Labek has been performing since the age of nine. After winning a full scholarship to Cornell University, where she received an MFA, she moved to NYC. There, she pursued a performance career, starring in a number of repertory plays, working on parts in TV and on Broadway. Throughout her career, she spent many hours developing her craft, preparing, and finally bringing all her experience and wisdom to recording her vocal artistry. Labek (AKA Rebecca Malka Perricone) moved to Boston where she presently is part of the faculty at Berklee College of Music.  Her life experiences have produced an artist whose powerful voice and passion for storytelling and music must be heard.

Labek’s song interpretations are soulful and dangerously honest. She is part of the jazz torch-singer tradition of stylists, who caress the meaning of a song with deep human understanding. The combination of life experience, spiritual and musical development has produced an artist with fearless integrity, an original, with a powerful voice who must be heard.

“Labek’s performances are evocative of the best sultry vocalists like Etta James and Shirley Horn.” Digital Domain- Bob Katz.

“Labek sings ballads as well as anyone today and her take on the standard “You Go to My Head” is the best reading I’ve ever heard on that great song.” Jack Perricone (Chair Songwriting Berklee College of Music.)

“Women have long been the quiet regenerators of this earth. And now, we are finally finding our authentic voices through cries of outrage, and reminders of the joy found in loving and finding compassion for each other on this small planet.”- Labek.

La Bek’s fourth CD release With You/ For You is a labor of love which includes Grammy Award winning musicians, original compositions, as well as new slants on some great standards. After receiving a recording grant from Berklee College of music, she gathered stellar musicians to record a collection of songs which are stylistically varied. “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”, “Angel Eyes”, and Leon Russell’s “This Masquerade” were arranged with a tip of the hat to the tango genius, Astor Piazzolla. The acoustic recording session produced the little known Hoagy Carmichael song “Winter Moon”, Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” and “That Old Feeling by Sammy Fain/Lew Brown. She also prepared a Blues session with two new works and a tribute to Dr. John titled “Rain” with a string arrangement that is reminiscent of “The Thrill is Gone.”

La Bek is a storyteller who is not afraid to express the feelings found in the depths of Jacques Brell’s “If You Go Away”, or the joy embraced by Erroll Garner and Johnny Burke’s standard “Misty”. She is about expressing vocally the moment of truth captured by the composer and lyricist. Original song” Hold On” by Sonya Rae Taylor (BMI) is an outcry to pay attention to those who are suffering silently. It joins the roster of songs from previous CD releases” Children of Sanchez”, “Fragile”, and “Gotta Move,” that are a political call to unify against the inhumane treatment of others. The new works chosen for this CD are by songwriters whose well-crafted lyrics can also remind us of the vulnerability we feel when we fall in love, “Is It Love”.

The musical excellence on all the recording sessions (Acoustic, Blues and Latin), provide the listener a unique variety to savor. Arrangements by Jack Perricone and Utar Artun enhance Labek’s interpretations.

Her third CD, What a Woman Knows, is filled with poignant titles.  Songs like Sting’s “Fragile”, Doc Pomus’& Dr. John’s “A World I Never Made and Sonya Taylor’s “Trouble Blues” are interpreted- apropos the CD title- from a particularly feminine point of view.  Labek’s second CD Burgundy Brew and her first, Love At Last, also include selections from the Great American Songbook, and newer works that are consistently treated with choice arrangements.

The musicians on all of these recordings are exceptional, most are Labek’s collegues, faculty from Berklee College of Music and include: Greg Badolato and Daniel Ian Smith on sax, Ken Cervenka-trumpet,  masterful drummers Yoron Israel, Mark Walker, Ralph Rosen, Dave Weigert and Mark Teixeira, bass men, Oscar Stagnaro, Jim Stinnett, Dave Clark, Barry Smith, and Jesse Williams, guitarists- Marty Walsh, Ryan Taylor, Claudio Raguzzi, Mitchell Gonzales, and Sonya Rae Taylor, pianists- Jack Perricone, Utar Artun, Nando Michlin and Alex Brown, Hector del Curto-on bandonian, Paulo Stagnaro – percussion and Tania Mesa-violin. The music and musicians on Labek’s CD’s, will leave you high on life.

Labek has released her fourth CD titled “With You/ For You.” This CD provides a mix of standards, blues and originals.  Her creative interpretations provide new slants on some great standards like “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and “Angel Eyes.”  Labek embraces her love of different genres on this album and as always, she’s about revealing the story, the feeling, the moment of truth we all recognize in what the composer and lyricist capture musically. The musical excellence of award-winning musicians on all the different sessions provide the listener with a unique variety to savor. Arrangements by Jack Perricone and Utar Artun enhance Labek’s interpretations that are replete with honesty and the depth of her understanding. The new works chosen for this CD are by songwriters whose well- crafted songs include lyrics that are sometimes an outcry of social injustice (“Hold On”) and sometimes just the reminder that we are not alone in what we feel and know (“Is It Love”.) The music and musicians on Labek’s CD’s will leave you high on life.