J alen Ngonda was busted. He’d been belting “Baby Love” by The Supremes , dancing around the living room of his childhood home in Wheaton, Maryland, when his mum walked in. “You can sing!” she exclaimed.
Until then, the painfully shy teenager hadn’t shared his talent with anyone. But 15 years later, the rest of the world is beginning to catch on, too. Ngonda’s debut album, Come Around and Love Me , was released last year to effusive reviews.
A gorgeous collection of sepia-toned soul, R&B, rock and doo-wop, it’s the perfect vehicle for his extraordinary vocals. Reminiscent of Marvin Gaye or Smokey Robinson , it’s smooth and supple, sliding across buttery melodies and lifting to a mellifluous falsetto. Songs such as “If You Don’t Want My Love” are backed by jangly guitars and shuffling percussion; “What a Difference She Made” – a romantic ode to “a girl with curly hair.
.. and rainbow flares” – pairs celestial harmonies with sunshine-bright piano notes.
This summer at Glastonbury, his sweet-sounding tenor charmed the notoriously tricky (read: hungover) Sunday crowd who gathered beneath ominous rainclouds to listen. Indebted though his sound is to the Sixties and Seventies, it’s a testament to the songwriting that it easily transcends pastiche, possessing a timeless quality he says is rooted in its universal themes of love and romance. “I believe we’re all romantic – I guess some people hide it more,” he says, unwilling to venture nea.
