L'il Luther
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, Napoleon Luther Means, aka L'il Lu… Read Full Bio ↴Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, Napoleon Luther Means, aka L'il Luther, began singing at the age of four in an elementary school glee club. Soon he was performing with church and district choirs which gave way to singing and dancing in summer stock and musical theater. He realized at 7 that nothing would make his soul breathe as much as being under the lights, as he found himself singing and dancing alongside the great Marion Anderson in her last onstage performance, with his professional debut in Arthur Mitchell's "Doin' It".
Six years later finding that acting held for him the glimmer he searched for, he'd become immersed in the theater, pouring himself into it wholeheartedly as he moved from the academic/artistic program at Philadelphia's A.M.Y. Center City to the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts.Though acting now seemed his chief focus, Napoleon would never stop singing, even dancing again later with Howard University's Dance Ensemble. "I wanted to die a dancer but many things kept me away from making it my one and only love in performance."
Napoleon finally made the move to New York after years of commuting to the city for work as an actor and model, doing voice-over and commercial work for clients like Coors Lite and Captain Morgan's while trying to break into film, all the while maintaining a stint with QVC's fashion channel "On-Q" at their headquarters in Westchester, just outside Philadelphia where he lived and worked at other endeavors.
After three months of living in the city Napoleon had already garnered work as an agent with the presitigious Ford Models, and found time to join LaSonja Gunter and Lea Alomar as backing vocalists for Eli and the BlueSound Project at venues around Manhattan like Nell's, The Nuyorican Poet's Cafe, Belle Cafe and Cucarachas Theater. He worked with fellow actor Portia and friends to create Black Magic Voices, a Harlem-based performance salon in 1996. In 1999 he befriended and soon after joined singer Coby Koehl off-Broadway at Don't Tell Mama, Flamingo East, Chelsea's G Lounge, the ****, the Pyramid Club, and The Boiler Room.
In 2001 while working as a freelance art buer for Della Femina, Jeary & Partners, he had his first taste of recording when introduced to Gbatokai, the bass player from the Belle Band, just as he was about to release HugeVooDoo vs.Rocketfly with electronic artist Rocketfly and they featured his soon to be re-released "Contractions" on their album. Returning to his hometown later in the year, he soon found himself preparing for his return to the Philadelphia stage with a leading role in Tessa Leigh Meier's 2002 Philadelphia Fringe Festival's inclusion, "The Ghosts Are in the Water."
Then in May of 2004 Napoleon met, quite by chance, brilliant Philadelphia area composer and producer Gregory James Smith. He happened into a voice-over recording back at the studio with the powerhouse writer, arranger, performer, producer and soon after came to join him first as a studio session artist, and then onstage as backup for hip hop band Queue. A similar undying love for music formed a bond in them and today they form GJSMusicworks, a division of GJSMusic International.
Not long after, he was singing with WellStar, an earlier group Greg Smith had produced with lead singer Adrian Miller, supersonic vocalist Nicole Tripp, and bass & guitar player Dan Bacon, and had forged an everlasting relationships and live-performance presence with the multi-talented Scott DeAngelis also known as djNerdo, and hip hop artist Kriteria, aka Rahziel the Reaper.
In 2008 while directing and starring in Kate Quinn's "Planet Discord", Napoleon was asked to create T.P.O.T.O (The Phantom of the Opera) and L'il Luther and join Mr. No Name and his maudlin cast of characters in the studio, bolstered by BeatzByRonski to form the Well Dressed Villains. As they went on tour they inspired painter and visual concepts artist Rah Crawford to create a show in Amsterdam to promote their album and his vision in "HiPop".
Today he records with these and other area producers. "Often told that I have a haunting voice that really speaks to the soul, I am ever on the quest for more truth from my music." That music is Soul, though the sound is sometimes bluesy, sometimes dark; sometimes driven by deep house beats or downtempo grooves. Always rhythmic, always haunting, always soul.
RECENT PROJECTS:
"Aloft" feat. L'il Luther, Greg Smith -- Illuminations, Vol. 1
"Not Enuff" feat. L'il Luther, @ StudioNerdo, In The Nerd\s Labyrinth
"Ecstasy" feat. L'il Luther, Suicide Kings -- The Blast Off
"Smoke b4 the Fire" feat. L'il Luther, Well Dressed Villains -- HiPop
"The Ledge" feat. Napoleon aka T.P.O.T.O., Well Dressed Villains -- HiPop
"Green Agenda" feat. L'il Luther, Well Dressed Villains -- HiPop
ON THIS PROJECT:
GJSMusicworks.com
djNerdo.com
Oshia Kai
myspace.com/Kriteria
myspace.com/beatsbyronski
myspace.com/marquebeatz
GROUP AFFILIATIONS:
GJSMusicworks.com
Well Dressed Villains
Wellstar
Queue
Eli & the BlueSound Project
Six years later finding that acting held for him the glimmer he searched for, he'd become immersed in the theater, pouring himself into it wholeheartedly as he moved from the academic/artistic program at Philadelphia's A.M.Y. Center City to the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts.Though acting now seemed his chief focus, Napoleon would never stop singing, even dancing again later with Howard University's Dance Ensemble. "I wanted to die a dancer but many things kept me away from making it my one and only love in performance."
