Perla Batalla (born c. 1964) is an American vocalist, composer and arranger who first gained international attention as a backup singer for Leonard Cohen before embarking on a solo career at his encouragement.

[4] Batalla told an interviewer from the Los Angeles Times in 2001 that she had been attending law school when she took a friend's advice to follow a career in music instead.

[6]: 219 [1][2] Reviewing a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in 1988, David Sinclair of The Times wrote that the effect of Batalla and Christensen was "exquisite" and "instrumental in shoring up many of the melodies against Cohen's lachrymose grunt".

A review in Billboard called it an "impassioned, at times sublime debut" and opined that although Batalla had "a tendency to lapse into one-dimensional writing, she makes up for this shortcoming on [some] profound originals".

[13][2][14] Heaven and Earth: the Mestiza Voyage followed in 2000, and was described by Mark Holston of Hispanic as a "collection of pensive, poetic themes developed at a leisurely pace" on which Batalla was "a mesmerizing vocalist who casts a lingering spell".

Lechner praised Batalla's performance, writing that her "music caresses with its harmonies and gentle rhythms, then draws you in with an unexpected chorus or an unusual melodic resolution", and describing her as "a born storyteller with a rambunctious sense of humor".

magazine's Michael Tearson wrote: "Beautifully conceived and executed, Bird on the Wire is a rewarding listening experience I find myself returning to frequently.

[6]: 219 Her next release, Gracias a la Vida (2005), was an anthology of traditional South American songs inspired by a trip to meet her Argentine family.

[22] In 2011, she was commissioned by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to write and perform a piece to celebrate the opening of The Adventures of Women Surrealists in Mexico and the U.S. Batalla and her songwriting partner Batteau worked on building this into a full-length theatrical concert called "Blue House"; the song cycle was inspired by two painters, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.

[25] An edited version of Cohen's performance of his "Tower of Song" at The Prince's Trust Rock Gala in 1988, backed by Batalla and Christensen, was released on the video and DVD of the event.