Tweet (singer)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Tweet | ||
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| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Charlene L. Keys | |
| Born | March 4, 1971 (age 35) | |
| Origin |  Rochester, New York, United States |
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| Genre(s) | R&B, soul | |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, guitarist | |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar | |
| Years active | 2001–present | |
| Label(s) | The Goldmind Inc. (2002–present) Elektra (2002–2004) Atlantic (2004–2006) Umbrella Recordings (2006–present) |
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| Website | TweetMusic.com | |
Tweet (born Charlene L. Keys on March 4, 1971) is an American R&B and neo soul singer, songwriter, and guitarist.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early years
The youngest child of Tom and Shirley Keys, Tweet was born in Rochester, New York and grew up singing in the church along with her parents and her four older siblings (three brothers, Tom, Cedric and Lonnie, and one sister, Sundra). Among them, the five children mastered instruments such as the piano, guitar, bass guitar, drums and many more. Tweet herself mastered the guitar, playing her father's as a young girl. As a young girl Tweet was inspired not only by her family but also by larger-than-life divas Janet Jackson, Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston (whom she later worked with). Tweet's first steps into a career in the music industry first began when she enrolled in her local Performing Arts School. In 1990, at the age of 19, Tweet gave birth to her daughter Tashawna. The name came from a mixture of both parents name "T" from Tweet and "shawn" from Shawn, and the addition of two "a"s.
In the early nineties Tweet joined the female quintet Sugah, leaving her daughter with her parents in Panama City, Florida, while Tweet relocated to Virginia. Sugah was comprised of Tweet, Susan Weems and Rolita and was a part of Devante Swing's Swing Mob collective. While there, she met Timbaland, Magoo, Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott (who at the time was apart of the Hip-Hop/R&B group Sista), Playa and Ginuwine who were also all apart of the Swing Mob collective. During her time with Sugah, Tweet formed a close friendship with Elliott.
Around 1999 with Sugah going nowhere, no album to show, and many broken promises, Tweet returned to her parents' home in Panama City penniless and depressed. Tweet fell into deeper depression after a string of bad relationships and a number of jobs, all the while hiding her depression from her family. The depression got so bad she had planned to commit suicide. The day before she was to go through with her fateful decision she received a phone call from an old friend. That friend was Missy Elliott. She was calling to ask if Tweet would contribute background vocals on her latest album Miss E ...So Addictive. Tweet felt she could tell Elliott about her situation and what she was going through. To this day she calls Elliott her "Guardian Angel".
In 2000 Tweet began recording vocals for Elliott's album and was also reunited with her old friends from the Swing Mob days, Timbaland, Magoo, Playa, and Ginuwine. She also recorded vocals for Timbaland & Magoo's follow-up to their platinum selling 1997 debut album Welcome To Our World and Timbaland's solo album Tim's Bio: Life From Da Bassment. In 2001 Elliott released her Platinum selling third album Miss E ...So Addictive with Tweet contributing vocals to five tracks. 2001 also saw the release of Ja Rule's Pain Is Love, Beat Club Records Bubba Sparxxx's Dark Days, Bright Days, Petey Pablo's Diary Of A Sinner: 1st Entry and Timbaland & Magoo's Indecent Proposal, on all of which Tweet contributes vocals.
Meanwhile, Tweet was signed to Elliott's record label, through Elektra Entertainment Group, The Goldmind Inc. with the help of an impromptu performance of "Motel" for Violator Management's Mona Scott. Not only was she signed to The Goldmind Inc. but also to Violator Management. With this Tweet began recording her debut album.
In November of 2001, Tweet made her debut on the single's charts as a feature artist along with Ginuwine on Elliott's "Take Away", a tribute to Elliott's late friend Aaliyah. Timbaland & Magoo's "All Y'all" featuring Sebastian (Timbaland's younger brother) followed.
[edit] Southern Hummingbird
In March 2002, Tweet entered the charts with her debut solo single "Oops (Oh My)", a risqué song about self-loving and masturbation. The song was produced by Timbaland and featured guest vocals by Missy Elliott. The single hit #1 on the R&B Charts and #7 on the US Pop Charts, with the help of a Remix featuring Fabolous.
