Ledisi’s book shows what makes her tick

In this Oprah age of dream boards, gratitude journals, and meditations on how to live in the moment, Ledisi, the seven-time Grammy-nominated singer, has a new book that feels right on time.

The trendy-colored hot pink and tangerine hardcover, Better Than Alright: Finding Peace, Love & Power (Essence Books, $16.95), is a 176-page coffee table book that's one part biographical and two parts inspirational, filled with Ledisi's mantras, poetry, and photos that give you a good sense of what makes this singer tick.

It's like reading a diary. Spiritual coach Iyanla Vanzant would be proud.

"I had to be transparent though this whole process," Ledisi (Leh-dih-SEE) said in an interview last week. "I mean, I couldn't stop when it got ugly. This didn't happen overnight: Here is my full journey. Not everything was great. But I was able to turn it around and had an amazing experience."

The singer's first book was released nationwide Tuesday, and Ledisi's appearance Wednesday at the African American Museum in Philadelphia was the second stop in a four-city tour that also includes New York, Baltimore and Washington. Ledisi will be back June 24 headlining at the Keswick Theatre in her "Be Good to Yourself" tour. Eric Benet will open.

Better Than Alright, a play on Ledisi's 2007 hit, "Alright," is a collage of her life experiences. It includes verse, including the long-form version of the singer's chart-topping single "Pieces of Me," and a sweet list of personal loves that ends with:

Blue people.

Black people.

White people.

Brown people.

All people.

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Personal photos also are interspersed throughout the book — self-portraits, family members, a tree in Memphis, rippling ocean waters. She wrote essays on those who have inspired her art, including Miles Davis, Michelle Obama, and her own Grandma Lorraine. (She had so many that Stevie Wonder didn't make the cut.)

And she begins each chapter with a detail-rich story of a life-changing event, such as how she began performing on a blue chest nestled in her childhood closet, how her family weathered Hurricane Katrina, even how she forgave her late stepfather for molesting her when she was a little girl. Before she could publish the collection, she found herself having to clear details not just with her editor, but with her loved ones.

"My family ... they were OK with it," she said. "I prepared them. They had it before anyone else had it."

And in total girl-magazine style, there are pages for readers to record their ideas and personal aha moments.

Ledisi — whose name means "to bring forth" in the West African language Yoruba — was born Ledisi Anibade Young in New Orleans in 1978. She is known for her jazz-infused music accompanied by her clear-as-a bell voice; her parents were both soul singers. She performed in the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra before moving to Oakland and studied opera and piano at University of California's Berkeley Young Musicians Program. In 1995, she started her own group, Anibade.

The group released its first album, Soulsinger: The Revival, in 2001. In 2007, she released her first album, Lost & Found, as a solo artist; it sold more than 200,000 copies and got her two Grammy nominations, including one for best new artist. She has appeared in several plays, including Off-Broadway's Caroline or Change, and has performed for President Obama and his wife. Her sound is updated neo-soul — with lyrics a little less defensive than India Arie and a little more jazzy than Philadelphia's Jill Scott, and a refreshing alternative to the high-energy pop sound of Rihanna and Beyoncé.

But even with all of Ledisi's success, she had yet to write a book, an idea that was high up on her bucket list.

"Someone told me I could never write a book," Ledisi said, her voice more ebullient with each sentence. "So I sat down and wrote a bunch of affirmations." One day about three years ago, a friend, nosing through Ledisi's computer, came across her musings.

The friend had a contact at Essence Magazine.

At the time, said Patrik Henry Bass, Essence's senior editor, the company was looking for another literary endeavor, having just had modest success publishing the coffee-table book The Obamas: A Portrait of America's New First Family: From The Editors of Essence (2009). Essence was looking for its first opportunity to collaborate on something inspirational with a celebrity author.

"Ledisi works for Essence because she is the quintessential Essence woman," Bass said. "She is gifted. She is talented. She is extremely intelligent, beautiful, curious, spiritual, and centered."

Ledisi journaled at night and would send her ideas to Bass via text message. Bass, admittedly living in the dinosaur age of technology, found himself transcribing texts from his flip phone at all hours of the day — like 4 a.m.

"Her brain and her passion run large," said Bass. "I had to catch up to speed with Ledisi."

Ledisi told her story in 11 chapters focused on universal themes of faith (how hard it is to keep it going), beauty (the importance of believing in your own), and home (you can always go back.)

It's clear Ledisi "gets it," and she wants to make sure the reader does too, especially the lessons on forgiveness, which she said were the most difficult to write.

"This was probably harder than doing an album for me," she said, her voice warm and honest. "With an album, you can use a lot of metaphors, but with writing, you have to be clear and to the point."