The black butterfly, as soul singer Ledisi Young refers to herself, was once blown in with some faraway dust, having lost her way and waiting for someone, anyone, to find her.

"It was in 2004 and I was going through a rough time, sleeping on an apartment floor in New York City at the lowest low point in my career," she says.

She was writing and recording songs, but had no idea where the money would come from to pay for it all.

"I was not even signed to any major label," says Ledisi, who at that time was an underground artist with two independent albums. "I was broke and not happy for not knowing what to do."

Ledisi, born in New Orleans in a year she refuses to disclose, says she came close to giving up music because of her disappointment with the way the business wouldn't allow her to be herself.

However, she decided to hang on, telling herself, "OK, I'm going to be myself on this album. I'm not going to change who I am to fit the market."

She says believed in her heart that there was a lane for her to be in, and that would be her own lane.

"So I thought *I have to do it or won't do it at all'. And when I decided to do it, everything started to happen; all the great things started to come."

Ledisi's "lane" finally brought her to a subsidiary of Verve Records, which gave her a chance to sing a cover version of Luther Vandross' "My Sensitivity (Gets in the Way)". The song was part of an all-star tribute compilation to the legendary crooner, Forever, For Always, For Luther.

Her small part on the album caught people's attention, making them sit up and listen. Composer Rex Rideout, who produced Ledisi's Vandross cover, admitted he was floored by her.

"Watching her in the studio is like watching a performance. There's a whole lot of music in this woman," Rideout testifies. "I told Verve, *Ledisi will be legendary. It's her time.'"

Verve, which had neglected Ledisi until then, reconsidered her talent, although it was another two years until Ledisi brought out her 2007 album Lost and Found, which tells inspiring stories of the ups and downs in her musical journey.

Those two years of patience in making the album turned out to have been well spent, when she was nominated for the 2007 Grammy awards for Best R&B Album and Best New Artist.

And that was the moment when Ledisi proved to everyone that being true to yourself can make you larger than life.

"In the past, I kept telling myself: *It's not how fast you win the race, but it's about what you learn along the way. I'm gonna win because I maintain being myself.'"

Being thrust into the limelight with her Grammy nominations, Ledisi had people wondering "Where has this wonderful talent been all this time?"

Many were surprised to learn that Ledisi already had two albums recorded independently under her own minor label LeSun Records: Soulsinger: The Revival and Feeling Orange But Sometimes Blue, recorded in 2000 and 2002, respectively.

She and friend Sundra Manning set up LeSun to produce her own albums not because she was rolling in money, but because Ledisi had decided to stay underground because major labels kept rejecting her demos.

After years of frequent performances and building her underground base, Ledisi decided to take a further leap by trying her luck in the Big Apple: Being independent was all very well but "I wanted a wider audience to hear and appreciate my older recordings".

Her determination has paid off, as her talent has secured her a place of her own in the music industry.

Wherever she goes, she wows audiences with her big, expressive voice that comes with her R&B, jazz and gospel-influenced musical style.

Her recent show in Jakarta, part of the Axis Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival, showed the audience the true Ledisi, as she looked so comfortable and engaged with the audience so well that they felt they had known her forever.

"It has been the best moment in my life . to get on stage and know that I belong there," she says.

"And it doesn't matter how many in the audience that you have - five or 5,000. I get nervous but feel that I belong. I didn't have that a long time ago."

Having audiences enjoy her performances was enough for Ledisi, but destiny seemed to have more in store for her: She landed a role in the George Clooney film Leatherheads and sang a song for Tyler Perry's Meet The Browns.

"My life now is bigger than what I dreamed," Ledisi says, all smiles. "Now I know it's impossible for me to live without music.

"And through my music, I want to ignite people to do their best all their time, telling them not to give up on their dreams, no matter what."

We know what she's talking about. Once lost, Ledisi was then found, turning herself into a beautiful black butterfly.

In her own words, "Now ... watch this black butterfly soar."

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