Another interesting aspect of the back story of the new album is the fact that she had completed a whole different follow up to Testimony Vol. Getting through this trying period makes the creation of SongVersation a personal triumph because there was a point where she thought she might never record another album. She then experienced a series of difficult health-related issues stemming from the cumulative stress of building, supporting and maintaining her whirlwind career nonstop for over 10 years. 2 Love & Politics, hit # 1 on Billboard R&B Chart and #3 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart.

Testament to her enduring success over the past decade, Arie’s last studio album, 2009’s Testimony Vol. Arie also formed SoulBird, a new media & lifestyle company with the mission to spread love, healing, peace and joy through the power of words and music. She has performed for President Obama, Nelson Mandela, Dalai Lama and at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. In addition to performing with legendary artists like Stevie Wonder, Sting, Elton John, Adele, Herbie Hancock, Carlos Santana, Bette Midler and Michael McDonald, she has sung on the Kennedy Center Honors, the NAACP Awards and the Grammy Awards. In September 2010, she was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. In 2009, she received the DC Branch NAACP Centennial Award and was featured in the acclaimed documentary Leading Women. Since the release of her first album Acoustic Soul in 2001, Arie has received 21 Grammy nominations (starting with a Best New Artist nod and multiple nominations for her breakout single ‘Video’), and other accolades from the NAACP, BET, Billboard, MTV, and VH1. A true comeback after a career and stress-related physical, mental and emotional breakdown, Arie, who is performing for the first time at the renowned Playboy Jazz Festival prior to the June 25th release of SongVersation, calls the making of the collection ‘one of the most important experiences of my career.’ She released its sultry lead single ‘Cocoa Butter’ to radio and retail last month. Another groundbreaking concept in a decade plus career full of many, it’s an unique performance style the four-time Grammy-winning singer/songwriter has developed, where she enjoys a ‘talkback’ session with the audience and she shares personal stories with them as much as she sings. For India.Arie, the title of her upcoming fifth album, SongVersation (on Soulbird/Motown Records), is more than just clever hybrid wordplay.

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