Meshell Ndegeocello
Composer/Artist/
Songwriter
Mercurial and masterful, MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO has survived the best and worst of what a career in music has to offer. She eschewed genre for originality, celebrity for longevity, and musicals trends for musical truths. She has lived through the boom and bust of the industry and emerged just as she entered – unequivocally herself. Fans have come to expect the unexpected from Meshell, and faithfully followed her on sojourns into soul, spoken word, R&B, jazz, hip-hop, rock, all bound by a lyrical, spiritual search for love, justice, respect, resolution, and happiness.
Long assured of her place as an authentic musical thinker, Meshell’s investigation of sound invariably leads not just to a new musical experience but also defies and redefines the expectations for women, for queer artists, and for black music. Her entry into composing music for visual media has provided an exciting new outlet for these journeys and her rooted but diverse work in the scoring world is catching notice and momentum.
A bass player above all else, Meshell brings her warm, fat, and melodic groove to everything she does. She has been nominated for 10 Grammys and in 2021 she won the Best R&B Song Grammy with Robert Glasper and Gabriella Wilson for the song Better Than I Imagined, performed by HER. She has appeared alongside the Rolling Stones, Madonna, Alanis Morrisette, James Blood Ulmer, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Tony Allen, John Medeski, Billy Preston, and Chaka Khan. As for her own bass-playing influences, she credits Sting, Jaco Pastorius, Family Man Barrett, and Stevie Wonder. Meshell was the first woman to be featured on the cover of Bass Player magazine and remains one of few women who write the music, sing the songs, and lead the band.
Selected Credits
FILM
Diamondback (Composer)
June Bug Pictures
Directors: Jennia Fredrique Aponte
Producers: Jennifer Julian, Holly Payberg-Torrojia
All In: The Fight for Democracy (Composer)
Amazon Studios
Directors: Lisa Cortes, Liz Garbus
Producers: Stacey Abrams, Dan Cogan, Lisa Cortes, Liz Garbus
Starring: Stacey Abrams
Ahead of the Curve (Composer)
Wolfe Releasing
Directors: Jen Rainin, Rivkah Beth Medow
Producers: Rivkah Beth Medow
Starring: Franco Stevens, Melissa Etheridge, Jewelle Gomez
Solace (Composer)
Gravitas Ventures
Director: Tchaiko Omawale
Producers: Maya Emelle, Tchaiko Omawale, Hope Olaide Wilson
Starring: Hope Olaide Wilson, Chelsea Tavares, Lynn Whitfield
The House on Coco Road (Composer)
Director: Damani Baker
Producer: Max Osterweis
Starring: Angela Davis, Fania Davis, Fannie Huntington
Talk To Me (End Title)
Focus Features
Director: Kasi Lemmons
Producers: Miles Dale, William Horberg, Bruce Toll, Joseph Rappa
Starring: Don Cheadle, Cedric the Entertainer, Martin Sheen
Hound Dog (Composer)
Full Moon Films
Director: Deborah Kampmeier
Producers: Robin Wright-Penn, Deborah Kampmeier
Starring: Robin Wright-Penn, Dakota Fanning
STREAMING FILMS
The Devil You Know (Composer)
HBO Documentary Films / This Machine
Directors: Sam Pollard, Llewellyn Smith
Producers: Sam Pollard, R. J. Cutler, Elise Pearlstein, Kelly Thomson
Lackawanna Blues (Composer)
HBO Films
Director: George C. Wolfe
Producers: Halle Berry, Vince Cirrincione
Starring: Louis Gossett Jr., Mos Def
Disappearing Acts (Composer)
HBO Films
Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Producers: Lydia Dean Pilcher, Juanita F. Diana
