Leah LaBelle

After defecting from Bulgaria during a 1979 tour, LaBelle's parents emigrated to Canada and later the United States, becoming naturalized citizens in both countries.

LaBelle grew up listening to music, including jazz and the Beatles, but felt the most connected to R&B.

Leah LaBelle Vladowski (September 8, 1986 – January 31, 2018) was an American singer.

Leah LaBelle Vladowski was born on September 8, 1986, in Toronto, Ontario, and raised in Seattle, Washington.

Her parents, Anastasia and Troshan Vladowski, are Bulgarian singers, and her uncle made rock music in Bulgaria.

Anastasia recorded pop music and was in a group with Troshan, who was a founding member of Bulgaria's first rock band, Srebyrnite grivni.

LaBelle began performing publicly in 1990, including singing on stage during her parents' tours.

From age 11, she joined the Total Experience Gospel Choir after being inspired by Lauryn Hill's performance in the 1993 film Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit.

LaBelle cited Hill as her primary musical influence.

While performing in the choir, she became interested in gospel and soul music.

LaBelle also participated in beauty pageants, and in 1997, she won the Washington State Pre-teen Miss America Pageant and was the first runner-up in the National Pageant.

A year later, she performed in the musical Black Nativity and remained with the production for five years.

During this time, the Total Experience Gospel Choir's founder, Pat Wright, mentored LaBelle.

In 2000, she joined the children's show Caught in the Middle and remained part of the program for two years.

LaBelle attended Garfield High School, where she performed in a jazz band led by Clarence Acox Jr.

After winning the grand prize at KUBE 93.3's Summer Jam Idol in 2002, she performed as the opening act for Summer Jam 20.

At age 17, LaBelle auditioned for the third season of the television show American Idol, and performed Whitney Houston's "I Believe in You and Me".

During her appearances on the series, she was a junior in high school.

After becoming one of the 32 semi-finalists, LaBelle was eliminated in the top 30 round, but judge Paula Abdul chose her as her "wildcard selection" to advance as one of the twelve finalists.

She placed twelfth during the season finals, after performing a cover of the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On".

She rose to prominence in 2004 as a contestant on the third season of American Idol, placing twelfth in the season finals.

LaBelle covered the Stylistics' "Betcha by Golly, Wow" for the 2004 compilation album American Idol Season 3: Greatest Soul Classics.

AllMusic's Heather Phares praised LaBelle as "surprisingly strong and mature", writing that "the studio brings out colors in her voice that she didn't display on-stage".

In 2005, LaBelle attended the Berklee College of Music for a year before dropping out and relocating to Los Angeles.

While in college, she collaborated with Andreao Heard on a demo.

Following the advice of an industry contact, LaBelle released her music through her YouTube channel.

Keri Hilson hired LaBelle as a backing vocalist after hearing her rendition of "Energy", which led to her working for other artists on their tours.

LaBelle signed a record deal after Pharrell Williams and Jermaine Dupri contacted her.

In 2007, LaBelle began recording covers of R&B and soul music for her YouTube channel.

These videos led to work as a backing vocalist starting in 2008 and a record deal in 2011 with Epic in partnership with I Am Other and So So Def Recordings.

LaBelle released a sampler, three singles, and a posthumous extended play (EP).

Born in Toronto, Ontario, and raised in Seattle, Washington, LaBelle began pursuing music ambition as a career in her teens.

As a child, she performed in the Total Experience Gospel Choir and the musical Black Nativity.

Her sampler Pharrell Williams and Jermaine Dupri Present Leah LaBelle (2012) was distributed only to record companies.

It was supported by two singles, "Sexify" and "What Do We Got to Lose?"

LaBelle received the Soul Train Centric Award at the 2012 Soul Train Music Awards.

She released the non-album single "Lolita" the following year.

Looking back on American Idol in a 2016 interview, LaBelle said she was "too young at that time and not developed enough as an artist".

On January 31, 2018, LaBelle and her boyfriend Rasual Butler died in a single vehicle car crash in Los Angeles, when Butler, under the influence of alcohol and drugs, lost control of the car.

A posthumous EP, Love to the Moon, was released on September 7, 2018.