BIGSONG:
Singer and songwriter Keyondra Lockett was a founding member of gospel group Zie’l before she began releasing her own urban contemporary-styled inspirational music as a solo artist in the early 2010s. After issuing a couple of mixtapes, her bright, soulful vocal tone took center stage on her first official solo release, the Bring Me To EP, in 2015. She has also written songs for artists such as Crystal Aiken, Kierra Sheard, and Virtue. Keyondra Lockett was still in her mid-teens when she started the contemporary gospel singing group Zie’l with Aphten Jones, Undrea Northcutt, and sisters Christina and Crystal Bell in 1998. Noted for their striking multi-part harmonies and impressive range, they made their recording debut in 2006 with Genesis (Light Records). The group eventually went on hiatus, and Lockett made her first solo material in the form of the Soul Couture mixtape, issued in 2012. Zie’l returned in mid-2013 with a funky stand-alone single, “Redeemed,” as a trio without Jones or Northcutt. A single written by Lockett and produced by Drathoven (Yolanda Adams, Tyrese), Zie’l’s “State of Emergency” appeared in the first half of 2014 on Dream Records, and the album Zie’l (Pronounced Zy-El) followed later in the year. A mix of contemporary gospel and contemporary R&B, it went on to reach the Top 25 of Billboard’s Gospel Albums chart.n 2015, Lockett returned with Soul Couture II as well as the EP Bring Me To, her official solo debut. It was released via her label, Bella Dawn Music Group. “Make Me Better,” a song she co-wrote for Kierra Sheard, appeared on Sheard’s LED EP, also in 2015. The following year, Lockett became the first gospel artist to license her own doll after joining forces with Kenya & Friends. With production by Jor’dan Armstrong, Lockett did her own version of “Make Me Better” retitled “You Make Me Better” in mid-2017, and a song she penned for Virtue appeared on their Fearless LP in February of 2018. That same month, the Lockett single “Try” saw release; it featured production by Tedy P Williams.
