Shaznay Lewis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Shaznay Lewis | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Shaznay Tricia Lewis |
| Born | October 14, 1975 |
| Origin | London, England |
| Genre(s) | Pop, R&B |
| Instrument(s) | Singing |
| Years active | 1997-2001, 2006-present (Group) 2004-present (Solo) |
| Label(s) | London Records |
| Associated acts | All Saints |
| Website | http://www.shaznaylewis.co.uk |
Shaznay Tricia Lewis (born October 14, 1975 in Islington, London) is an English female singer/songwriter and a member of All Saints. Shaznay is 1. 70m (5' 7"), and has Bajan and Jamaican roots.
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[edit] Biography
Shaznay is generally regarded as a key talent behind the popular girl group All Saints (1996 - 2001 and 2006 - present). Her musical influences include rap and Missy Elliott; in addition, she grew up listening to Bob Marley and Johnny Mathis. It was the music of Alanis Morissette that encouraged Shaznay to take her music one step further.
As a teenager Shaznay played 3 matches for Arsenal Ladies, a successful ladies` football team in London, England. She returned to football in the 2002 hit movie Bend It Like Beckham in the role of the team captain and can be seen playing football in several training and match scenes.
Shaznay had been entering singing contests since the age of thirteen. At a party she was introduced to Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot of Curiosity Killed the Cat by her friends who took her to the Metamorphisis recording studios on All Saints Road, London and started doing backing vocals.[1]
It was at the Metamorphosis recording studios where Shaznay met Melanie Blatt in 1993 and proceeded to record together. Together with Simone Rainford they formed the band All Saints 1.9.7.5 which was later renamed to All Saints when Simone left and Nicole and Natalie Appleton joined Melanie and Shaznay.
Shaznay has been the most active songwriter of the All Saints and was responsible for writing most of the songs including many hits. In 2001 Shaznay won the Ivor Novello Award for best songwriting. After the group broke up, Shaznay released her debut solo single "Never Felt Like This Before" in July 2004. It reached #8 and is taken from the Top 30 album Open. The next single released was "You" which charted at #56 and which featured a romantic video with an image of her husband in the clouds.
Shaznay also played in several films. In Bend it like Beckham (2002) Shaznay played Mel and also played a minor role in Hideous Man (2002). On November 14, 2004 Shaznay was involved in the Band Aid 20 re-recording of "Do They Know It's Christmas".[2]
On August 21, 2004 Shaznay married dancer Christian "Storm" Horsfall. Shaznay had her first child, a son named Tyler Xaine, in February 2006. On January 24, 2006 it was announced that All Saints have reformed with a new record contract and will release a new album, Studio 1 on November 13th 2006.[3] She performed with All Saints on live television for the first time since reforming on the UK light entertainment program, Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway on October 21st 2006. All Saints started their comeback off with a bang as their single Rock Steady went to ~3 in the UK. They quickly followed with their comeback album Studio 1. The album reached a peak of ~40 in the UK. Polydor then released their second single "Chick Fit". The single failed to hit the top 200. All Saints were then dropped by record label Parlophone. The group say they will remain together and search for a new record company.
On January 2008 Shaznay featured on Wideboys track called "Daddy O".[4] The single will be released 5th May 2008, with confirmation from E4 Music, who were behind the scenes of the videoshoot.
[edit] Discography
See also All Saints or All Saints discography for details of Lewis' releases with All Saints.
[edit] Albums
| Statistics | Singles |
|---|---|
Open
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[edit] Singles
| Year | Single | Chart positions | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | NZ | GER | ITA | ||||||
| 2004 | "Never Felt Like This Before" | 8 | 19 | 82 | — |
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| "You" | 56 | — | — | 69 | |||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||||||||
[edit] As featured performer
| Year | Single | Chart positions | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | IRE | AUS | NZ | ||||||
| 1997 | "I Wanna Be Your Lady" (Hinda Hicks feat. Shaznay Lewis) | 14 | — | — | — |
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| 2008 | "Daddy O" (Wideboys feat. Shaznay Lewis) | 32 | — | — | — | ||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||||||||
[edit] Filmography
This is a list details Lewis' appearances in various films / music videos:
