These concerts are the North Carolina Symphony debut for LaKisha Jones.

Best known as a top-four finalist during the 2007 season of American Idol, LaKisha Jones later took to the Broadway stage in the Oprah Winfrey-produced, Tony Award-winning musical The Color Purple, where she played two roles: that of a “church lady” and of the pivotal character “Sophia.” The latter role she alternated with R&B icon Chaka Khan, who became her mentor, and Jones participated in Khan’s 35th Anniversary Tour. Following her Broadway stint, Jones provided vocal coaching on MTV’s reality competition Legally Blonde: The Search for Elle Woods, a show designed to find and hone Broadway’s next star.

Jones’ debut album So Glad I’m Me featured a spirited mix of R&B and soul. Songs included the single “Same Song,” penned by award-winning songwriter Dianne Warren, Whitney Houston’s “You Give Good Love,” the gospel song “Just as I Am,” and Jones’ ballad to her daughter, “Beautiful Girl.”

Raised by her mother and grandmother in Flint, Michigan, Jones sang in church choirs and music programs, joined various chorale groups and a cappella choruses throughout high school, then entered and won the top prize at Flint’s local talent contest, The Super Show. After a two-year stint studying vocal performance at the University of Michigan, she relocated to various cities (Dallas, Houston and Virginia Beach) to pursue her dream as a singer before auditioning for American Idol.

A frequent soloist with symphony orchestras, Jones has performed as a guest soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Utah Symphony and Opera, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Houston Symphony, and Colorado Symphony, among many others.