Jalen Ngonda

r&b · soul · alternative r&b

Jalen Ngonda is a soul and R&B singer, born in Wheaton, Maryland in February 1994 and based in England. He found Motown at eleven through his father's record collection, with The Temptations' My Girl as the entry point, and by sixteen was playing drums, guitar and piano as well as singing. At nineteen he applied to the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts after its staff came across his recordings on SoundCloud; family and his local church helped fund the move, and he flew to Liverpool one way. He completed LIPA's foundation year but left partway through the first year of the degree to concentrate on his own recordings, playing Liverpool venues, drawing several label offers, appearing at London's Royal Festival Hall and supporting Lauryn Hill and Martha Reeves. He signed to the Brooklyn soul label Daptone Records in 2022. His debut album, Come Around and Love Me, followed on 8 September 2023; it topped the UK Independent Album Breakers Chart, reached number four on the UK album downloads chart and number 33 in Scotland, and drew public praise from Snoop Dogg, Kehlani and Olivia Dean, while Elton John placed the title track on his list of favourite songs of 2023. The singles Illusions and Anyone in Love followed in 2024. In 2025 Rolling Stone included him on its Future of Music list and he was named Soul Act of the Year at the Jazz FM Awards. His second Daptone album, Doctrine of Love, was released on 5 June 2026 and reached number 29 on the UK Albums Chart and number nine in Scotland. On stage he sings and plays guitar, keyboard and drums, working a Motown-rooted soul style with R&B and rock elements.

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