In April, Tweet released her debut album Southern Hummingbird to mostly strong reviews. The album featured production by Craig Brockman, Nisan Stewart, guitarist John "Jubu" Smith, Timbaland (who contributed four tracks) and Tweet herself. It also featured guest vocals by Elliott "Oops (Oh My)", Bilal "Best Friend", BeatClub Record's Ms. Jade "Sexual Healing (Oops Pt. 2)" and featured a bonus new track from Elliott "Big Spender". The album was filled with soul stirring vocals and lyrics taken from Tweet's own life experiences, some of which were at the time written on napkins. The album spwanned another two singles, Timbaland produced "Call Me" and the radio single "Smoking Cigarettes", which had a video shot for it and directed by Little X but was never released. The album reached #3 on the Billboard album charts, behind Murder Inc.'s Ashanti self-titled debut album. That year Tweet appeared as a guest vocalist on Trina's second single from her hit album Diamond Princess. The song was called "No Panties" and was written and produced by Missy Elliott and Nisan Stewart. Tweet also appeared on Meshell Ndegeocello's Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape, Karen Clark Sheard's 2nd Chance, Ms. Jade's Girl Interrupted, Whitney Houston's Just Whitney... and Elliott's 2x Platinum selling album Under Construction. Tweet appeared on four of the tracks and also made a cameo performance in both videos released from the album, "Work It" and "Gossip Folks". Tweet was nominated for a Soul Train Lady of Soul Award (among others) for Best New Artist but lost out to her rival Ashanti. But that year Tweet was awarded the Key To The City for Rochester, New York. Along with Missy Elliott, Lil' Kim, DMX, Toni Braxton, Queen Latifah, Ananda Lewis, Playa, Jamie Foxx, Lil' Mo, AJ, Free (among others), Tweet appeared in the late Aaliyah's posthumous hit single "Miss You".
With 2003 came more guest vocals appearances, Madonna's American Life The Remixes Single, Monica's After The Storm, Mark Ronson's Here Comes The Fuzz and Angie Stone's Stone Love on the 2004 Grammy nominated song "U-Haul". Tweet turned to acting, having a cameo appearance in the film Honey, directed by music video director Billie Woodruff and starring Jessica Alba, Mekhi Phifer, Lil' Romeo, Joy Bryant and Missy Elliott. Tweet's other acting credits include an episode of the comedy series The Parkers in 2002, in which she performed "Oops (Oh My)" and "Smoking Cigarettes". Tweet also appeared on the Honey Soundtrack on the Missy Elliott produced "Thugman" which sample's The Wu-Tang Clan's "Y'all Been Warned". Tweet also performed the Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins produced track "Hypnotic" in the film, but it doesn't feature on the soundtrack.
[edit] It's Me Again
2004 saw a period of drought. Tweet appeared in another of Elliott's music videos, this time it was "I'm Really Hot" off Elliott's 2003 platinum release This Is Not A Test!, but Tweet was absent from the album as a vocalist although "Thugman" can be heard in the background of "Toyz Interlude". Tweet also appeared on the posthumous unreleased Missy Elliott produced Aaliyah track "Where Could He Be" which contains a sample of Lisa Stansfield's "Been Around The World". The song did enjoy slight radio success, but has not yet been released officially. Missy Elliott made her move from Elektra Entertainment Group to Atlantic Records, taking Tweet and The Goldmind Inc. with her.
During 2003 and 2004 Tweet began recording songs for her follow-up to her Gold certified album Southern Hummingbird which was supposed to be released in 2004 but due to the label change went back into the studio to record yet more tracks. In late 2004 Tweet joined Cee-Lo Green and Teedra Moses on the 2004 Seagram's Gin Live Tour in promotion of her new single "Turn Da Lights Off" The song was produced by Missy Elliott and Kwame and featured vocals from Elliott and contained a sample of Luther Vandrosses "If This World Were Mine" and Nat King Cole's "Lost April". While on tour Tweet performed her old tracks and also primiered her new single and some of her newer tracks including "My Man" and "Sports, Sex & Food".
