Bilal

Biography

Bilal Sayeed Oliver (born August 23, 1979) is an American singer and songwriter. He is an independent artist, noted for his wide vocal range, work across multiple genres, and intense live performances.
Starting out at a major label, Bilal debuted with his popular R&B single "Soul Sista×Soul Sista7 November 2000 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 6 tracks1Soul Sista5:302Soul Sista (radio edit)4:033Soul Sista (instrumental)5:264All That I Am (snippet)1:515Love Poems (snippet)1:566Sometimes (snippet)1:50" in 2000, but turned to playing jazz venues and recording more progressive soul music in subsequent years. He has commercially released four albums to critical success, while his unreleased but widely leaked second album Love for Sale×Love for Sale2006 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Something to Hold on To4:062You're All I Need (Feels Like Heaven)4:433Gotsta Be Cool5:384Make Me Over5:175Get Out of My Hair4:236Lord Don't Let It5:087All for Love4:478Hands of Time3:459Hollywood3:3810White Turns to Grey6:1711Sorrow, Tears & Blood7:4312Sweet, Sour U3:23 also found wide acclaim among critics and listeners. He was a member of the Soulquarians, an experimental black music collective active from the late 1990s to early 2000s. He has been well received, both nationally and internationally, with an extensive list of collaborations including Kendrick Lamar, Common, Erykah Badu, Solange Knowles, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Guru, Kimbra, J Dilla, Robert Glasper, and The Roots.
In August 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown, Bilal wrote and recorded his first EP, Voyage-19, over the course of three days and in collaboration with various musicians in remote experimental sessions, which were streamed live on YouTube. The resulting three-track EP was released digitally the following month, with revenues of its sale and accompanying donations given to the participating artists, many of whom had been struggling financially due to the pandemic.

Early life

Bilal was born Bilal Sayeed Oliver in Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He grew up in a religiously mixed household, his mother being Christian and his father Muslim. When he was 11 he became choir director at his mother's church, and at 14 he formed a group and performed gigs at the Blue Moon Cafe in Philadelphia. As a formative experience, he cites his father taking him to the city's jazz clubs. "I used to have to sit in the back where the cigarette machine was. They had a curtain they could put over me just in case the police came", he recalls to Beat magazine:

I remember sitting back there watching all of these different bands who really intrigued me a lot. I liked the way the cats dressed, the way they talked. I got to see Terrence Blanchard, Kenny Kirkland, Jeff 'Tain' Watts. I was a 13-year-old – I made up my mind then that I wanted to be in music some kind of way.
Bilal graduated from the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts and then attended New York City's The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, where he met the pianist Robert Glasper on his first day. With Glasper, he frequented a number of jazz clubs in the city and eventually the Wetlands Preserve nightclub, where he connected with musicians of the Soulquarians collective: the Roots, Common, Erykah Badu, and Mos Def. Concurrently, Bilal frequented jam sessions set up by New School professors and students. At one such event, he met Aaron Comess, a musician from the pop-rock band Spin Doctors. The two went on to improvise together at Comess's home and produced a demo that was later heard by Interscope Records, who signed Bilal to a record contract.

1999–2001: Beginnings with the Soulquarians and 1st album

Bilal began to familiarize himself with the music scene in New York City, meeting prominent recording artists such as Common, The Roots, and Erykah Badu from the Soulquarians collective. Eventually, he was discovered by Aaron Comess from the Spin Doctors during an after-school jam session. It was with him that Bilal recorded his demo and eventually landed a record deal with Interscope Records.
In 2001, Bilal released his debut album 1st Born Second×1st Born Second31 July 2001 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 17 tracks1Intro1:442For You3:453Fast Lane3:554Reminisce4:335All That I Am (Something for the People)3:546Sally3:397Sometimes7:108Love It3:469C'mere2:1010Soul Sista5:1911When Will You Call4:4512Queen of Sanity5:1913Love Poems5:2314You Are4:1515Home5:2116Slyde4:0517Second Child6:51, which featured contributions from the Soulquarians as well as high-profile producers such as Dr. Dre and J Dilla. The album peaked at number 31 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, and it has sold 319,000 copies. 1st Born Second received universal acclaim from music critics; and holds a score of 82 out of 100 at Metacritic. The album earned rave reviews from publications including The Village Voice, Chicago Sun-Times, and USA Today, and it also received comparisons to the music of Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Sly & the Family Stone, Prince, and Curtis Mayfield.
The album showcased a wide variety, from the emotionally charged fan-favorite "Soul Sista×Soul Sista7 November 2000 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 6 tracks1Soul Sista5:302Soul Sista (radio edit)4:033Soul Sista (instrumental)5:264All That I Am (snippet)1:515Love Poems (snippet)1:566Sometimes (snippet)1:50", which peaked at No. 18 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts, to the political viewpoints of "Fast Lane×Fast Lane2001 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Fast Lane (remix - main version)4:122How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?3:463Fast Lane (original version)6:274Fast Lane (video)9:40" and "Second Child". Bilal managed to gain a sizable following and high attendance at his live shows, as well as much acclaim and respect from his peers, many of whom noted his range and ability to sing in a freeform style, and his classically trained falsetto. The soulful feel of the album caused Bilal to be labeled as "neo-soul". Bilal stresses that this term does not fit, and throughout his career, his expansion in music and pushing of boundaries proved his point.

