Award winning vocalist Castella made her radio debut in April 2020 with the release of her original song No Ordinary Love. Hailing from Long Beach, California, Castella has sang her entire life. She was inspired to become a songwriter by her mentor, Darryl Swann. Unknowing to Castella, this little project would turn into the fulfillment of unrealized dreams of sharing her gifts with the world. Castella released her first EP -Thinking About You, produced by Corey Stampley, in July 2019. She released her first single from that EP "No Ordinary Love"in April 2020. This tune reached #24 on the Smooth Jazz Charts and garnered her a"Breakout Artist of 2020" Nomination by Smooth Jazz Network, an original iHeartRadio station. She then decided to make another record and release it on her birthday as a gift to herself. During the pandemic, she met producer Jeff Canady. Along with Jeff, they pushed out two amazing records,"Let Me Love You" and "Sleigh Ride"! "Let Me Love You" reached #33 on the smooth jazz charts and rose to #5 on the Urban charts and rose to #1 on the Black Planet Radio chart in Italy. Sleigh Riderose to #6 on the smooth jazz Holiday Chart. Castella's work on "Let Me Love You" garnered her nominations for the"President's Award","New Comer of the Year"and"Best Female Artist of 2020"as well as being named "Artist of the Year" by the Central Standard Time Show on stlsmoothjazz.com. and she has the hardware to show it! Ever true to her work and trusting her heart, Castella decided to reach back into her pocket and release her tune Mojito from her debut EP. A very special record to Castella and her team where her mentor, multi-platinum, Grammy Award winning producer Darryl Swann contributed with writing on the tune as well as mixing and mastering the tune, in fact all of her tunes. Mojito did well on the charts, rising to #2 on the Urban Influencer R&B/Soul Chart and #49 on the Smooth Jazz Network Top 100 Chart!! Castella continues to work on more music to share with her fans. Castella released her chart topping tune “So Glad I Met You” featuring trumpeter and friend, Willie Bradley. This song did well on both Smooth Jazz Charts as well as hitting #2 on the UK Soul Charts and #1 in Canada with TeeRex Radio! Castella had the wonderful opportunity to work with French producer Tom Glide to produce a remix of “So Glad I Met You” which topped the UK Soul Breakers Chart at #1 as well as making several charts in the UK and Canada Top 10!

Castella Released her second EP "Let Me Love You" the EP on January 7, 2022. On the same day she released her single “So Into You” a remake of the 70’s classic by the Atlanta Rhythm Section with an exciting radio campaign spear headed by Gorov Music Marketing in the US and Gary Van den Bussche in the UK. “So Into You” has already made a big splash by hitting #1 on the UK Soul Breakers Chart on January 3, 2022. Castella’s new EP includes three previously released original tunes (Let Me Love You, So Glad I Met You and the Central Standard Time Show Groove) and two of Castella’s favorite tunes that she chose to remake, “So Into You” and “My Funny Valentine.” The remakes are a window into who Castella is as an artist! So Into You has remained on the Smooth Jazz Top 100 Charts for over 17 weeks, peaking at #31 on the Smooth Jazz Global chart and $39 on the Smooth Jazz Network Chart. Additionally, So Into You was loved in Canada! Reaching #1 on several charts including TeeRex Radio, Axcit Radio and 94.7 the Wave where it spent 3 weeks at #1. The song reached #1 on Black Planet Radio in Italy and stayed there for 2 weeks. And in the UK, So Into You reached #1 on Jazz Juice Radio! The song reached #1 on Cruz Inc and garnered Castella many “artist of the week” and “artist of the month” accolades. Castella also had a variety of articles written about her take on the song and some said she did better than the original. Absolutely mind blowing! Castella loves music of all genres and the remakes are just a small piece! Castella continues to work on new music having released two singles in 2023 - “I Saw You featuring Marqueal Jordan” and Intoxicated Love which remained on the charts for several months. In fact, “Intoxicated Love” was SONG OF THE YEAR on Black Planet Radio - Italy and on Cool Jazz Week! Castella also won her first Indie Soul Award for Jazz Single of the Year for “I Saw You.” Amazing honors for the singer! She continues to explore opportunities with a variety of different producers who have faith in her ability and choose to place her on their projects. Stay tuned for more from Castella, the future is very bright!

Castella wishes to inspire people to live out their dreams, share their gifts because it's never too late!

Who is Castella?

Castella is a proud native of Long Beach, California.  Castella embodies strength and courage, she goes after what she wants and gets it! Castella was born Cathy Rebecca Crowell, the baby girl of the family. Affectionately named after her grandmothers, Kathleen and Rebecca, she carries the spirit and strength of these two beautiful women with her daily. She is married to Oliver L. Thompson Jr. and they have three beautiful children, Aaron, Tristan & Cailyn. Singing all of her life in church choirs & groups and as a soloist, Castella’s voice is unique, different, strong, powerful, yet soothing. She chose the name Castella to honor her maternal grandmother, who was called Ms. Castella around town, it just felt like the right thing to do. She proudly carries the name Castella as a badge of honor, respect and strength. Many of her musical influences growing up were gutsy, powerful singers like Phyllis Hyman, Tramaine Hawkins, Daryl Coley, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Sarah Vaughn, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Mikki Howard, Regina Belle and many, many more while others like Luther Vandross, Natalie Cole, Karen Carpenter, Dione Warwick and Minnie Riperton spoke to that sensitive, smooth side of influence. All of these voices helped create what is uniquely, Castella!

How did we get here?

Castella spent the best part of her adult career as a public servant, working her way up to the executive ranks in local government - Human Resources.  All the while, she always sang!  In the summer of 2018, “Cathy” lent her voice on a project with good friend, Dr. Gabriel Crenshaw. It was there that she met Darryl Swann. Upon hearing her sing, he asked her if she had ever thought about creating a three song project to tap into the creative side of her brain, being a passionate singer and all. Her life was changed with one question Darryl asked of her…“do you write lyrics and melodies”… rather than say no, the response was, maybe I do. During the months of September through December, God gave beautiful lyrics and melodies which later became the songs on Castella’s debut EP Thinking About You. Recording started in January 2019 and ended in April 2019, what a process! By the time August 2019 rolled around, Thinking About You had been released worldwide and all was right in the universe, so she thought. In September 2019, just a few weeks after the release of her debut EP - Thinking About You, her career as an executive came to an abrupt, unexpected end.  Certainly, this was a sign from the universe that her true passion was ahead of her. Go sing girl! She now had the time to devote to her career as a singer songwriter and national recording artist! With a new EP in tow and a rich history of singing about all things love and passion, Castella was ready to embark upon a career sharing her gift with all who will listen. God chose this space and time to allow Castella to share her gift with you! It’s been a long time coming!

Photos by Cailyn Thompson of PicsbyCay