On March 22, 2005, Tweet released her long awaited sophomore album It's Me Again. The album featured production from Missy Elliott on seven of the tracks, Craig Brockman, Nisan Stewart, brothers Charlie Bereal and Kenny Bereal, Walter Milsap III, Kwame, The Goldmind Inc.'s Soul Diggaz, Marty Cintron III, Madball Entertainment and, Timbaland and Tweet (who both only contributed producing credits on one track each). The album featured vocals from Tweet's 15 year old daughter Tashawna "Two Of Us", Rell "Could It Be" and Missy Elliott "Turn Da Lights Off" and "Things I Don't Mean", and also featured the hidden bonus track "When I Need A Man" (theme song from the USA Network Original Series, Kojak, starring Ving Rhames). The album peaked at #17 on the Billboard album charts and then quickly flew off the charts due to poor and lack of promotion and mis-management from Atlantic Records. There was talk to film a second video for either "Cab Ride", which sampled the Danny DeVito comedy series "Taxi" theme song "Angela", or "Sports, Sex & Food", but this never happened. Tweet then broke away from her manager Mona Scott and Violator Management and signed with Mathew Knowles of Sanctuary Urban Records Group, who mangers the careers of his daughter Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, to name a few. Tweet stills maintains a close friendship with Mona Scott and is still signed to The Goldmind Inc. Tweet also appeared on Elliott's sixth album release The Cookbook, contributing vocals to three tracks, including the single "Teary Eyed".
[edit] Present
Tweet currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia and is already working on her next album and is slated to appear on Elliott's newest artist Jessica Betts album, who previously won Elliott's On The Road To Stardom With Missy Elliott. She was also seen recently leaving a recording studio with Timbaland and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas of TLC which could quite possibly be resulting in collaboration between Chilli and Tweet over a Timbaland beat, either for Chilli's debut solo album or Tweet's next installment. Atlantic has also given Tweet a second chance after screwing up promotion for It's Me Again.
2006 sees Tweet recording her 3rd album, which will feature a collaboration with Whitney Houston ("Another Day"), and in-turn Tweet will feature on Whitney Houston's next album, and will feature production by Timbaland, Dre & Vidal, Missy Elliott, Walter Milsap III, Warryn Campbell (who produced Elliott's "Teary Eyed"). Tweet is also slated to record tracks with Kanye West and quite possibly Rich Harrison. Tweet should wrap up studio recording sessions around fall. Tweet has also written two songs for Monica's new album The Makings of Me, only one of these "Gotta Move On" appeared on the album. She has also written songs for Fantasia's sophomore album.
Tweet has supposedly left Atlantic and quite possibly Elliott's The Goldmind, Inc. as well and has signed with Jeryl Busby and Mike City's new record label Umbrella Recordings, whose acts include Patti LaBelle, Carl Thomas and a few other well-known R&B chart climbers. This could mean good things for the future of Tweet.
Currently Tweet's official site was taken down which could mean a new site will be made to promote her new album.
On December 2nd, 2006 two songs called "Whisper" and "See Ya" leaked onto a Tweet myspace page but were confirmed by Tweet they were songs rejected from past albums. Another song has been posted on her myspace page called "Give It To Ya" along with a sneak peek of her next album.
