Jamie Lidell

A gear wonk turned electro-soul eccentric, Cambridge–born singer and multi-instrumentalist Jamie Lidell gained notoriety for impressive one-man performances in which he built full R&B-funk tracks by manipulating his own vocal sounds. His background was in experimental techno, having formed one half of the electronic duo Super_Collider in 1998, the year he turned 25. With 2005’s lauded Multiply, however, Lidell stunned electronic music fans by reimagining himself as a soul singer. He veered close to a full-on pop breakthrough with 2008’s Jim before steering into more experimental territory with 2010’s Compass, assisted by high-profile guests including Beck and Feist. Lidell moved to Nashville in 2011, and his subsequent albums have explored assorted subvarieties of electronics-driven R&B, recorded in his studio in the Music City.