Cleopatra Zvezdana Nikolic (born 24 March 1991), better known by her stage name Cleo Sol, is a British singer-songwriter. Working closely with the producer

Inflo Dean Josiah Cover, professionally known as Inflo, is an English record producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He helms the R&B music collective project Sault, which foregrounds black-centric issues. Career In 2014, British rock band ...

, she has released two solo studio albums, ''Rose in the Dark'' (2020) and ''Mother'' (2021), and is a rumoured member of the R&B collective Sault.

Early life

Cleo Sol was born and raised in

Ladbroke Grove Ladbroke Grove () is an area and a road in West London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, passing through Kensal Green and Notting Hill, running north–south between Harrow Road and Holland Park Avenue. It is also a name given to ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Her mother is Serbian-Spanish and her father is Jamaican. Both are musicians.

Music career

Cleo Sol made her debut in 2008 featuring on the single "Tears" by

Tinie Tempah Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu (born 7 November 1988), better known by his stage name Tinie Tempah, is a British rapper. He has been signed to Parlophone Records since 2009, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. He created his own entertainment compa ...

. In 2011, Cleo Sol signed to

DaVinChe DaVinChe, is a British record producer and songwriter from South London, England who is best known as one of the pioneer producers in the UK grime scene. His notable works include Kano's "Brown Eyes" and " P's and Q's", Mez Featuring Stormzy ...

's record label Dirty Canvas and

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

, releasing singles such as "High" and "Never the Right Time (Who Do You Love)". She took a musical hiatus from 2012 to 2017. She returned with the EP ''Winter Songs'', released on 9 March 2018. In 2019, Cleo Sol was featured on the single "Selfish" by British rapper

Little Simz Simbiatu "Simbi" Abisola Abiola Ajikawo (born 23 February 1994), better known by her stage name Little Simz, is a British rapper, singer and actress. She rose to prominence with the independent release of her first three albums; ''A Curious Tale ...

, reconnecting in 2021 with the rapper for the song "

Woman A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

". She released her debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, ''Rose in the Dark'', on 27 March 2020, included by ''

Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

'' and '' Clash'' in their end-of-year lists. The following year, Nikolic released her second studio album, titled ''Mother'', on 20 August 2021. She is rumoured to be a member of the pseudonymous collective SAULT who have released eleven studio albums.

Musical style

Cleo Sol has cited influences from

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

Erykah Badu Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu (), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Influenced by rhythm and blues, R&B, Soul music, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the ...

and Jill Scott while growing up on genres such as

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

and

Latin music Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and es, música latina) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America (including Music of Spain, Spain and Portuguese music, Portugal) ...

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

As featured artist

Guest appearances

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sol, Cleo 1991 births Living people English women singers 21st-century Black British women singers British contemporary R&B singers Singers from London People from Ladbroke Grove English people of Serbian descent English people of Spanish descent English people of Jamaican descent