Paloma Ford

R&B vocalist Paloma Ford first drew notice for her sultry approach that fuses hip-hop rhythms with electro textures. Her initial public steps came as a backing singer for Macy Gray on the 2007 album Big, after which she issued her own projects Nearly Civilized in 2016 and X Tapes in 2020.

Born in Long Beach, California, in 1986 to a Black father and a white mother, Ford developed an early fondness for singing during car rides spent listening to music with her dad. She later relocated with her mother to Ohio, where exposure to Sade, Carole King, and the Temptations broadened her tastes, while her grandfather introduced her to jazz and the work of Billie Holiday. Following high school she moved back to California to focus on a music career.

After establishing herself as a background vocalist for Macy Gray, Ford began uploading clips of her own material, among them the songs “Dollars,” “Ménage à Trois,” and “Hit of You.” A wider audience arrived in 2014 via her featured turn on Meek Mill’s “I Don’t Know,” which reached the Top 40 of Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. That same year she released the track “Summer in California,” which included guest appearances from Iamsu and Snoop Dogg. Her debut EP, Nearly Civilized, arrived in 2016. Subsequent standalone singles comprised 2017’s “Waves” featuring Dave East and 2019’s “Rain.” In August 2020 she returned with the follow-up EP X Tapes, highlighted by the song “All for Nothing” featuring Rick Ross.