She released her debut album Soulsinger (2000), which featured the single "Take Time", which gained substantial airplay from San Francisco area radio stations.

[4] In 2006, Ledisi signed a record deal with Verve Forecast and released her third album, titled Lost & Found (2007).

[6] In 2020, Ledisi formed her own record label Listen Back Entertainment and released her album The Wild Card.

[7] Ledisi's biological paternal grandfather, Johnny Ace,[2] was an American blues singer who was known for his single "Pledging My Love".

[3] After the group failed to secure a record deal, Ledisi and keyboardist Sundra Manning formed their own label LeSun Music.

The album featured jazz standards "'Round Midnight", "In a Sentimental Mood", and "Autumn Leaves (Les feuilles mortes)".

[13] She also released a 4-track extended play titled Ledisi & Anibade – "Live" The Bootleg Recordings Vol.

[3] In May 2004, Ledisi portrayed two characters, The Washing Machine and The Radio, in the Broadway production of Caroline, or Change.

[17] Lost & Found peaked at number 10 on Billboard's R&B Albums chart and sold over 237,000 copies in the United States.

[5] She made a cameo appearance in the comedy film Leatherheads as a blues singer who performed the pop standard "The Man I Love" in April 2008.

[29] It is based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches for voting rights in Alabama, led by James Bevel, Martin Luther King Jr., and Hosea Williams.

In January 2015, Ledisi released a studio live extended play titled The Intimate Truth.

In October 2018, Ledisi performed "As Long as You're Mine" with Adam Lambert in an NBC broadcast, A Very Wicked Halloween: Celebrating 15 Years on Broadway.

The Wild Card was the first album to be released on Ledisi's independent label Listen Back Entertainment, distributed by BMG.

On March 1, 2023, Ledisi performed "River" with Herbie Hancock in honor of Joni Mitchell at the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize concert.

[37] Music critic Salamishah Tillet of The New York Times praised her voice for its "diversity and breathtaking range".

[2] Fellow musician John Legend commented "As a contemporary vocalist, there’s almost no one I can think of in the world that sings as skillfully as she does.

[2][43] In July 2021, she released a tribute album titled Ledisi Sings Nina, which features popular songs written or covered by Simone.

[44] On February 7, 2020, Ledisi paid homage to Mayfield doing a tribute concert alongside Bilal and the WDR Big Band.

[44] Her musical influences also include Chaka Khan,[45] Patti LaBelle,[45] Deniece Williams,[45] Leontyne Price,[46] Dinah Washington,[46] Aretha Franklin,[46] Patsy Cline,[46] Sarah Vaughn,[46] Ella Fitzgerald,[46] and Stevie Wonder.

[47] Ledisi credited Diana Ross's performance as Dorothy Gale in The Wiz for giving her the "acting bug".

[48] In an interview with People magazine, Ledisi cited Prince as a musical influence and that he encouraged her to leave her record label.

In March 2012, she was invited to the White House by First Lady Michelle Obama for the Women's History Month Mentoring Series.

That is why the Recording Academy, along with the California PTA, the Actors Fund and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, are joining hundreds of school superintendents, arts advocates, business leaders, teachers, parents and students in calling on the Legislature to pass and Gov.

[60] She stated, "I want to work with everybody that's involved that are dealing with AIDS and HIV and AIDS/HIV prevention, anything just to spread the word about that and stop all the stigmas.

She also met with the Black Treatment Advocates Network (BTAN) and the Detroit Health Department to express concern about the disparate number of African American women with HIV compared to other demographics.

[69][70] She has been the honorary musical receiptant of Americans for the Arts,[71] EmpowHer,[72] and Los Angeles Jazz Society.

[75] In 1999, Ledisi co-founded the independent record label LeSun Music with musician Sundra Manning.

In January 2019, Ledisi founded another independent record label called Listen Back Entertainment.

The company published Ledisi's second book Don't Ever Lose Your Walk: How to Embrace Your Journey, which was released in January 2020.