Chuck Harmony and Claude Kelly are two names in the music industry that hold weight as being geniuses with their ears for music and sound. Individually their discography dates back to the early 2000s—well, 2002 for Kelly, 2007 for Harmony—but together they have been able to create the type of sound clash that hit records are made of. Both Grammy nominated, and Harmony a winner, their talent is undisputed in the industry over the last decade plus. As a team they are known as Louis York. The duo have since unveiled their debut album, American Griots – The Album. The Louis York American Griots album was released on October 18th.
Ahead of the album release Louis York have released their second single from the project, “You Gotta Be.” True to their Weirdo Workshop sound, the familiar empowerment song serves as a bit of a mantra for the duo. The song is a cover of the 1994 hit song from British singer Des’ree.
When asked about the choice of the song as their second single, Louis York explained, “’You Gotta Be’ is special to us because it was the theme song for our album, American Griots. The lyrics embodies every part of our journey of us becoming fearless enough to be our authentic selves as musicians, creatives, and visionaries. We don’t usually do covers, but we decided it would be a fun challenge to insert our musical personality into this perfectly written song.”
Louis York have also released a music video for the single. Watch “You Gotta Be (Reimagined)” below.
Louis York American Griots – The Album Tracklist
01. American Griots Intro featuring Caroline Randall Williams
02. All In My Feelings
03. No Regrets featuring The Shindellas
04. Electric Blue
05. Teach Me A Song featuring Jimmie Allen
06. Teach Me A Song Reprise featuring Caroline Randall Williams
07. Glow
08. How Will I Feel
09. Don’t You Forget
10. Velvet
11. I Wonder featuring Patrick Dailey, W. Crimm Singers and Caroline Randall Williams
12. Love Takeover featuring The Shindellas and Emoni Wilkins
13. You Gotta Be (Reimagined)
Stream “You Gotta Be (Reimaged)” on all digital platforms HERE
Fun Facts about Louis York:
- The duo decided to join talents in 2015 to form Louis York
- They originally met in 2009 while working on Chrisette Michelle’s album, Epiphany
- The name Louis York is a shout out to the home town’s of Chuck Harmony and Claude Kelly: St. Louis and New York respectively
- While American Griots – The Album serves as their debut full length album, Louis York have previously released the EP trilogy Masterpiece Theater: Act I, Act II, Act III
- They formed the label Weirdo Workshop and have signed talented trio, The Shindellas
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