Rokelle

Early life

Carolyn Rene Lemelson was born in Phoenix, Arizona to Larry R. and Katerina C. Lemelson. Her brother is Emmanuel Lemelson, a Greek Orthodox priest and social activist. She spent her childhood being raised in locations such as Seattle, Washington and Athens, Greece, and as early as age five she recollects having an interest in singing and performing. Her father was a musician best known for drumming on tour with Tina Turner, and he introduced Rokelle to performance at a young age. According to Rokelle, "I grew up playing piano and drums but as much as I loved playing, singing was always my primary instrument." Inspired by diverse genres including hair metal bands such as Aerosmith, she also developed a "club kid career" in her youth, becoming a fan of DJs such as David Morales, Robert Miles, Prodigy, Dave Aude and Armin Van Buuren. At the age of sixteen she was performing live in Athens. After attending the University of Athens for a time, she dropped out to focus on writing music. As a teenager she also spent time living in Las Vegas, and she completed an unreleased demo album in 2008.

2013: "Bullet"

Before working full-time in music, Rokelle held "retail gigs, real estate and a stint as a nurse in training." She eventually moved to Los Angeles, where in 2011 she connected with Dave Aude on social media. They began collaborating on her first single, also bringing in songwriters Luciana Caporaso and Nick Clow. Rokelle described the song as "a summer anthem," and stated the lyrics are about “breaking free and reaching for the stars.”

"Bullet" features Aude on production, and before the song was officially released in May, by late April the song had already reached No. 1 as the breakout song for the Hot Dance Club Play chart. It was released on May 21, 2013 as her debut single on Audacious Records. An associated album featuring remixes was released via Beatport as well, with variations including a big room house version by Gregor Salto, a dub version by Aude and DIRTY FREQS, a "summer" version by Ikon & Exodus, and an hour-long mix by Ivan Gomez and Nacho Chapado, both producers and DJs from Spain.

On May 13, 2013, Billboard included the song on their list of "chart highlights" for debuting at No. 42 on the Billboard US Hot Dance Club Songs chart, and by June the song peaked at No. 2 on the same chart, where it remained for 11 weeks. The release led to a national tour, with Rokelle making guest radio appearances on Power 106 in Los Angeles and KLUC in Vegas, with a television appearance on Vegas ABC on the show Morning Blend. Live performances included venues such as The Colony and Lure in Hollywood, Machine in Boston, and in Las Vegas the Marquee, Palms and Liquid. Also in 2013, "Bullet" was used in the promotional material for the television series Super Fun Night.

2013: "Take Me Away"

"Take Me Away" is a late 2013 single by [Rokelle, and featuring Aude. The original and radio versions came out in December, as did Rokelle's first music video. On March 29, 2014, the song peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard US Hot Dance Club Songs. It later reached No. 3 on Billboard's 2014 Year End Dance Club Songs Chart, directly above "Pretty Hurts" by Beyonce. Wrote the review site Knights of Broadway, the track is actually darker and more moving that much of the stuff that more established purveyors of this genre have produced. [Aude]’s definitely got a knack for this, and I hope he does more of it in the future."

A remix EP titled Take Me Away - The Remixes was released on February 25, 2014 by Audacious Records, with included mixes by DJs such as Nacho Chapado. A number of genres are present in the remixes, with Cranksters using electro, while Richard Vission and Denzal Park of Australia contributed dub mixes.

2014: "Break These Chains" and Beatvoxx

In 2014, Rokelle was featured in the Made Monster song "Heaven To Hell", which reached the Beatport Top 100. An EP featuring several remixes was released on January 27, 2014, while the original mix of the single was released on Pop Rox Muzik via Beatport on September 12, 2014, in the style of electro house. Also in 2014 Rockelle launched her record label Beatvoxx in Los Angeles. The first single on the new label was her track "Break these Chains," which she co-wrote with Nacho Chapado & Ivan Gomez, who are both featured as producers. The track came out on May 27, 2014 as a 3-song remix package.