Shaila Prospere

Shaila is a singer, songwriter from London and her inspiration initially came from growing up in a household immersed in music…

Shaila soon discovered the music of Motown and Atlantic, followed by the black British sound of lovers rock and fell in love with music.

Her influences come from stellar artists such as Dionne Warwick, Patti Labelle, Stevie Wonder, Aretha, Marvin Gaye and Roberta Flack. Later on whilst trying to harness her own vocal ability, more contemporary superstars and legendary vocalists, like Anita Baker, Luther Vandross, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey grabbed her attention.

What distinguishes Shaila from many of her peers is her song writing style. She is prolific with her craft, hence why her debut album ‘In My Shoes‘ was received with such critical acclaim back in 2000. Produced by Full Crew, all these years later tracks still get played on soul radio stations around the world, testament to what a good debut album that was.

After a long break from recording material for herself, she was contacted by one of the producers on her album Les Jones to write songs for herself. Once they started writing together and the buzz of being back in the studio got to her, things just snowballed from there.

Shaila then hooked up with long time friend, Everis Pellius who had produced a cut on her debut album and, convinced her to write enough material for an album, and the ‘Back To Life‘ project was born. Almost a year later the album was ready for release and as the project evolved, Phil Nugent who signed her first time around, got on board and the resulting first single ‘Let Me Be Yours’ was released on his Rhythm imprint.

Shaila garnered lots of support on the airwaves and was played heavily across the soul music stations with this and subsequent singles. Released in June 2017 ‘Back To Life’ peaked at No 1 in the UK Soul Chart, Mi-Soul Connoisseurs and Sweet Rhythms Chart.

Shaila has performed alongside legends such as Gwen Guthrie, Melba Moore, Joyce Simms, Omar, Alton Ellis, Janet Kay and performed live shows with her band. She’s also featured on MS1 Project’s ‘Changes’ LP with her songs ‘Rise’ & ‘Steal A Kiss’ released in 2018

Her 3rd and latest studio album ‘Under My Skin’ was released in 2020 and followed the success of her self released singles ‘Plus One’, ‘You’re Rich’ and ‘Let’s Be’, all hitting the top of the UK Soul Chart.

Shaila’s creative abilities are not just restricted to writing songs, vocals and performance, she is also an enthusiastic painter and has created some outstanding works of contemporary art. She is planning to exhibit some of her art in the future.

We welcomed Shaila to second virtual festival in 2021 when she performed a hot selection of her tracks on the Saturday afternoon.