| Aundrea Fimbres | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Aundrea Aurora Fimbres |
| Born | June 29, 1983 |
| Origin | Upland, California, U.S. |
| Genres | R&B, pop |
| Occupations | Singer, songwriter, actress |
| Years active | 2005–present |
| Labels | Bad Boy (2005-2009) |
| Associated acts | Danity Kane, P.Diddy |
Aundrea Aurora Fimbres (born June 29, 1983) is an American singer and dancer. Fimbres is a former member of the pop music group Danity Kane, from 2005 to 2009. She is a soprano and was known for her melismatic vocal runs, and falsetto registered harmonies and also for having the highest vocal range out of all her fellow band members.[1]
Contents |
Fimbres was born in Upland, California to parents of Mexican descent. The youngest child in her family, Fimbres attended both Upland High School and Claremont High School.[2]
Before Fimbres auditioned for Making the Band 3 she was three semesters short of completing a degree in education, with the intention of becoming a kindergarten teacher—a back-up plan to singing she promised her parents she would have.[3] Fimbres was singing from an early age. During her high school years she was a member of a pop ensemble, Intrigue.[4]
In 2004, Fimbres auditioned in Los Angeles for the first season of Making the Band 3 -- the same audition as fellow band member Aubrey O'Day. They met at the audition, which subsequently led to their friendship.[5] When it came time for the final audition, not only did Fimbres make the cut but she was the first contestant to make it into the house.[5]
Fimbres was one of the "standouts" during the competition.[5] She excelled in dancing and her vocals set her apart from the other contestants.[5] In addition to this, she experienced significant personal struggles while competing, which helped to further endear her to the audience.[5] Their "den mother" Jason was viewed as rude to the women in the house.[5] In one episode, Jason criticized Fimbres for not having a well-toned abdomen.[5] Despite this, Fimbres continued to display good vocal and dance performance.[5]
During the first season finale of Making the Band 3, Sean Combs decided against forming a group, but chose Fimbres as one of the contestants from the first season, along with O'Day, to participate in the second season.[5] During the second season, Fimbres's dance performance declined in skill.[5] Her vocals remained favorable to judges and fellow contestants, but her dancing ability was in question.[5] Fimbres later improved the quality of her dancing. On the season finale of the series, she was picked to be in the group, which would soon become known as Danity Kane.
Danity Kane's self-titled debut studio album was released in 2006 and achieved success in the United States, shipping a million copies domestically,[6] while spawning two singles with top 10 hit "Show Stopper" and the ballad "Ride for You". Their second studio album, Welcome to the Dollhouse, was released on March 18, 2008, following the release of their second top 10 hit single "Damaged".[7] The band became the first female group in Billboard history to debut their first two albums at the top of the charts.[5]
The October 14, 2008 season finale of Making the Band confirmed the departure of O'Day and D. Woods.[8] Due to fellow bandmate Shannon Bex deciding not to continue within the group and declining to return to film the show's 2009 season, Fimbres and Dawn Richard were the only two returning members for the group and the series.[9] The group had been confirmed as disbanded in January 2009.[9] However, they were shown on air as being completely over in April 2009, where Fimbres was "officially" released from her Bad Boy Records contract by Combs in the April 16, 2009 episode of the series.[10]
Fimbres had initially formed a strong connection with O'Day while competing to be in the band.[5] The two made it through two seasons together, and gained a large and loyal fanbase before Combs chose them to be in the group.[5] Viewers named the two "the AUs" and "Aubrea" (portmanteux of their first names put together), and O'Day declared Fimbres her best friend in the Season 2 finale of the series.[5] Fimbres's friendship with O'Day, however, later became distant, which has been speculated as being one of the reasons for Danity Kane's demise.[5][11]
In June 2010, an original Fimbres song leaked on the internet entitled Brush You Off. Later, this song was revealed to be a demo Fimbres had made in 2006. In August 2010, she along with former Danity Kane bandmate, Aubrey O'Day, revealed via Ustream that both had recorded a track titled "Ego Trip" to be featured on O'Day's solo album. They also answered some fan questions about the band's split.
On March 11, 2011 Fimbres made an appearance on former Danity Kane member Aubrey O'Day's reality show All About Aubrey where they recorded a song titled "Ego Trip" for Aubrey O'Day's upcoming solo album to be released in 2011. In the episode, Fimbres drops out of a show she would do with Aubrey telling Aubrey that she didn't want to be in the business anymore according to O'Day.
In 2010, Fimbres began performing and touring with Soto a Latin/Funk/R&B band based out of Norwalk, California[12]
Fimbres's vocals are featured in a song called "Dip With You" on Baby Bash's album Cyclone.[13] She also appeared in a musical, alongside Nathaniel Flatt of V-Factory as Dorothy (the lead role) in Oz: The Musical, from December 4-December 13, 2009.[14] On December 30, 2010 a snippet of the Aubrey O'Day and Aundrea Fimbres collaboration titled Ego Trip leaked on the internet.[15] This record is rumoured to be a part of O'Day's solo debut due out in 2011.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||