A cover of Boogie 2Nite (a song from the album Southern Hummingbird) by "Booty Luv" (vocalists Nadia & Cherise from UK act Big Brovaz) reached number 2 in the UK Charts on December 10th, 2006, after three years of UK club success, but no official single release of Tweet's original.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- 2002: Southern Hummingbird (US Billboard 200:#3, US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums:#2) (US certification: Gold)
- 2005: It's Me Again (US Billboard 200:#17, US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums:#2)
[edit] Singles
| Year | Album | Chart Positions | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B | UK | NZ | GER | CH | FRA | SW | ||
| 2001 | "Take Away" (Missy Elliott featuring Tweet) | 45 | 13 | - | - | 96 | - | - | - |
| 2001 | "All Y'all" (Timbaland & Magoo featuring Tweet) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2002 | "Oops (Oh My)" (featuring Missy Elliott) | 7 | 1 | 5 | 38 | 23 | 36 | 75 | 34 |
| 2002 | "Call Me" | 31 | 9 | 35 | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2002 | "No Panties" (Trina featuring Tweet) | - | - | 45 | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2002 | "Smoking Cigarettes" | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2003 | "Thugman" (featuring Missy Elliott) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2005 | "Turn Da Lights Off" (featuring Missy Elliott) | - | 39 | 29 | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2005 | "When I Need A Man" watch video | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
|align="center" valign="top"|2006 |align="left" valign="top"|"Mr. Dj Feat Missy Elliott" |align="center" valign="top"|- |align="center" valign="top"|- |align="center" valign="top"|- |align="center" valign="top"|- |align="center" valign="top"|- |align="center" valign="top"|- |align="center" valign="top"|- |align="center" valign="top"|- |-
[edit] Album appearances
| Year | Song | Artist | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | "...So Addictive (Intro)" | Missy Elliott featuring Tweet | Miss E ...So Addictive |
| 2001 | "Old School Joint" | Missy Elliott | Miss E ...So Addictive |
| 2001 | "Take Away (Radio Edit)" | Missy Elliott featuring Ginuwine & introducing Tweet | Miss E ...So Addictive |
| 2001 | "4 My People" | Missy Elliott featuring Eve | Miss E ...So Addictive |
| 2001 | "Step Off" | Missy Elliott | Miss E ...So Addictive |
| 2001 | "X-Tasy" | Missy Elliott | Miss E ...So Addictive |
| 2001 | "X" | Ja Rule featuring Missy Elliott | Violator: The Album V2.0 // Pain Is Love |
| 2001 | "Ugly" | Bubba Sparxxx | Dark Days, Bright Nights |
| 2001 | "Bubba Talk" | Bubba Sparxxx | The Wash Soundtrack // Dark Days, Bright Nights |
| 2001 | "Funroom" | Petey Pablo featuring Tweet | Diary Of A Sinner: 1st Entry |
| 2001 | "All Y'all" | Timbaland & Magoo featuring Tweet | Indecent Proposal // Present |
| 2001 | "Love Me" | Timbaland & Magoo featuring Tweet & Petey Pablo | Indecent Proposal |
| 2002 | "That's Crazy (Remix)" | P. Diddy featuring Black Rob, Missy Elliott, Snoop Dogg & G. Dep | P. Diddy & Bad Boy Records Present... We Invented The Remix |
| 2002 | "Pocketbook (Rockwilder & Missy Elliott Remix)" | Meshell Ndegeocello featuring Redman & Tweet | Cookie: The Anthropological Monkey |
| 2002 | "Get Away (Move On)" | Tweet | Call Me Single |
| 2002 | "Only Call On Jesus" | Karen Clark Sheard | 2nd Chance |
| 2002 | "Higher Ground" | Karen Clark Sheard featuring Yolanda Adams, Kim Burrell, Dorinda Clark Cole, Mary Mary & Missy Elliott | 2nd Chance // Miss E ...So Addictive |
| 2002 | "Higher Ground (Prelude)" | Missy Elliott featuring Tweet | Miss E ...So Addictive |
| 2002 | "No Panties" | Trina featuring Tweet | Diamond Princess |
| 2002 | "Boogie 2nite" | Tweet | Southern Hummingbird // The Transporter Soundtrack |
