![]() ![]() ![]() #Chrisette michele milestone download fullAt the end of the year, Def Jam brought her out in full force, allowing her to write and sing the hooks for Jay-Z's "Lost Ones" and Nas' Nat King Cole-inspired "Can't Forget About You." Her album debut, I Am, followed in June 2007. And at that same club, she was also discovered by representatives of Def Jam, who were enamored with her vocal abilities and had her signed to the label by 2006. However, shortly thereafter, neo-soul singer India.Arie, who spotted her at Manhattan's Village Underground club, enlisted Chrisette to be her opening act, as did Kem and Angie Stone. When she began doing gigs at local venues, it was mainly for small audiences at open mikes or for auditions. She wound up studying vocal and jazz performance at Five Townes College on Long Island. She spent endless hours isolated in a room with a piano learning jazz standards as they were sung by Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and other greats. After a teacher gave her a CD containing the bossa nova standard "The Girl from Ipanema," she was immediately won over to jazz by Brazilian jazz singer Astrud Gilberto's voice. But at age 17, Chrisette had an epiphany. Growing up in Patchogue, New York, a small town on Long Island, the young singer's parents always kept her busy with tap dancing, piano lessons, choir rehearsals, and the like. God and music were clearly instrumental in her upbringing: her father, who also played the organ, was a deacon, and her mother was the church's choir director. The jazz-influenced vocalist, born Chrisette Michele Payne in 1982, developed her pipes through singing gospel, first performing for a congregation at age four. In a very short span of time, R&B singer/songwriter Chrisette Michele shot from small-time performer up to one of Def Jam's most promising talents, purely based on her unique instrument - a gorgeous and effortlessly versatile singing voice colored with Billie Holiday-esque inflections of vocal pop and jazz. ![]()
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