Margot B, the CAPA High School phenom who debuted last year with the contemporary R&B/pop album "Unframed," has more than half-a-dozen songs ready to record a second studio album.

		Margot B Where: Hard Rock Cafe, Station Square. When: 8 p.m. Wednesday. Admission: $5; 412-983-6533.

But before that, she decided to stop and pay a debt to a handful of her influences. To commemorate Black History Month, she's releasing "Inspired," a sultry five-song EP featuring songs by five women of color: Lauryn Hill, Sade, India.Arie, Toni Braxton and Billie Holiday.

"I just thought it would be nice to do a tribute to people who inspired me," says Margot B, whose last name is Bingham. "There are so many more, but I kind of narrowed it down. The only one I didn't do a song from was Aaliyah, my No. 1 source of inspiration. I can't pull myself to do a song from her, because I can't do it justice."

Margot B recorded the EP last month with producer Rick Witkowski. A few of the songs she had been doing with her band, which has become another source for the singer.

"We have a great relationship now. We've written two songs just because we were waiting for people to show up for rehearsal and they started playing a groove."

She expects her next record to feature more of that band feel. "It will definitively have a different vibe, more urban, more worldly, more ethnic, too. There aren't going to be so many slow songs and slit-your-wrist songs. I think I improved a lot in my writing."

In the meantime, the senior at the Creative and Performing Arts High School has a few other things in the works, such as school productions of "Aida" and "The Crucible" and occasional tangents to arenas in neighboring cities.

"I sang the national anthem the other night for the [Cleveland] Cavaliers game," she says. "It was so weird standing around all these really big guys. Hopefully I'll get some shows in Cleveland from that."

Margot B and her band will be at the Hard Rock Cafe Wednesday for an "Inspired" release party that will be followed by Soul Pitt Media's Blackout 1.0, black throwback videos from the '80s. Two dollars from every copy of the $10 EP will benefit the Negro Educational Emergency Drive (NEED).