
Newly rechristened singer/songwriter Santigold will head out later this spring for her first North American tour backed by a full live band.
The performer, whose real name is Santi White, was forced to change her onstage and recording moniker from "Santogold" earlier this year after being threatened with legal action by infomercial jeweler Santo Gold.
Regardless of what name she'll be using on the road, her upcoming outing kicks off May 21 in San Francisco. The 20-date trek stretches from West to East Coast and back again, and includes a May 25 appearance at central Washington State's Sasquatch! Festival, as well as a June 21 slot at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles as part of the KCRW World Festival Series. Details are below.
The singer continues to back her (formerly self-titled) debut album from last year. "Santogold," which cracked The Billboard 200 chart at No. 74, features production input from a variety of top-shelf talents, including Diplo and Freq Nasty. Several cuts from the album--including singles "Lights Out" and "L.E.S. Artistes"--can be heard streaming at Santigold's MySpace page.
She also recently appeared on "Brooklyn Go Hard," a duet with Jay-Z that was produced by Kanye West. The song appears on the soundtrack to the Biggie Smalls biopic "Notorious."
"I hope that I help break down boundaries and genre classifications," Santigold told MTV News last year. "If I'm a black woman, I'm just about singing R&B. I guess with those producers, I'm supposed to be making club music."
Santigold began her recording career as lead singer of Philly punk band Stiffed, which issued a pair of albums, 2003's "Sex Sells" and 2005's "Burned Again," both of which were produced by Bad Brains bassist Darryl Jenifer. Stiffed's lineup also included John Hill, who is credited as a co-producer on Santigold's debut album.