2001–2011: Love for Sale saga and Airtight's Revenge

In the following years Bilal continued to appear on projects by other artists of both high profile and avant garde, while recording and developing his follow-up set to be released on Interscope Records and featuring contributions primarily from producers Dr. Dre and J Dilla. These plans proved to be changeable and the final result, Love for Sale, was an album that appeared to be built around Bilal's own musicianship. Bilal switched it up on Love For Sale, which includes live instrumentation and a vibe completely new and different from its predecessor.
Bilal's anticipation for the album was shot down, however, after receiving disapproval from Interscope. Unwilling to start from scratch, Bilal continued to push his LP. However, near the album's completion, the album was leaked in its entirety on the Internet. Interscope shelved the album indefinitely, hinting that it saw little commercial potential in it. The event sent Bilal into a period of distress, and he was considering quitting music; however, Love for Sale received over half a million downloads on the Internet, and Bilal began touring, despite there not being a proper release of the album. His concerts were known for being intense and inspiring awe among audiences.

In 2008, Bilal began recording for his next album. After nine years without a properly released album, Bilal made a comeback on September 14, 2010, with Airtight's Revenge×Airtight's Revenge6 September 2010 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Cake and Eat It Too4:012Restart4:533All Matter5:214Flying4:225Levels5:286Little One4:007Move On3:288Robots3:169The Dollar3:2810Who Are You6:0211Think It Over3:50, a sophomore LP released under independent record label Plug Research. Bilal describes it as a retrospective: an album that explores his experiences and things he has learned since his last release. An experimental album, Airtight's Revenge blends jazz, hip-hop, electronic, rock, soul, and blues into one raw, genuine collection of music. The album's single, "Little One", earned Bilal a nomination a 2011 Grammy Award nomination in the category of Best Urban/Alternative Performance. That year, he also contributed as a guest performer to the Roots' Grammy-nominated album Undun (2011) and the Robert Glasper Experiment's Grammy-winning Black Radio (2012).

2012–2019: Further independent albums and guest projects

In 2012, Bilal revealed plans for a new album under a new label, eOne Music. During several interviews, he described the new project as "a lot warmer and [more] sensual" than its conceptual predecessor. The new album, titled A Love Surreal×A Love Surreal26 February 2013 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Intro1:072West Side Girl3:283Back to Love3:114Winning Hand5:235Climbing3:246Longing and Waiting3:547Right at the Core3:348Slipping Away5:579Lost for Now3:3610Astray4:1111Never Be the Same3:2012Butterfly6:4113The Flow3:5814Outro1:06, has a more acoustic sound, as Bilal worked closely with his entire band. To set up the album's release, on December 5, 2012, he released a mixtape titled The Retrospection via Facebook and then the album's lead single "Back to Love×Back To Love11 December 2012 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Back To Love3:11" six days later. The song's music video was released on January 8, 2013, telling the story of a drug-addicted love doctor who ironically uses the advice he gives to his patients to help his own relationship. The song sets the tone for the album, which Bilal says embodies "the whole process [of love]: meeting, the break-up, [and] the get-back-together". A Love Surreal was released on February 26, 2013.
With the release of A Love Surreal, Bilal immediately achieved commercial success, debuting at No. 1 on iTunes' R&B Chart. On Billboard, the album debuted at No. 17 on the Independent Albums Chart, No. 19 on the R&B Albums Chart, and No. 103 on the Billboard 200, ranking higher than its predecessor, Airtight's Revenge. The album also received numerous high reviews, including an 8/10 from SPIN magazine, 4.5/5 stars from Allmusic, and 4/4 stars from USA Today.
In between albums, Bilal appeared on albums by a variety of recording artists, including Kimbra, Otis Brown III, Kat Dahlia, and Slum Village. His guest contributions to Kendrick Lamar's third album To Pimp a Butterfly (2015) helped create buzz for Bilal's fifth album, In Another Life×In Another Life30 June 2015 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Sirens II2:452Star Now3:103Open Up the Door3:094I Really Don't Care3:005Pleasure Toy4:326Satellites2:597Lunatic2:428Money Over Love2:459Love Child3:1910Holding It Back3:2811Spiraling2:5912Bury Me Next to You3:44, released in 2015 to critical success. In an essay on the Soulquarians published that year, Michael A. Gonzales traces the collective's impact to Bilal's contemporary contributions: "Listening to Kendrick Lamar's newest album To Pimp a Butterfly, Bilal has transformed himself into an arty Nate Dogg for the post-Soulquarian generation that includes Robert Glasper, Esperanza Spalding and, now, Kendrick. Also writing that year, Exclaim! journalist Kevin Jones said, "Bilal's years spent in career limbo feel like a relatively minor blip in the wake of the many artistically ambitious personal releases and guest projects the uncompromising singer has managed to string together in recent years."

