FM LAETI

FM Laeti emerged from a childhood split across continents, having been born in Guadeloupe's village of Karukera in 1981 before her family relocated to France when she was three and then to Canada at nine. The daughter of a literature student mother and a drummer father who had earlier co-founded the zouk outfit Kassav', she first nurtured her musical instincts in Canada through participation in her school's chamber choir and exposure to recordings by Bob Marley, Nina Simone, Etta James, Salif Keita, and Bebel Gilberto. After completing her studies at college in Illinois she settled back in Paris, where she took up performances in jazz venues and supported herself through costume design and English-language voice-over work. Under the adopted name FM Laeti she caught the attention of multi-instrumentalist François-Marie Dru, leading to a deal with Wagram Records and the recording of her debut album It Will All Come Around, which appeared to strong notices in late 2011 and included the lead track "Rise in the Sun" plus a guest turn from Malawi vocalist Fatoumata Diawara (Coco). She followed in 2014 with the dance-focused single "I Wanna Dance" and the album For the Music.