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Biography
You want to know how you can tell someone is fiyah? When they haven't had an official album release but almost a hundred wanna-bes video loggers are imitating their style and singing their songs all over YouTube. Considered the R&B answer to gospel diva, Kim Burrell, the astonishing Jazmine Sullivan has been a smug "oh, you don't know?" artist simmering on the underground for the last several years. Introduced to the mainstream by fellow Philly artists Kindred and the Family Soul on their debut, Surrender To Love, by age 21, Jazmine had already been praised as a prodigious singer/songwriter for almost a decade. With a mahogany voice brimming with resonance and melisma to spare (some times not spared enough - I'm just sayin'), Jazmine's a vocal technician whose control, weight and technique belie her tender years. A couple of years after a prophetic performance on It's Showtime at the Apollo at age 11, Jazmine became a personal favorite of Stevie Wonder, who hired the young star to perform for him several times when she was just 13.
Signed to Jive Records at 15, Jazmine's mature talent bewildered Jive execs who were reportedly clueless as to how to market a teenager with a voice as seasoned as Gladys Knight but a mug that was pure Gerber. Material leaked from that project has been surfing the internet for years, particularly on YouTube, creating a legion of Jazmine fans and imitators. In between label signings, the songstress signed a publishing deal with BMI, wrote Christina Milan a Top 15 Billboard hit, "Say I," and appeared as a background singer for producer Missy Elliot on that auspicious Fantasia debut, Free Yourself. Jazmine also became a darling of the UK club circuit, recording the Brits a critical underground hit, "Braid Your Hair (Live)" for Gilles Peterson Presents: The BBC Soul Sessions, Vol.1.
Now signed to Clive Davis's J-Records, Jazmine's debut is the most anticipated in soul. New tracks created by high-profile producers from Missy to Dre and Cool are being leaked almost monthly through the web. Sounding eerily like a restored Lauryn Hill, Jazmine's reggae-tinged debut single, "Need U Bad," is available on iTunes. As good as "...Bad" is, it is Sullivan's instant classic, "I'm In Love With Another Man," that will have you going for high notes in the shower (Take a listen after Track Love). Just do us all a favor and keep those shower squalls off YouTube, ya' hear?
-L. Michael "Cornfed" Gipson
