Lani's afrobeat and reggae inspired EP "Zion" provides motivation, positivity, love and strength to worldwide listeners. The music artist's devotion to her family is the heart of this EP as it is titled after her son 'Zion.' The creole songstress creates songs that are universal relatable across the world with beautiful themes, lyrics and melodies that will have you singing and dancing, no matter who you are or where you come from. Lani was born and raised in South East Melbourne, Australia. Her Mother, who is from Seychelles, and Father, Sister and Brother who are from Mauritius, all lived together in a community where many Creole residents resided from overseas. Lani’s Creole culture contributed greatly to her upbringing. Her Father, being a musician himself, is a lead guitarist in a popular Creole band, that of which Lani has performed with many times as a child. As a child, Lani was very shy and timid, however, when it came to performing, she would exhibit her natural talent. She participated in a elementary dance school at 5 years old taking up ballet, jazz, tap, contemporary, hip-hop, song and dance and drama classes. She was even apart of one of the first Sega dancing group in Melbourne which allowed her to perform at many events representing Seychelles. Lani’s love for singing came from her father. She would perform along side with him at his gigs and as a soloist. From a very young age, Lani knew performing music was a dream she would love to pursue. Lani also has years of experience not only in front of the camera but behind the scenes. Her success in filmmaking started to develop as she discovered a talent and passion for film editing. Upon graduating high school in 2007, she went on to formerly study filmmaking and in 2008 Lani met a young man named Jarryd through friends who she started dating and they became inseparable.
One of her biggest accomplishments throughout film school was one of her short films being nominated for "Best Actress in a film festival" in Sydney and another one of her short film ‘Silent Cry’ winning an award at "Monash Youth Film Festival." Soon after Lani graduated in 2010 with a Bachelor Degree in Screen Production, she had many successful ventures into many different entertainment industries including film, photography, make-up artistry and Zumba dance. Despite enjoying years of experience with successful film, photography, makeup and dance productions, Lani could not help but find herself wanting to return to the music industry. With an abundance of natural talent, Lani felt in her heart that destiny is leading her towards success in the music business. At 21 years old, Lani decided to go back to her old singing teacher, Tania G, from David Jaanz School of Singing. From there, her she developed singing techniques and started to mold her sound as an compelling artist. In 2013, Lani and Jarryd got married at the young age of 23. At their Wedding, Lani built up the courage and sang him a song at their reception. It was a one of the most heartfelt moments, which prompted Jarryd to became one of her biggest supports.
Lani’s particular sound is originally influenced from the artist ‘Marina’ (formally known as ‘Marina and the Diamonds’). Marina who exhibits positivity and life in her music is a great source of inspiration, and the first time Lani heard Marina on the radio, the uniqueness of her voice was "magical" and resembled her own voice. Lani started writing songs, recording in a home studio and making YouTube videos of her music and covers and began to create momentum in the music industry. One of the highlights in her career and the launch and beginning of ‘Lani’ was in 2014 when Lani released her first 4 track EP titled ‘Heat of the Night’. The EP was launched in Melbourne City with a band and backup dancers organized by herself and was an enormous success. In 2016, Lani started working with an independent record label where she recorded multiple songs and music videos. Lani was excited she was able to share her creative energy and passion for music with a team of people in comparison to working independently for a long period.
In January 2019, Lani gave birth to her first child, Zion. According to the artist "Becoming a mum really put everything into perspective where it came to her values and music." With Zion only being a newborn, she made a difficult decision to go back out on her own independently and essentially start from scratch. The thought of taking this step was very daunting, so she took a step back and decided to start writing again. One day, Lani was on the play mat with Zion, a notepad and pen. She wrote down the words, ‘My Light’ which the song started coming about. As she was singing this song, Zion would smile and laugh and she use this as an indication that this is the special song she had to get produced. In September in 2019, she recorded "My Light" with featured artist ‘Sazzy Alile’.
The song was released and launched in November at the Jamaican Music and Food Festival Pre Party and was accompanied by The Push Reggae Band. At this event, Lani met leaders in the music industry including DJ Ragz, Producer Pat Barallon, Masia One and many more. The event opened opportunities for Lani as ‘My Light’ started to become popular within the international Reggae community. In December, Lani filmed and released the music video for ‘My Light.' The release of the music video developed relationships that sponsored radio play around the world and streaming of the music video in Africa where they have warmly welcomed her and many fans started to arise.
From the initial success of ‘My Light’, Lani started getting approached by opportunities in the music industry. From radio interviews and gigs around Melbourne she started getting herself more known within the music industry. In March 2020, Mercy Entertainment, a record label in USA, approached Lani. According to Lani, she "could hardly believe within a year she went from the fear and unknowing of her music career future of starting all over again, to now being signed to a music label who believes in her talent and wants to work with her to make her dreams come true." She signed the contract and is now working with a great team of like minded people that are helping to push her music globally.
Lani has now positioned herself in a formidable position for her creativity to thrive, building from the momentum of her earlier success. On March 19th 2021, "Zion" EP with Mercy Entertainment in association with Push Global Entertainment's contract with The Orchard, a division of Sony Music Entertainment, dropped her 8 track EP containing songs with featured artists included King Kiuh, Yami J and DJ Wade. This exciting, Afrobeat, Reggae/ Pop inspired EP is titled after her son ‘Zion’ who is the main inspiration for her continuing her passion of providing music to the world. Building on many successes in the entertainment industry and with her message of optimism, positivity and hopefulness that has inspired her followers worldwide, she is grateful and excited for what the future has in store.
