This Cleveland Vocalist Sings on the World’s Biggest Stages

If you’ve watched the Super Bowl, American Idol or Saturday Night Live, there’s a chance that you’ve seen and heard a Cleveland artist onstage. 

Norelle has sung with some of the biggest musicians of our time, including Pharrell, Kelly Clarkson, Mariah Carey, Rihanna and more. The accomplished vocalist from Cleveland stays intensely busy in the music scene, often on tour or working as a background singer — and occasionally belting out the national anthem at major sporting events.

We talked with Norelle in an episode of The CLE Connection, Cleveland Magazine’s podcast that takes a look at Cleveland’s surprising ties to major pop culture moments. 

While she was growing up in Cleveland, Norelle was active in school choirs and theater programs, along with the Singing Angels and The Cleveland Orchestra's choral group. Here’s a bit of our conversation, where Norelle shares how she found opportunities in Cleveland's music scene:

Norelle: “I started singing background for an artist by the name of Conya Doss, who is from Cleveland. She still lives in Cleveland, but also still has a very flourishing solo career. She teaches at the Cleveland School of the Arts now, but also still does her own solo stuff, which I think is awesome. I started singing background for her, doing local things, like the B Side, which is a super popular open mic spot on Coventry that a lot of musicians and artists and singers, poets, rappers, like, they all go there. (Lyrical Rhythms) is on Tuesday nights, which I'm super happy to still see that going in the community. I think it's really important for artists to have a place that they can go and express themselves, so for it to still be going and super popular now, all these years later, is really great to see. 

“I did that, and just from just from getting out there and doing things, people started to know who I was, and I started getting calls for studio sessions and stuff like that. And in 2008 is when I got the opportunity to do an audition in New York for John Legend. I have been singing professionally as a touring background vocalist ever since.”

To hear more of Norelle’s story, listen to the full episode.

Hear more from Norelle in our podcast, which is streaming on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and more.

Listen to more episodes of The CLE Connection:

• Episode 1: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Gets its Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

• Episode 2: Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears' Very-Cleveland Origin Stories

• Episode 3: Bad Luck Brian and Chicken Salad: What It's Like to Go Viral in Northeast Ohio

• Episode 4: How Howard The Duck Became Marvel’s Cleveland-Based Comic Book Character

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