Shanice
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| Shanice | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Shanice Lorraine Wilson |
| Born | May 14, 1973 |
| Origin | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Genre(s) | R&B |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals |
| Years active | 1986-present |
| Label(s) | A&M Records (1986-1988), Motown Records (1991-1995), LaFace Records (1999), IME Records (2005-present) |
| Website | http://www.shaniceonline.com |
Shanice (born Shanice Lorraine Wilson on May 14, 1973 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is a Grammy Award nominated American R&B singer. Credited usually as simply Shanice, she hit big on mainstream radio with her 1991 hit "I Love Your Smile" for the Motown label and also scored another Top 5 Billboard Hot 100 single in 1993 with "Saving Forever for You."
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[edit] Biography
Born in Pittsburgh, Shanice, before her teen years relocated to Los Angeles with her mother and aunt who were interested in pursuing careers in the music industry. Shanice's showmanship was evident from an early age and this move was also to benefit her career. Shanice's talent gave her the opportunity to star in a KFC commercial with the legendary Ella Fitzgerald at age nine. Later, she was discovered by A&M Records at the age of eleven, and released her debut album, Discovery in 1987, which wasn't a huge pop hit, but did score R&B chart action, and the singer a 1987 Soul Train Award nomination for Best R&B/Urban Contemporary New Artist; she lost the award to R&B singer Miki Howard. Shanice went on to sign a record deal with Motown Records in 1991. Her 1991 album Inner Child which sold 1.1 million copies[citation needed], includes the popular hit single "I Love Your Smile", produced by Narada Michael Walden. Also included on Inner Child is a cover of Minnie Riperton's 1974 hit "Lovin' You". This rendition helped to bring public attention to Shanice's ability to sing in high range as Minnie Riperton and Mariah Carey[1], the latter who at the start of the 90's had reintroduced the whistling technique into pop music. In 1993, she made a guest appearance on the popular television sitcom Family Matters.
After Inner Child, Shanice continued to record albums, including 21… Ways to Grow in 1994 and 1999's Shanice sold a total of 500,000 copies[citation needed], produced chiefly by Babyface. On this album Shanice broke a record with her single “When I Close My Eyes”[2]. While she has not achieved significant commercial success with her later albums, she is acknowledged as a talented singer and many of her songs appeared on various soundtracks such as Boomerang (soundtrack), Beverly Hills 90210 and The Meteor Man. She also sings backup and does studio sessions and can be heard on Toni Braxton's song "Come On Over Here" and "Un-Break My Heart[3]." She can also be heard making vocal contributions to various video games. She is married to actor/comedian Flex Alexander, with whom she has two children: daughter Imani Shekinah and son Elijah Alexander. Shanice also showed a new side to her talent in the late 90's when she played the role of Eponine in the broadway musical "Les Miserables" for a short run, for which she was given decent reviews.
[edit] Voice
Shanice is a singer credited with a five-octave vocal range. Soultrack.com in their biography states, 'she recorded her debut album for A&M Records, Discovery, at age 13. Despite her young age, Shanice showed an amazing vocal range (five octaves)'[4]. RushPRnews also confirms Shanice wide vocal range by noting: "It's always been about the voice for Shanice. She can boast of a five-octave range, which she handles with beauty and ease" [5]. Thus, Shanice has the ability to sing falsetto, as mentioned in Musicmatch's review of her 1991 international successful Inner Child album: "Shanice sure has an impressive voice, including the ability to sing in headvoice (top upper range) like Mariah Carey and Minnie Riperton" [6]. Shanice can be heard using this ability in songs such as her cover of Minnie Riperton's "Lovin' You", "Fly Away", "Ain't Got No Remedy", "Never Changing Love" and in her duet with Jon Secada for the Pocahontas soundtrack "If I Never Knew You", among other songs.
[edit] Comeback
Not a stranger to taking long gaps between albums and singles, "Every Woman Dreams" finally emerged in June of 2005. The single did moderately well at R&B radio. After several pushbacks, her fifth studio album Every Woman Dreams was released on February 21, 2006, by an independent label. According to her MySpace page title, she will be releasing a new album in 2008.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
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[edit] U.S. Top 100 singles
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[edit] Awards
- 1993: Golden Lion Award for Best International Artist
[edit] Trivia
- Shanice and gospel singer Tonéx sang the theme song to the UPN sitcom One On One.
- Shanice appeared and sang "I Love Your Smile" at the Grammy in the Schools Day event on the campus of the University of Illinois, Chicago, IL in 1992.
- Shanice has only recorded 5 studio albums in twenty years.
- Shanice provided the English version theme song "Love Is the Gift" for Square Electronic Arts' (now Square Enix) PlayStation 2 game, The Bouncer. The song is only present in the game and was never featured on any of her music albums.
- Shanice appeared in Mr. T's "Be Somebody... or Be Somebody's Fool!".
- Shanice supports 2008 presidential candidate Barrack Obama and has sung a song dedicated to him called "The President We Need." It was posted on her MySpace page in May 2008.[7]
[edit] Personal Life
- Shanice married husband, Flex Alexander, in 1999.
- She has two children with her husband.
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Shanice's Official MySpace
- All about Shanice
- Shanice at the Internet Movie Database
- Shanice at TV.com
[edit] References
- ^ Shanice
- ^ BIGGEST MOVES INTO THE TOP 10
- ^ allmusic
- ^ Shanice | SoulTracks - Soul Music Biographies, News and Reviews
- ^ New York Singing Sensation: Shanice’s new album Every Woman Dreams to be released February 2006
- ^ Inner Child by Shanice
- ^ a b Shanice's MySpace page
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