R&B soul singer, Leela James has released her eighth studio album,Thought You Knew.
The nine-track LP has zero features and is distributed by James’ own label, BMG-distributed Shesangz. Production credits include longtime collaborator Rex Rideout (Fall For You, Complicated) along with Camper (H.E.R.,Coco Jones, Brandy), Amadeus (Trey Songz, Chris Brown), Cornelio Austin (BJ The Chicago Kid) and Jairus “JMo” Mozee (Anderson Paak, Anthony Hamilton).
In September, James released the title track, “Thought U Knew” along with a music visual that featured Leela’s good friends, Syleena Johnson, Avery Sunshine & Medusa. The 3-minute visual paid homage to one of Leela’s favorite movies, “Set It off.”
Thought You Knew arrives after a busy summer for James. For the past four months, she’s toured the country, visited HBCU campus’ to host girl talks, and is wrapping up her international “Right Back In It” tour.
James’ career first began when she burst onto the scene in 2006 with her debut album, “A Change is Gonna Come.”
She has since collaborated with the acclaimed producers, toured across the US and Europe with some of the biggest names in R&B and starred on TV One’s “R&B Divas: Los Angeles,” amongst different guest appearances on a host of shows.
Leela will wrap 2023 participating in a voter’s campaign with Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, and several holiday initiatives to help families throughout the city of Houston. She will debut her “Thought You Knew” US Tour in January 2024, dates listed below.
“Thought You Knew” US Tour Dates 2024
Friday, November 24th – New Orleans, LA – Smoothie King Center
Sunday, December 10th – Newark, NJ – New Jersey Performing Arts Center
Saturday, January 13th – Grand Prairie, TX – Texas Trust CU Theatre
Sunday, January 14th – Tampa, FL – Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park
Saturday, January 20th – Indianapolis, IN – Old National Centre-Egyptian Room
Sunday, January 21st – Detroit, MI – SoundBoard at Motor City Casino Hotel
Friday, January 26th – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
Saturday, February 10th – Grand Rapids, MI – DeVos Performance Hall
Tuesday, February 13th – Nassau, Bahamas – Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite Cruise
Saturday, March 30th – Gary, IN – Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana-Hard Rock Live