Leah Rosier

The past year Leah Rosier (Amsterdam, NL) and Rise & Shine band (Besançon, FR) have put their heart and soul in their album, Only Irie Vibes. After working on the songs from a distance for months, Leah joined the band in France for five weeks to record the final vocals. The album is recorded, mixed and mastered by producer and sound engineer Thomas Jacquot at Studio Le Zèbre in Besançon.

Only Irie Vibes includes two collaborations with Jamaican artists recorded in Kingston when Leah was there in 2015. One with legendary vocal group the Mighty Diamonds and another with upcoming artist Jahbar I, son of George Miller; the drummer of the Firehouse Crew. All lyrics on the album were written by Leah Rosier over the past five years. She sings about her experiences in life and love, her hopes and dreams, her view on the world and about conquering evil forces. The music is a variety of styles by musicians mostly influenced by Jamaican music.

Biography

Hailing from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Leah Rosier is passionate about Reggae and combines this with her love for singing and writing songs. As a teenager while she was traveling the world as a professional fashion model, Leah started developing skills to record her own songs. A photoshoot in Jamaica made her fall even more in love with Jamaican music and culture. Since 2010 she has been voicing many different riddims by producers and bands from all over the world. In 2011 she released some of her own productions including the songs ‘Irie’ and ‘Amsterdam’; a collaboration with original ganja farmer, Marlon Asher. Leah’s first album, High Paw, came out in 2012 on her own label Likkle Green. In Amsterdam, she works closely with Black Star Foundation, a non-profit organisation which has been committed to promote Reggae in Holland for more than ten years.

With a joyful international mindset determined to share irie vibes anywhere, Leah has performed with
different bands and soundsystems on various stages around Europe. She has done shows at festivals like Reggae Sun Ska (FR) and Rototom Sunsplash (SP) and has opened for artists like Israel Vibration, Ziggy Marley, Etana and Groundation. She has also performed in Jamaica, where she did several shows and got invited by King Yellowman to sing at one of his concerts.

Meet Rise & Shine

Rise & Shine is a Reggae backing band from Besançon, France, consisting of six experienced musicians and a producer. They are members of Uppertone, a local organisation which has been supporting and promoting Jamaican music in all its forms for over a decade. In the past Rise & Shine have done live shows with French artists like Yaniss Odua and Nuttea. Besides backing reggae and dancehall singers, Rise & Shine also produce their own riddims. For their two projects Opus Riddim (2011) and Pitaya Riddim (2014) they have worked with various artists like Jah Mason, Queen Omega and Ricardo Clarke.

Together, Leah Rosier and Rise & Shine have been making music since 2011 when the band sent Leah some music to voice. This resulted in the songs ‘Music Teach Me’ (Opus Riddim) and ‘Love Fyah’, featured on Leah’s first album ‘High Paw’. In March 2012 they all met each other when Leah came to Besançon for three weeks to rehearse for their first shows that same month. Ever since Leah Rosier and Rise & Shine started performing live they’ve had a great connection, bringing out a lot of creativity in each other. They’ve done many gigs in and around France in bars, clubs and festivals. They’ve opened for French acts like Danakil and Mo’Kalamity. In 2014 they made a video for Leah’s song ‘Enough Is Enough’ on Rise & Shine’s Pitaya
Riddim. A year later they performed on the Showcase Stage at Rototom Sunsplash Festival in Spain.
All this productivity and their strong bond naturally led into making an album together.