| 2002 | "She's A Gangsta" | Ms. Jade | Girl Interrupted |
| 2002 | "Feel The Girl" | Ms. Jade | Girl Interrupted |
| 2002 | "Back In The Day" | Missy Elliott featuring Jay-Z | Under Construction |
| 2002 | "P***ycat" | Missy Elliott | Under Construction |
| 2002 | "Nothing Out There For Me" | Missy Elliott featuring Beyoncé Knowles | Under Construction |
| 2002 | "Can You Hear Me" | Missy Elliott featuring TLC | Under Construction |
| 2002 | "Things You Say" | Whitney Houston | Just Whitney... |
| 2002 | "Could U" | Sebastian featuring Tweet | unreleased |
| 2003 | "American Life (Missy Elliott's American Dream Remix)" | Madonna featuring Missy Elliott | American Life Single |
| 2003 | "So Gone" | Monica | After The Storm |
| 2003 | "So Gone (Remix)" | Monica featuring Busta Rhymes | After The Storm |
| 2003 | "International Affair" | Mark Ronson featuring Sean Paul & Tweet | Here Comes The Fuzz |
| 2003 | "Bus Stop" aka "Where Did He Go?" | Jazmine Sullivan featuring Missy Elliott | unreleased |
| 2003 | "Thugman" | Tweet featuring Missy Elliott | Honey Soundtrack |
| 2003 | "Hypnotic" | Tweet | Honey Soundtrack - unreleased |
| 2003 | "Shook Up" | Tweet featuring Free | unreleased |
| 2003 | "U-Haul" | Angie Stone | Stone Love // Stone Hits: The Very Best Of Angie Stone |
| 2004 | "Where Could He Be?" | Aaliyah featuring Missy Elliott | unreleased |
| 2005 | "Irresistible Delicious" | Missy Elliott featuring Slick Rick | The Cookbook |
| 2005 | "Teary Eyed" | Missy Elliott | The Cookbook // Respect M.E. |
| 2005 | "Time And Time Again" | Missy Elliott | The Cookbook |
| 2006 | "Gotta Move On" | Monica | The Makings Of Me |
[edit] Songwriting Credits
- 2001: X-Tasy by Missy Elliott
- 2001: Funroom by Petey Pablo
- 2001: All Y'all by Timbaland & Magoo
- 2001: Love Me by Timbaland & Magoo
- 2002: Only Call On Jesus by Karen Clark Sheard
- 2002: Higher Ground (Prelude) by Missy Elliott
- 2002: Things You Say by Whitney Houston
[edit] Music videos
- 1995: DeVante Swing "Gin And Juice" (Cameo)
- 1995: DeVante Swing "Gin And Juice Remix" feat. Magoo & Static from Playa (Cameo)
- 2001: Missy Elliott "Take Away/4 Me People" feat. Ginuwine - Directed by Dave Meyers
- 2001: Timbaland & Magoo "All Y'all" feat. Sebastian - Directed by Nick Quested
- 2002: Tweet "Oops (Oh My)" feat. Missy Elliott - Directed by Cameron Casey
- 2002: Tweet "Call Me" - Directed by Chris Robinson
- 2002: Trina "No Panties" - Directed by Charles Infante & Dave Meyers
- 2002: Tweet "Smoking Cigarettes/Boogie 2nite" - Directed by Little X (Unreleased)
- 2002: Aaliyah "Miss You" - Directed by Darren Grant (Cameo)
- 2002: Missy Elliott "Work It" - Directed by Dave Meyers (Cameo)
- 2002: Missy Elliott "Gossip Folks/Funky Fresh Dressed" feat. Ludacris & Ms. Jade - Directed by Dave Meyers (Cameo)
- 2003: Missy Elliott "Back In The Day" feat. Jay-Z - Directed by Dave Meyers (Unreleased)
- 2004: Missy Elliott "I'm Really Hot" - Directed by Bryan Barber (Cameo)
- 2005: Tweet "Turn Da Lights Off" feat. Missy Elliott - Directed by Antti J.
- 2005: Tweet "When I Need A Man" - Directed by Antti J.
[edit] Filmography
- 2002: The Parkers: Kim's 21st Birthday (TV)
- 2003: Honey
[edit] Endorsements
- Verizon Wireless Cellphones TV & Print Ads (featured in "Call Me" Music Video)
- Citizen Watches Print Ads
- GAP Streach Jeans TV Ad ("I'll Take You There" with Taryn Manning)
- Pantene Pro-Voice TV & Print Ads (with Mya, Vanessa Carlton and Lucy Woodward)
[edit] External links
Categories: 1971 births | African-American singers | African-American singer-songwriters | American female singers | American rhythm and blues guitarists | American rhythm and blues singers | American rhythm and blues singer-songwriters | American soul musicians | Living people | Neo soul singers | New York musicians | People from Rochester, New York | People known by single-name pseudonyms | Rhythmic Top 40 acts | Swing Mob artists
