DAWN RICHARD RISING

The artist is a true original. Here, the singer and musician details her roots in New Orleans, her longstanding relationship with fashion, and how both grit and joy led to her breaking through barriers

- Robyn Mowatt

To understand Dawn Richard is to fully engage with her humanity and her creative inclinations. Richard is more than a brilliant musician and singer—she's a self-actualized Black woman who has found what sparks her internal excitement and zest for life. This is inherent in the work she has released throughout her musical career. It’s also apparent in her visual interpretation of style. Her contributions to the alternative-music market are extensive, but what's equally remarkable is how she has marched to the beat of her own drum through every era.

Her latest album, Quiet in a World Full of Noise, is a genre-bending collection that continues to build on her boldly original artistic vision. With the neoclassical composer Spencer Zahn, Richard has created an atmospheric blend of soul, jazz and vocalizing, for an acoustically layered contribution to the contemporary classical music space. The album feels intimate and mysterious; it's a testament to how the artist has blossomed and matured as an independent music maker, unafraid to experiment and chart her own course.

Richard is often associated with a period in her life when she was part of the mainstream music industry. She was part of the cast of the reality show Making the Band 3, and her musical journey includes having been signed to Bad Boy Records by hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs. It was Combs who created the television series and the groups Richard would become a part of, including Danity Kane and, later, Diddy-Dirty Money. That season of her life reportedly brought some painful experiences, which led to Richard filing a lawsuit against Combs last September, alleging sexual abuse and battery.