Napoleon finally made the move to New York after years of commuting to the city for work as an actor and model, doing voice-over and commercial work for clients like Coors Lite and Captain Morgan's while trying to break into film, all the while maintaining a stint with QVC's fashion channel "On-Q" at their headquarters in Westchester, just outside Philadelphia where he lived and worked at other endeavors.
After three months of living in the city Napoleon had already garnered work as an agent with the presitigious Ford Models, and found time to join LaSonja Gunter and Lea Alomar as backing vocalists for Eli and the BlueSound Project at venues around Manhattan like Nell's, The Nuyorican Poet's Cafe, Belle Cafe and Cucarachas Theater. He worked with fellow actor Portia and friends to create Black Magic Voices, a Harlem-based performance salon in 1996. In 1999 he befriended and soon after joined singer Coby Koehl off-Broadway at Don't Tell Mama, Flamingo East, Chelsea's G Lounge, the ****, the Pyramid Club, and The Boiler Room.
In 2001 while working as a freelance art buer for Della Femina, Jeary & Partners, he had his first taste of recording when introduced to Gbatokai, the bass player from the Belle Band, just as he was about to release HugeVooDoo vs.Rocketfly with electronic artist Rocketfly and they featured his soon to be re-released "Contractions" on their album. Returning to his hometown later in the year, he soon found himself preparing for his return to the Philadelphia stage with a leading role in Tessa Leigh Meier's 2002 Philadelphia Fringe Festival's inclusion, "The Ghosts Are in the Water."
Then in May of 2004 Napoleon met, quite by chance, brilliant Philadelphia area composer and producer Gregory James Smith. He happened into a voice-over recording back at the studio with the powerhouse writer, arranger, performer, producer and soon after came to join him first as a studio session artist, and then onstage as backup for hip hop band Queue. A similar undying love for music formed a bond in them and today they form GJSMusicworks, a division of GJSMusic International.
Not long after, he was singing with WellStar, an earlier group Greg Smith had produced with lead singer Adrian Miller, supersonic vocalist Nicole Tripp, and bass & guitar player Dan Bacon, and had forged an everlasting relationships and live-performance presence with the multi-talented Scott DeAngelis also known as djNerdo, and hip hop artist Kriteria, aka Rahziel the Reaper.
In 2008 while directing and starring in Kate Quinn's "Planet Discord", Napoleon was asked to create T.P.O.T.O (The Phantom of the Opera) and L'il Luther and join Mr. No Name and his maudlin cast of characters in the studio, bolstered by BeatzByRonski to form the Well Dressed Villains. As they went on tour they inspired painter and visual concepts artist Rah Crawford to create a show in Amsterdam to promote their album and his vision in "HiPop".
Today he records with these and other area producers. "Often told that I have a haunting voice that really speaks to the soul, I am ever on the quest for more truth from my music." That music is Soul, though the sound is sometimes bluesy, sometimes dark; sometimes driven by deep house beats or downtempo grooves. Always rhythmic, always haunting, always soul.
RECENT PROJECTS:
"Aloft" feat. L'il Luther, Greg Smith -- Illuminations, Vol. 1
"Not Enuff" feat. L'il Luther, @ StudioNerdo, In The Nerd\s Labyrinth
"Ecstasy" feat. L'il Luther, Suicide Kings -- The Blast Off
"Smoke b4 the Fire" feat. L'il Luther, Well Dressed Villains -- HiPop
"The Ledge" feat. Napoleon aka T.P.O.T.O., Well Dressed Villains -- HiPop
"Green Agenda" feat. L'il Luther, Well Dressed Villains -- HiPop
ON THIS PROJECT:
GJSMusicworks.com
djNerdo.com
Oshia Kai
myspace.com/Kriteria
myspace.com/beatsbyronski
myspace.com/marquebeatz
GROUP AFFILIATIONS:
GJSMusicworks.com
Well Dressed Villains
Wellstar
Queue
Eli & the BlueSound Project
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