YEBBA

YEBBA serves as both the childhood nickname and professional alias for singer Abbey Smith, a Grammy recipient recognized for her soulful voice and sincere tenor. Early exposure came through backing Chance the Rapper on Saturday Night Live, an appearance that earned praise from Ed Sheeran ahead of her first single release, "Evergreen," in 2017. Later partnerships connected her with high-profile artists such as Sheeran, Sam Smith, and PJ Morton, whose 2019 recording "How Deep Is Your Love" featured her vocals and secured the Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance. Mark Ronson also entered the picture, producing her debut full-length Dawn in 2021, while Robert Glasper contributed to other sessions before she issued the solo track "Waterfall (I Adore You)" in October 2023, a song Drake had already sampled for the closing cut of his For All the Dogs album.

Smith grew up in West Memphis, Arkansas, where her mother affectionately reversed her name to create the nickname Yebba. In a household centered on faith, the Clark Sisters stood out as primary vocal influences during her formative years. As an adult pursuing music, she appeared on tracks by Clark Beckham and Luke Levenson in 2015, after which Ed Sheeran became an advocate following a 2016 live rendition of her composition "My Mind." Shortly thereafter she adopted YEBBA exclusively to honor her mother, who died by suicide soon after that performance, and made her Saturday Night Live debut alongside Chance the Rapper in October 2016.

Her first official single, "Evergreen," arrived in late 2017, around the same period she co-wrote "No Peace" for Sam Smith’s chart-topping album The Thrill of It All. The Rudimental release "They Don't Care About Us" from late 2018 also included her alongside Maverick Sabre.

February 2019 brought the Grammy win for Best Traditional R&B Performance tied to her featured role on PJ Morton’s "How Deep Is Your Love." Additional featured appearances followed on Sheeran’s mid-2019 song "Best Part of Me," Mark Ronson’s "Don't Leave Me Lonely," and the title track of Robert Glasper’s Fuck Yo Feelings, with "Best Part of Me" marking her first entry on the Hot 100. A second solo release, "Where Do You Go," surfaced in late 2019, and Dawn, again produced by Ronson, reached stores in September 2021, landing inside the Top Ten of the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart.

Further collaboration with Glasper yielded "Over" on his 2022 album Black Radio III, after which she issued the concert EP Live at Electric Lady and returned to original material with the flute-accented "Waterfall (I Adore You)" in October 2023, the same month Drake’s For All the Dogs appeared with its sample of the track.