In 2019, Bilal contributed to Philip Bailey's single "We're a Winner", a recording of the Impressions' 1967 song of the same name. Bailey said of Bilal, who sang guest vocals and appeared in the music video: "Bilal was one of those singers who uses his [voice] like an instrument. And he's very explorative with his vocal [range]. He's played and he sang on things with more jazzy guys, too. I thought that our voices — obviously having those falsettos — would complement one another. And with that one, we actually sent him the files. I wasn't even in the studio with Bilal when he did his stuff."

2020: Live-streamed EP amid pandemic

In August 2020, over the course of a three-day weekend, Bilal live streamed his creation of an experimental three-song EP for HighBreedMusic, a Brooklyn recording studio and digital music channel. He wrote, recorded, and produced one song each day, totaling 54 hours, in collaboration with producer Tariq Khan and 30 other musicians, including Erykah Badu, Robert Glasper, Tone Whitfield, Khemist, Simon Mavin (of Hiatus Kaiyote), Keyon Harrold, Madison McFerrin, Marcus Strickland, Yahzarah St. James, Raymond Angry, Ben Williams, Brandee Younger, Big Yuki, Melanie Charles, Marcus Gilmore, and Louis Cato. Each participant worked remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The stream simultaneously showed the EP's artwork being made, with a group of three visual artists enlisted for each song, including Angelbert Metoyer and Shanina Dionna.
The EP was available to be pre-ordered during the weekend of the live stream, with sales and optional donations given to the participating artists, a number of whom were in financial difficulties because of the pandemic. On September 6, it was released on Bandcamp as a three-track digital download titled Voyage-19, for a price of $6.99, the profits of which were also distributed among the participants.

2023-present: Live at Glasshaus and Adjust Brightness

In December 2023, Bilal performed a concert for at Glasshaus in Brooklyn, New York that was subsequently released as an album entitled Live at Glasshaus×Live at Glasshaus14 June 2024 · Album · LiveSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Something to Hold (Live)6:042All Matter (Live)11:463All for Love (Live)6:124Reminisce (Live)7:225Funky for You (Live)6:206Soul Sista (Live)4:187Interlude (Questlove’s Story) (Live)4:598Sometimes (Live)8:079Interlude (Common’s Gratitude) (Live)2:2110Humility (Live)8:3411Levels (Live)10:48. The album was produced by Jarrett Wetherell for the Glasshaus label. Questlove, Common, Robert Glasper, and Burniss Travis joined Bilal as his ensemble. The group performed 11 songs from Bilal’s catalog, including 1st Born Second, Love For Sale, Airtight’s Revenge, Common’s Like Water For Chocolate, as well as the premiere of a new song, Who We R Now, which was performed as a medley with Common’s classic hit I Used To Love H.E.R. The concert was livestreamed twice, once in December of 2023, and a second time in June of 2024. The album was released on June 14, 2024 during Black Music Month.
In August 2024, Bilal announced his sixth studio album, Adjust Brightness×Adjust Brightness27 September 2024 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Adjust Brightness2:342Sunshine2:053Evr Chngin Nrml2:554The Story3:515Tell Me3:066A2Z3:037Lay Around3:538Who We R Now4:389Quantum Universe4:3210Conditional3:5811Micro Macro4:03. The eleven track album was self-released on September 30, 2024. The first single from the album was Sunshine×Sunshine16 August 2024 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Sunshine2:13, released on August 16th. A North American tour for the album began October 7th, 2024 and ended on October 26th.
On November 20, 2024, Bilal's concert documentary, Bilal: Live at Glasshaus, was released. The 65 minute film was directed by Jarrett Wetherell and premiered on YouTube via Glasshaus. It features intimate performance footage accompanied by interview commentary from Bilal, Questlove, Common, and Robert Glasper. The film was announced by The Hollywood Reporter and Essence described it as "raw and electrifying". The film won two Gold Telly Awards (in the categories of ‘Entertainment’ and ‘Live Events & Experiences’) and received a Webby Award nomination in ‘Video & Film: Events & Live Streams’.
In January 2025, Bilal performed on NPR's Tiny Desk.
In November 2025, Adjust Brightness was nominated at the 2026 Grammy Awards for ‘Best Progressive R&B Album’.

Appearances

Songs:

with Common
"Funky For You" (Common & Jill Scott) from Like Water for Chocolate
"Nag Champa (Afrodesiac for the World)" from Like Water for Chocolate
"The 6th Sense" from Like Water for Chocolate
"Heaven Somewhere" from Electric Circus
"Aquarius" from Electric Circus
"Star69 (PS With Love)" from Electric Circus
"Faithful" (Common & John Legend) from Be
"It's Your World/Pop's Reprise" from Be
"U, Black Maybe" from Finding Forever
"Misunderstood" from Finding Forever
"Play Your Cards Right" from Finding Forever
"Joy and Peace" from Black America Again
"Home" from "Black America Again"
"A Bigger Picture Called Free" from "Black America Again"
"Letter To The Free" from "Black America Again"