SHANICE

'Shanice' (born 'Shanice Lorraine Wilson' on May 14, 1973 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is a Grammy Award nominated American R&B singer. Credited usually as simply Shanice, she hit big on mainstream radio with her 1991 hit "I Love Your Smile" for the Motown label, she also scored another Top 5 Billboard Hot 100 single in 1993 with "Saving Forever For You."

Contents

Biography

Voice

Comeback

Discography

Albums

Singles

Awards

Trivia

External links

References

Biography

Born in Pittsburgh, Shanice, before her teen years relocated to Los Angeles with her mother and aunt who were interested in pursuing careers in the music industry. Shanice's showmanship was evident from an early age and this move was also to benefit her career. Shanice's talent gave her the opportunity to star in a KFC commercial with the legendary Ella Fitzgerald at age nine. Later, she was discovered by A&M Records at the age of eleven, and released her debut album, ''Discovery'' in 1987, which wasn't a huge pop hit, but did score R&B chart action, and the singer a 1987 Soul Train Award nomination for Best R&B/Urban Contemporary New Artist; she lost the award to R&B singer Miki Howard. Shanice went on to sign a record deal with Motown Records in 1991. Her 1991 album ''Inner Child'' which sold 1.1 million copies, includes the popular hit single "I Love Your Smile", produced by Narada Michael Walden. Also included on Inner Child is a cover of Minnie Riperton's 1974 hit "Lovin' You". This rendition helped to bring public attention to Shanice's ability to sing in high range as Minnie Riperton and Mariah Carey^[1], the latter who at the start of the 90's had reintroduced the whistling technique into pop music. In 1993, she made a guest appearance on the popular television sitcom Family Matters.
After Inner Child, Shanice continued to record albums, including ''21… Ways to Grow'' in 1994 and 1999's ''Shanice'' sold a total of 500,000 copies, produced chiefly by Babyface. On this album Shanice broke a record with her single “When I Close My Eyes”^[2]. While she has not achieved significant commercial success with her later albums, she is acknowledged as a talented singer and many of her songs appeared on various soundtracks such as ''Boomerang (soundtrack)'', ''Beverly Hills 90210'' and ''The Meteor Man''. She also sings backup and does studio sessions and can be heard on Toni Braxton's song "Come On Over Here" and "Un-Break My Heart^[3]." She can also be heard making vocal contributions to various video games. She is married to actor/comedian Flex Alexander, with whom she has two children: daughter Imani Shekinah and son Elijah Alexander. Shanice also showed a new side to her talent in the late 90's when she played the role of Eponine in the broadway musical "Les Miserables" for a short run, for which she was given decent reviews.

Voice

Shanice is a singer credited with a five octave vocal range. Soultrack.com in their biography states, 'she recorded her debut album for A&M Records, Discovery, at age 13. Despite her young age, Shanice showed an amazing vocal range (five octaves)'^[4]. RushPRnews also confirms Shanice wide vocal range by noting: "It's always been about the voice for Shanice. She can boast of a five-octave range, which she handles with beauty and ease" ^[5]. Thus, Shanice has the ability to sing falsetto, as mentioned in Musicmatch's review of her 1991 international successful ''Inner Child'' album: "Shanice sure has an impressive voice, including the ability to sing falsetto like Mariah Carey and Minnie Riperton" ^[6]. Shanice can be heard using this ability in songs such as her cover of Minnie Riperton's "Lovin' You", "Fly Away", "Aint Got No Remedy", "Never Changing Love" and in her duet with Jon Secada for the ''Pocahontas'' soundtrack "If I Never Knew You" among other songs.

Comeback

Not a stranger to taking long gaps between albums and singles, "Every Woman Dreams" finally emerged in June of 2005. The single did moderately well at R&B radio. After several pushbacks, her fifth studio album ''Every Woman Dreams'' was released on February 21 2006, by an independent label. The album entered at number 25 on the Billboard 200 album chart, and sold 70,000 copies in its opening week.

Discography

Albums

★ 1987: ''Discovery''

★ 1991: ''Inner Child''

★ 1994: ''21... Ways to Grow''

★ 1999: ''Shanice''

★ 1999: ''Ultimate Collection''

★ 2006: ''Every Woman Dreams''

★ 2008: Shanice Sixth Studio Album

Singles

Year	Title	Chart positions			Album
		US Hot 100	US R&B	UK
1987	"(Baby Tell Me) Can You Dance"	50	6	–	''Discovery''
1987	"No Half Steppin'"	–	6	–	''Discovery''
1988	"The Way You Love Me"	–	53	–	''Discovery''
1988	"I Bet She's Got a Boyfriend"	–	–	78	''Discovery''
1988	"This Time" (duet with Kiara)	78	2	81	''To Change and/or Make a Difference'' (by Kiara)
1991	"I Love Your Smile"	2	1(4)	2	''Inner Child''
1992	"I'm Cryin'"	–	11	–	''Inner Child''
1992	"Silent Prayer" (featuring Johnny Gill)	31	4	–	''Inner Child''
1992	"Lovin' You"	–	59	54	''Inner Child''
1992	"Saving Forever for You"	4	20	42	''Beverly Hills, 90210 [Soundtrack]''
1992	"Don't Wanna Love You" ^^	58	57	–	''Boomerang [Soundtrack]''
1993	"It's for You"	57	14	–	''The Meteor Man [Soundtrack]''
1994	"Somewhere"	122	28	–	''21...Ways to Grow''
1994	"Turn down the Lights"	114	21	–	''21...Ways to Grow''
1994	"I Like"	–	–	49	''21...Ways to Grow''
1994	"I Wish"	–	61	–	''21...Ways to Grow''
1995	"If I Never Knew You" (duet with Jon Secada)	108	124	51	''Pocahontas [Soundtrack]''
1999	"When I Close My Eyes"	12	4	–	''Shanice''
1999	"Yesterday"	122	40	–	''Shanice''
1999	"You Need a Man"	–	53	–	''Shanice''
2005	"Every Woman Dreams"	–	62	–	''Every Woman Dreams''
2006	"Take Care of U"	–	72	–	''Every Woman Dreams''
2006	"Love for a While" (duet with Jeremiah)	–	–	–	Jeremiah's ''Chasing Forever''

★ ^^ Not released for sale in the U.S./Radio-Only Single in America. (Before Download Sales).

Awards

★ 1993: Golden Lion Award for Best International Artist

Trivia

★ Shanice and gospel singer Tonéx sang the theme song to the UPN sitcom ''One On One''.
Shanice appeared and sang "I Love Your Smile" at the Grammy in the Schools Day event on the campus of the University of Illinois, Chicago, IL in 1992.

External links

★ Official site

★ Shanice's Official MySpace

★ All about Shanice

References

1. [1]
2. [2]
3. [3]
4. [4]
5. [5]
6. [6]