Starring: Wesley Snipes, Sanaa Lathan
SERIES
Black Mafia Family (Composer)
STARZ
Producers: Randy Huggins, Terri Kopp, 50 Cent, Anthony Wilson
Our Kind of People (Composer)
Fox Network
Director: Tasha Smith
Producers: Lee Daniels, Karin Gist, Claire Brown, Ben Silverman
Starring: Kyle Bary, Ashley N. Blake, Rhyon Nicole Brown
Queen Sugar (Composer)
OWN
Producers: Ava DuVernay, Oprah Winfrey
Starring: Rutina Wesley, Dawn-Lyen Gardner, Kofi Siriboe
The Hair Tales (Composer)
OWN / Hulu
Producers: Natalie Eakin, Tracee Ellis Ross, Raeshem Nijhon, Oprah Winfrey
Starring: Oprah Winfrey, Issa Rae, Chloe Bailey, Marsai Martin
The History of Gospel Music & Black Preaching (Composer)
PBS / McGee Media
Producers: Stacey Holman, Shayla Harris
We The People (Theme, Episode)
Netflix / Higher Ground / Laughing Wild / Khalabo
Producers: Priya Swaminathan, Ada Chiaghana, Chris Nee, PeeDee Shindell, Kenya Barris, Erynn Sampson, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama
Supreme Models (Composer)
This Machine / Youtube Originals
Director: Rolake Bamgbose, Donny Jackson, Douglas Keeve
Producers: R.J. Cutler, Iman, Donny Jackson, Marcellas Reynolds, Trevor Smith
Starring: Iman, Damaris Lewis, Veronica Webb
Noah’s Arc (Composer)
LOGO
Director: Patrik-Ian Polk
Producers: Jasmyne Cannick, Jason Mandl, Patrik-Ian Polk, Carol Ann Shine
Starring: Nate Adams, Jensen Atwood, Wilson Cruz
DISCOGRAPHY
Better Than I Imagined performed by HER (songwriter with Robert Glasper, Gabriella Wilson)
2021
Grammy Winner – Best R&B Song
Ventriloquism
2018
Comet, Come To Me*
2014
All Rise: A Joyful Elegy for Fats Waller*
2014
Artist: Jason Moran
Nominated for a Grammy Award 2015
Promise of a Brand New Day*
2014
Artist: Ruthie Foster
Nominated for a Grammy Award 2015
Time*
2014
Artist: Anthony Joseph
Pour une Âme Souveraine: A Dedication to Nina Simone*
2012
Weather
2011
Devil’s Halo*
2009
The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams*
2007
Dance of the Infidel*
2005
Comfort Woman*
2003
Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape*
2002
Bitter
1999
Peace Beyond Passion
1996
Plantation Lullabies 1993
* Producer credit
SONGS IN FILM & SERIES
Really Love (Song)
MACRO
Proud Mary (Songs)
Screen Gems
All Rise (Songs)
CBS
The Only Living Boy in New York (Songs)
Amazon Studios
Soul Men (Songs)
Dimension Films
People – A Musical Celebration Of Diversity (Songs)
Disney Channel
Living Single (Songs)
Warner Bros. Television
Daddy’s Little Girls (Songs)
Lionsgate
The Lake House (Songs)
Warner Bros. Pictures
So You Think You Can Dance (Soundtrack)
20th Century Fox
She’s Gotta Have It (Songs)
Netflix
I Love Dick (Songs)
Amazon Prime Video
The Walking Dead (Songs)
AMC
Something New (Songs)
Focus Features
Biker Boyz (Songs)
Dreamworks SKG
Standing in the Shadows Of Motown (Songs and Appearance)
Artisan
The Laramie Project (Songs)
HBO Films
Lost & Delirious (Songs)
Lions Gate Films
Love & Basketball (Songs)
New Line Cinema
The Hurricane (Songs)
Universal Pictures
The Best Man (Songs)
Universal Pictures
Down In The Delta (Songs)
Showtime/Miramax
How Stella Got Her Groove Back (Songs)
20th Century Fox
Money Talks (Songs)
New Line Cinema
Batman & Robin (Songs)
Warner Brothers
Love Jones (Songs)
New Line Cinema
White Man’s Burden (Songs)
HBO/Rysher/A Band Apart
Panther (Songs)
Polygram/Gramercy
Vampire in Brooklyn (Songs)
Paramount Home Video
Higher Learning (Songs)
Columbia Pictures