Since the early ’90s, Meshell Ndegeocello has forged her own path through popular music, wowing audiences and her peers as a virtuosic bass player while reimagining modern notions of genre in her solo work. Born Michelle Lynn Johnson in Berlin in 1968, Ndegeocello began her music career on Washington, D.C.’s late-’80s go-go circuit. In 1993, after signing to Madonna’s Maverick record label, she released her first solo album, Plantation Lullabies, which spawned the blistering hip-hop boast “If That’s Your Boyfriend (He Wasn’t Last Night)” and helped kick-start the neo-soul movement. In 1994, she reached the Top 10 guesting on John Mellencamp’s cover of Van Morrison’s “Wild Night,” and her hot streak continued in the clubs, where her take on Bill Withers’ “Who Is He and What Is He to You” and her Chaka Khan collab “Never Miss The Water” ruled dance floors. Since leaving Maverick in 2003, she has continued to release wide-ranging albums that draw on her jazz and soul background, including 2011’s emotionally rich Weather and 2018’s covers collection Ventriloquism.