Keshia Chanté

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Keshia Chanté
Background information
Birth name	Keshia Chanté Harper
Born	June 16, 1988 (age 18) Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Genre(s)	R&B/ Pop
Instrument(s)	Vocals
Years active	2003-Present
Associated acts	Foxy Brown, Bow Wow, Chris Brown, Freeway
Website	KeshiaChante.com
Notable instrument(s)
Piano ("Bad Boy" interlude on album debut)

Keshia Chanté (born as "Keshia Chanté Harper" on June 16, 1988 is an R&B/Pop singer/songwriter and signed model to Ford Models International.^[1] On December 5, 2006 she released her second album called 2U in Canada. She cites artist Tupac Shakur as her idol and singers Beyoncé Knowles and Christina Aguilera among her influences^[2] and resides in New York City, New York and Toronto, Ontario. ^[3]

1 Early life
2 Debut album
3 Sophomore album
4 Awards
5 Singles
6 Discography
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Early life

Keshia Chanté was born in Ottawa, Ontario in Canada and is Trinidadian, Puerto Rican and Portuguese descent. ^[4]

[edit] Debut album

Her first "Shook (The Answer)" appeared in early 2003. It was only meant to be a "buzz" single but it surprisingly broke into the Top 10 on Canadian music charts and won an Urban Music Award for "Best Pop/R&B Single".

For the follow-up, "Unpredictable", she released her first video, which hit number one on YTV and the top ten on MuchMusic. In November 2003, the CD single of "Unpredictable" was certified gold by selling 500,000 copies. Because of that single, in 2003, she won the Canadian Radio Music Award for "Best New Solo Artist".

In early February of 2004, Chanté's third single, "Bad Boy", was released. It was also successful, breaking the Top 5 on radio and becoming the #1 video on MuchMusic for 4 weeks. The video was directed by director Little X.^[5] Later, in June 2004, Chanté topped the charts again (Top 5) with the release of her fourth single "Does He Love Me? ft. Foxy Brown" which Chanté wrote and "Young Gav" (Foxy Brown's younger brother) produced. The video was also directed by Little X and became #1 on MuchMusic for 3 weeks.

On June 22, 2004 Chanté released her debut album self-titled debut album. On December 3, 2004 it was certified gold. It contained her previous singles, as well as her later to be released fifth "Let the Music Take You" penned by Chanté. In October 2004, at the Canadian Urban Music Awards Chanté swept all three of nominations, winning awards for "Best New Artist", "Video of the Year" (for Bad Boy), "Fans' Choice Award" and by surprise taking home the "Rising Star of the Year" award. The month after that, BET Rated Next and conducted an interview which became her first significant appearance on the American media. Then later, BET's VP Stephen Hill put her Little X directed video "Bad Boy" into rotation. This caused Chanté to get noticed by major record labels, where she was later signed to Sony Urban/Epic Records (home to the likes of Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez, Bow Wow & Three Six Mafia.^[6]

[edit] Sophomore album

After her signing, Chanté moved to New York City, New York to begin working on her sophomore album. During that time, Chante was on Teen People Magazines "Rock The Runway" Mall Tour (where Ciara first started) and Seventeen Magazine's "Rock N' Shop" Mall Tour (where Britney Spears started).^[7] In May 2006, she posted 3 brand new songs, "Been Gone", "Kiss" and "Summer Love" on MySpace.

In March 2006 she released her "2U" Album teaser single, "Ring The Alarm", which was used for WarChild's "Keep The Beat" charity campaign. All the proceeds from "Ring The Alarm" went to supported children at war and was also featured on triple platinum compilation "MuchDance 2006".

In July of that year, she released her single "Been Gone", produced by Philadelphia's Matrax Productions and written by Chanté. The video was shot by Little X (making it her 3rd collaboration with him) and was shot inside of "Fletcher's Meadow Secondary School" where Chante attended in her last year of school and graduated with great honours. Her second single, "2U", produced by Philadelphia's Matrax Productions and written by Chanté was released in early November. 2U's video was shot on October 22 in Miami by director Bobby O'Neill, and was released on Yahoo Music Canada on November 16.

Also in 2006, Chanté made a featured cameo appearance in label mate Bow Wow's video "Shortie Like Mine". The video depicts R&B singer Chris Brown searching for Keshia Chanté on his laptop. They send messages back and forth throughout the video.

Her sophomore album was released on December 5, 2006 in her native Canada and is tentative for an April 2007 released in the United States through Sony/BMG and May 2007 release in Japan.

[edit] Awards

2005 JUNO Award for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year
2005 Urban Music Award for Video of the Year for "Does He Love Me"
2004 Urban Music Award for Best New Artist
2004 Urban Music Award for Video of the Year for "Bad Boy"
2004 Urban Music Award Fans Choice Award
2004 Rising Star Award for Rising Star of the Year
2003 Urban Music Award for Best R&B/Soul Single for "Shook (The Answer)"
2003 Canadian Radio Music Award for Best New Artist

[edit] Singles

Year	Single
August 2003	Shook (The Answer)
November 2003	Unpredictable
February 2004	Bad Boy
June 2004	Does He Love Me? (ft. Foxy Brown)
September 2004	Let The Music Take You
November 2005	Come Fly With Me (Promo Only)
March 2006	Ring The Alarm (WarChild's "Keep The Beat" Charity Single)
July 2006	Been Gone #10 on Canadian Singles Chart
November 2006	2U #14 on Canadian Singles Chart

[edit] Discography

	Album information
	Keshia Chanté Released: June 22, 2004 CRIA Certification: Gold Singles: Shook (The Answer), Unpredictable, Bad Boy, Does He Love Me (ft. Foxy Brown), Let The Music Take You, Come Fly with Me
	2U Released: December 5, 2006 CRIA Certification: "TBR" RIAA Certification: TBR Singles: "Been Gone", "2U"