Episode 77. Host Troy Saunders has his latest conversation with an artist who has been on the indie soul scene since 1999. We love her sound, her music, and her spirit, and her name is Hil St. Soul. Hil was born in Zambia and moved with her family to the United Kingdom at a very young age. Being from an African family, education was extremely important, and she studied biology and chemistry, along with literature, although she never planned to pursue a career in the sciences. As she was finishing university, she started to focus on her musical path, and her songwriting benefited from her background in English literature and her ability to tell a story and express her emotions. Hil’s goal from the beginning was to make music that was timeless, like the idols she grew up listening to. She has always been drawn to powerful female vocalists like Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Chaka Khan, and Gladys Knight, and continues to love artists like Lauren Hill, Erykah Badu, and Jill Scott. St. Soul tells the story of how when she first started to pursue her music career, she had no idea how to get into the industry. She found a studio in some music magazine and recorded a demo. The owner of the studio heard the demo and told her she had an amazing voice and should start working with producers. The demo wound up in the hands of an A&R person for Dome Records, which ended up being the first label to sign her. She has released six records during her career. After her Dome Records debut, “Soul Organic” (1999), she followed up with “Copasetik and Cool” (2002), “SOULidified” (2006), “Black Rose” (2008) - which earned her highest chart position, #21 in the U.S. Billboard Hip-Hop and R&B chart, “Release” (a 2009 compilation album), and her most recent release, “Back In Love” (2022). Listen and subscribe to the BAAS Entertainment Podcast on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Deezer, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Podchaser, Spotify, Stitcher and TuneIn. “Hey, Alexa. Play the BAAS Entertainment Podcast.”