Perla Batalla was born in Los Angeles, California to an immigrant family immersed in music. Her Afro-Mexican dad was an itinerant mariachi singer, while her Argentine mom ran a family record store called Discoteca Batalla. There, by her mother's side, Perla was exposed to an education of non-stop music cutting across language and genre. Alone in the shop while her mom ran errands, Perla began dreaming of one day being a singer.
Against her parents’ wishes, Perla left home at sixteen, studying opera and theater during the day and performing in country bars at night to pay the bills. Eventually Perla formed a group and began performing her own songs in Los Angeles jazz clubs. During this period, she was noticed by Elektra Records founder, Jac Holzman (The Doors, Queen, Judy Collins), and signed to the Discovery-Warner label.
Since then, Perla Batalla has appeared in a myriad of concert venues throughout the world as varied as The Sydney Opera House, the (venue formerly known as) The Kennedy Center, UCLA’s Royce Hall, NY’s Public Theater and The Brighton Dome. She has released seven albums and co-written and appeared in two one-woman shows: her celebrated Mestiza song cycle, exploring the intricacies of straddling different cultures as a person of mixed race, and Blue House, an exultant Frida Kahlo musical commissioned by Los Angeles County Museum of Art and later tapped for production by The Ojai Playwrights Conference.
While today Perla Batalla can be found sharing the stage with such musicians as Nick Cave, Rufus Wainwright and Jackson Browne, it was her early years touring and recording with the celebrated Canadian poet, Leonard Cohen that shaped her as an artist in her own right. Perla Batalla continues to forge her reputation as an essential interpreter of Leonard Cohen’s music. Perla’s first homage to Cohen, Bird on the Wire was recorded with Cohen’s blessing: he attended the studio sessions, weighed in on material, and uncharacteristically participated in a photo session at his Los Angeles home to help promote the project.
Perla’s powerful follow-up Cohen undertaking, A Letter to Leonard Cohen: Tribute to a Friend, picks up where she left, and this time also features Batalla’s original compositions inspired by two decades of musical exchanges with Canada’s poet laureate.
In 2024, Perla was inducted into Focus on the Masters, dedicated to recognizing the works and lives of accomplished contemporary artists in California. She has also been honored with two U.N. affiliated awards: The Earth Charter Award, for extraordinary devotion to social and economic justice, and The Environmental Peace Building Award, for advancing social justice through art and music.
Perla currently divides her time between New York City and Barcelona, Spain.
