In a Quarantine Project, R&B Siren Aviana Takes Funk for a Test Drive!

Steve Visneau
Aviana wears a Pamela Roland dress from  Saks Fifth Avenue.

Aviana wears a Pamela Roland dress from Saks Fifth Avenue.

R&B maven Lilly Aviana, 26, released her debut album, Late Bloom, last summer, after two years of hard work. It’s chock-full of total R&B and neo-soul bangers. The Houston-reared artist wrote all of the music herself, and had plans to take the highly personal album on a Texas tour this spring. Instead, she ended up using the time allotted by the shutdown to pour into a new funk project. “I’ve been studying funk music from the ’70s and ’80s,” she says. “It’s been really fun and challenging. The time off has really opened my mind up to creating since I have no distractions.”


However, she is looking forward to getting back on the stage in the coming months. “Feeling the energy from the crowd — there’s nothing like it. We need it to survive.” 

Click here to see the full 2020 portfolio.

Aviana wears a Pamela Roland dress from Saks Fifth Avenue.

Art + Entertainment
Wellness Pro LeBrina Jackson on Gratitude at the Holidays: It’s a ‘Reset Button for my Mind’

LeBrina Jackson

AS WE GET into the holiday season, we’re reminded of what we have, what we want and what might be lacking. As Sheryl Crow says in her song, Soak up the Sun, “It’s not having what you want, it’s wanting what you've got.” We caught up with LeBrina Jackson, owner of Escape Spa in Cypress, Texas, and learned how she tackles the holiday season with hope, love and most importantly, gratitude.

Keep Reading Show less

Photographer Jhane Hoang with two covers she photographed

ONE OF Houston CityBook’s most beloved photographers was recently diagnosed with stage four cervical cancer. Jhane Hoang has been behind the camera for some of the magazine’s most ambitious shoots — including an overnight shoot at the then-new Weiss Energy Hall at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, and a cold rainy shoot at the Houston Zoo where the crew used a concessions stand as a staging area for hair and makeup.

Keep Reading Show less
Art + Entertainment

Betty Hrncir, Sidney Faust, Julie Baker Finck

ACTUAL WINTER WEATHER was in the forecast the night of the Winter Ball, benefiting the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation and honoring the Women of Distinction, a festive and fitting detail that sparked a flurry of conversation at the Omni Hotel.

Keep Reading Show less
Parties