As the late morning drifts into the early afternoon in Philadelphia where I am and Houston where she is Cherae Leri tells me about her next moves that'll earn her some Flyer Miles. Soon she'll be splitting her time in between Houston, Atlanta and Las Vegas . A long ways from her home of Columbia, Missouri. The singer, model, and Aquarius loosens up and soaks up the attention as the afternoon warmth settles in.
"I can never turn down a good debate, if I have my facts and I have my proof...you know" Cherae Leri, 20, tells me after I ask her what she would want to be doing if she wasn't making music and performing. "I would have liked to have been a lawyer." Cherae has come a long way from mid-west to land in the Houston, Texas where she assures me she won't be for too much longer. "If I'm not barefoot I'm in a pair of heels," she says. "I'm a country girl at heart but the city has definitely... persuaded me to think and explore otherwise."
This life she's living out right now--lady, music, city, plans-- could be that of a character from a Darnell Martin or Salim Akil film. As a young beautiful woman who sees her self as a complete artists she has the confidence fill the roll of such a main character and carry the soundtrack. "I always had the dream of becoming a performer, not only a singer but an artists--modelling, Acting, Fashion Designer, Jewelry Designer." She doesn't have the typical 20-something year old rise to fame story to tell. Coming from a family of 2 sisters and 4 brothers Cherae knows what it takes to standout, nearly losing her birthday to one of her older brothers is a constant reminder of how easily we can all get lumped together."Let me tell you a funny story; Let my momma tell it I was born January 25th, My older brother's birthday is January 24th but I noticed on my birth certificate it says January 24th. LOL"
Her work ethic and motivation can't be questioned and she has started to make herself noticeable to an impressive group of acquaintances from legendary music circles-- Erykah Badu, Patti Labelle, Kelly Rowland, Leela James, and Snoop Dogg--which was impressive enough to land her self a deal with ET Management International in August of this year.
She appreciates the warmth of fellow musicians giving her encouragement and those small doses of motivation and that has molded her ambitions for her personal and professional life, which she considers one-in-the-same. "I just want to be able to understand and feel my fans and connect with them." she confesses. "I want to be the artist that can say you know, I've been through that, I made it out, and not only do I understand I've felt the way you're feeling right now."
The child of a dj which whom we never agreed on whether she'd been in the game for 30 or 40 years, Cherae started her performing as a young girl showing off her beautiful smooth voice to family and friends at local events and family gatherings.
It's safe to say she's always known what her purpose on this earth is. "I'm an Aquarius, we ask questions for understanding. You can't tell me to do something and expect me to know what you're talking about or I understand why you want me to do this. You need to tell me why you want me to do this; why what's the point?" she explains. "I feel like everything and everybody has their own purpose. You know, what's your purpose and why are you asking? LOL". Ironically her latest song is named "Mirage" which is available on
iTunes and
Google play. Seeing as how by definition a mirage is a naturally occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays are bent to produce a displaced image of distant objects or the sky. Maybe Cherae has so far only shown us a displaced image of her yet to be complete artistic form. Well just know in contrast to a hallucination, a mirage is a real optical phenomenon that can be captured on camera.
