Bio
Hailing from the birthplace of Texas music legends Billy Joel Shaver and Lefty Frizzell, Corsicana native Jalesa Jessie, known to Austinites as Chief Cleopatra, continues to show promise of being the next great singer-songwriter of The Live Music Capital of the World.
With tremendous aspirations and a voice to match, Chief Cleopatra quickly became the buzz of the Austin music scene. In collaboration with long time friend and guitarist, Leonard Martinez, the two kicked off their professional career in 2019 with the debut EP, Lesa X Lenny Vol. 1.
It didn’t take long for Cleo to grab the attention of the Austin Chronicle, and KUTX, performing on the show The Breaks in 2019, and in the station’s third annual Summer Jam as headliner in 2020.
Defining her effervescent and expressive style as “Soul Rock”, Chief Cleopatra has performed as a SXSW official artist 5 years (and counting), was nominated by the Austin Music Awards for “Best New Artist” in 2021, and was Austin’s KUTX Artist of the Month in February 2022. She was accepted into the Recording Academy in 2022 and was previously in consideration for the 66th Annual Grammy awards. Including categories for Best New Artist, Best Alternative Music Performance, Song Of The Year and Record Of The Year for her March 2023 indie release, Weekend Warrior.
Cleo has supported The Wailers, Girl Talk, Adrian Quesada (The Black Pumas), Durand Jones, Bas, Seratones, In The Valley Below, Lukas Nelson, Abraham Alexander, The Bright Light Social Hour, Danielle Ponder, Jackie Venson, along with many other notable acts. Her 3rd EP, Cold Dancer is slated for release in 2025 .
Socials
Press
"Raised in Corsicana, Texas on a steady diet of gospel, it didn’t take long for Jalesa Jessie, aka Chief Cleopatra, to veer o" the beaten path thanks to a serendipitous viewing of the Smashing Pumpkins’ “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” video at the impressionable age of eight. From that point on there was no looking back for the multi- instrumentalist singer-songwriter as she built a foundation of soul, funk, pop and hip-hop influences ranging from fellow gospel devotee Aretha Franklin to galactic partygoers Parliament- Funkadelic to the grimy rap of Wu-Tang Clan." - MUNDANE MAGAZINE
“If anybody on this list is destined for a rapid Black Pumas-esque popularity spike, it’s Chief Cleopatra. She captures everything Austinites love in their music. Mind bending groove and soaring vocal ability layered with a heavy helping of guitar driven snarl and creep.” - Bill Tucker, AUSTINOT
NPR . TRIBEZA . CULTURE MAP . HYPE . AUSTIN CHRONICLE . BMI . KUTX . WILDFIRE MUSIC . MUNDANE MAGAZINE . NME . FLOOD MAGAZINE . BROOKLYN VEGAN . JACK DANIELS CAMPFIRE SESSIONS . GHETTOBLASTER . TEXAS STANDARD . SXSW SCHEDULE