| Keisha White | |
|---|---|
| Genres | R&B / Soul |
| Years active | 2001–2009 |
| Labels | Warner Records (2003-2006) Korova Records (2005-2006) |
| Associated acts | Jay Asforis Cassidy |
| Website | KeishaWhite.com |
Keisha White is an English R&B singer. She has released two albums so far, Seventeen, which was released in 2005, and her latest album Out Of My Hands,[1] which was released on 3 July 2006.
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Keisha White attended Enfield County School for girls with Portia White before pursuing a career in music. She has released two albums so far, Seventeen, which was released in 2005 and Out Of My Hands, which was released in 2006. At the age of 15 she had collaborated with the likes of Oakenfold and Desert Eagle Discs, even before her debut album was released.
She attended Susi Earnshaw Theatre School in Barnet North London, and had lessons in the Arts; Drama, Dance and Singing, alongside Jay Asforis who found fame in S Club 8. Keisha then went on to sing the Tracy Beaker theme tune.
It all started at the tender ages of 14 when Keisha was invited to perform in front of music executives at Warner Records. Keisha sang "If You Should Lose A Good Thing" by Aretha Franklin a cappella and the record company were so impressed that they signed Keisha on the spot. "If You Should Lose a Good Thing" became the first song Keisha ever performed live for an audience and she continues to do so to this day. [1] she great On 15 March 2004, at the age of 17, three years after signing her record deal, Keisha released her debut single, "Watcha Gonna Do", following a support slot on R&B group Mis-Teeq's tour in late 2003. The track established her with an R&B/rock sound and managed to enter the UK top 75. She also sang the theme tune for the BBC "Tracy Beaker" television series and the track was included as the b-side to her debut single.
After the release of "Watcha Gonna Do", Keisha disappeared for a year before returning in 2005 with her second single. On 21 February 2005, her second single (the first from her debut album) was released and was entitled "Don't Care Who Knows". The song marked a change in direction, being a more soulful R&B song. The track featured U.S. rapper Cassidy and managed to peak inside the UK top 30 at #29. Following the release of this single, on 7 March 2005, Keisha's debut album Seventeen was released, entering the charts at a disappointing #308. Her third single, "Don't Fool a Woman in Love" (released on 23 May 2005) managed to peak a similarly disappointing #90. Following the limited success of both her album and third single, Keisha went on another hiatus, following a support slot for UK soul queen Beverley Knight at Rochester Castle. A third single from her debut album "The Weakness in Me", a double 'a' side with "Open Like So" was rumoured but was never released. Keisha herself confirmed at the Rochester Castle concert that "The Weakness in Me" would be the third single from the album but the single never materialised.
Keisha then returned for a third time in 2006 with a new single, the choice was apparently influenced by her friend Alicia Keys [2]. The single was in fact "The Weakness In Me", the originally intended third single from her debut album. The single was released on 27 February 2006, gaining strong support from UK music channels and BBC Radio 2, enabling it to become Keisha's biggest hit to date, charting at a very respectable #17 in the UK singles chart. Because a repackaged and re-titled version of the album Seventeen was due in the summer of 2006, her record company decided to delete the first album, making it quite a rarity.
On the 19 June, Keisha released the second single from her second album, entitled "Don't Mistake Me" written by Absolute and Tracy Ackerman. The song peaked at #16 in the UK airplay chart and #48 in the singles sales chart. In 2006, the song featured in episode 5 of season 3 called "Oh, the guilt!" of Grey's Anatomy.[3] White's second album, Out Of My Hands [4] was released on 3 July 2006 and is half made up of tracks from Seventeen and the other half newly recorded songs. The album also included the third single from Seventeen, "The Weakness in Me" (which was the first from Out Of My Hands). The album, managed to chart inside the UK top 75, at #55, a considerably better chart position than her debut album "Seventeen".The album has recently been certified gold with now 320,000 copies sold to date 2009. The third single from the album, "I Choose Life", was a version of the Celine Dion song "Ain't Gonna Look The Other Way". This was released on the 18th September 2006, but entered the UK Top 75 at a disappointing #63, although it reached #17 on the R&B chart. The title track of the album was rumoured to be the fourth and final single from the album.
Keisha is also working with ByteNight, a charity event to raise money for the NCH to help stop youth homelessness. Keisha along with other celebrities has designed a pillow-case which is now on auction at the ByteNight website [5]. Keisha White was nominated for best UK Female at the 2006 MOBO Awards, but lost to Corinne Bailey Rae.