASCAP-affiliate company, founded by Keyes in 2002. For
further information about Keycan Records and Cangom Publishing,
please go to www.keycan.com
As a Scholar/Professor:
Cheryl Keyes is the author of Rap Music and Street Consciousness, which received a CHOICE award for outstanding academic books in 2004. Professor Keyes, who has a specialty in the study of African American music, gender and popular music studies, is also an associate professor in the Department of Ethnomusicology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research appears in major journals including Ethnomusicology, Folklore Forum, Journal of American Folklore, Journal of Popular Music Studies, The World of Music, as well as in book chapters, numerous reference articles, and reviews. For further information, please refer to www.ethnomusic.ucla.edu/people/keyes.htm
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