| November 18, 2005 NYC- Friday night at The World Famous Apollo was not just another show. This was big, an outer body experience like none I've ever felt before. The auditorium was filled to  capacity with India.Arie's most anxious and adoring fans. The concert was one of the Apollo's Legend Concert Series. The show started with a performance by a young starlet from New York City named Chrisette Michele. She performed with a five-piece band, background singers and back-up dancers. When she stepped on stage most of the crowd may not have known who she was, but by the time her five song set was finished the crowd was cheering her on and she announced that she was recently signed to Island Def Jam. You can almost guarantee that we will all be checking for her debut. An even stronger performance by Raul Midon followed Michele's. A stunningly smooth soul/jazz vocalist, originally from New Mexico, he just happens to be blind. Equipped with his glaring guitar and a harmonica, Midon made his presence felt from the first cord he played. From his position on stage he brought the crowd to a steady sway, from right to left, as he belted tunes of love, hope, and admiration for his idol Donnie Hathaway, Soon enough it was time for India.Arie to take over the stage. A five- piece band returned along with two guitars for India. She seemed to glide as she made her way to the center of the stage. Dressed beautifully and looking absolutely amazing she glowed in her white skirt with matching blouse. A gold wrap snuggled around her hips and an orange top with flailing arms, she twirled around and her outfit twirled with her. Sensing that the show was going to be well worth it the crowd gave her two roaring ovations before she uttered her first note. Strapping on her painted guitar India started with a rendition of "Change Gon' Come" with the crowd singing along. Midway through the song she called out Raul Midon and together they played the guitar and sang a duet of the song. They really complimented each other perfectly.  India.Arie's set was off to a wonderful start. She announced that she would be performing some of her oldies but goodies, but that she would also be giving the audience a special treat with songs from her upcoming release, a two CD set (similar to Nelly's Sweat & Suit set) for release in February of 2006 entitled India's Song: Life and Relationships and India's Song: Love & Politics.
India.Arie is the daughter of Joyce, a former singer and Ralph Sampson, the NBA star who played for the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors. Born India Arie Sampson on October 3 rd 1976 she seemed to always be headed toward a path in music. Denver, Colorado is where she got her start but her career really took a step toward another level while attending college in Savannah, Georgia. India.Arie has already released two successful albums, Acoustic Soul, and Voyage To India. In 2002, Voyage To India won the Grammy Award for Best R & B album and India.Arie also won a Grammy for her song "Little Things". The performance went on for two hours with India.Arie performing songs like "Headed In The Right Direction", "Purify Me", "Strength Courage Wisdom", "One", "God Is Real", "Good Man" & "Brown Skin." One of the performance's highlights was when she sang "Talk To Her". She started by dedicating the song to all of the mother's in the audience. Towards the end she called out her own mother who she asked to sing with her. Her mother has a really strong voice and by the end of that performance the crowd wasn't shy to give her a standing ovation. During her performance of "Truth" it seemed like every woman grabbed the hands of their man and started singing along.
 India did keep her promise delivering three new songs. "The Ghetto", a song about ghettos all over the world will be featured on Love & Politics. "Young People, Old People," a song about what it would be like to have people of different generations teaching each other. The song will be featureattd on Life & Relationships. Lastly she performed her new single, "I Am Not My Hair."
When it was time for the show to finish fans almost broke out in tears, while others screamed out requests for the last song. Video was one request but it did not make it. The night ended as India serenaded the crowd with "Ready For Love." There wasn't a disappointed face in the crowd when the show was done. India.Arie is truly an amazing talent and everyone at the Apollo for her performance will attest to that. The next featured artist in the Apollo's Legend Concert Series is Babyface. Cover photo credit: Kwaku Alston
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