Rachael Yamagata

Before emerging as a solo singer/songwriter/pianist renowned for intimate atmospheres and introspective lyrics, Rachael Yamagata first earned attention in a very different setting: she started out as a member of Chicago-based funk/R&B band Bumpus in the '90s. But by 2001, she decided that she'd had enough of band life and made the move to strike out on her own, in a decidedly different style. Her first solo effort, an eponymous 2003 EP for the RCA label, was overseen by Daniel Lanois cohort Malcolm Burn. Her first album, Happenstance, followed in 2004 and earned rapturous reviews for the young songsmith but nevertheless achieved only minor commercial standing. Yamagata, 1977 in Arlington, Virginia, has the kind of voice that makes her an in-demand guest on other artists' albums, so she's probably spent more time working on other people's sessions than on her own. The lists of artists she's sung with includes Toots & The Maytals, Ryan Adams, Ray LaMontagne, Bright Eyes, Jason Mraz, Duncan Sheik, and many more. But that still didn't stop Yamagata from pursuing her own path-after enduring music business difficulties and a label switch, she released her second album, Elephants Teeth Sinking into Heart, in 2008, which fared considerably better on the charts than its predecessor. Her next two LPs, 2011's Chesapeake and the 2016 outing Tightrope Walker, found Yamagata abandoning the realm of major labels for the indie world that better suited her singular sound.