Ciara Biography
Ciara Princess Harris was born October 25, 1985. She moved from several places, because her father was in the army. When her mom knew that she was going to be a singer/superstar is when she picked Ciara up from day care in California and she knew every song on the radio, and she would sing her butt off. Ciara moved to Atlanta when she was 8 years old. One day when she was 14 she came home from school and told her mom that she really wants to be a singer, and her mom said “Ciara I don’t know if this what you really want that”. So Ciara teamed up with Jazze Pha and recorded songs when she was 16. In fact, some of the songs that she recorded when she was 16 is on her double platinum album “Goodies”. So when Ciara got her record deal from T.A. (Owner of Musicline Records), Jazze Pha (Owner of Sho’ Nuff Records), Zomba Label Group, and L.A. Reid (Owner of LaFace Records) she was on her way to stardom.
Rapper Ciara has reached her dreams in such young age. With her strong will and ambition to reach the top, she has actually topped both US and UK charts with her single “Goodies” in 2004. The single, which she her-self co-wrote along with Sean Garret, has made her won the 2005’s Soul Train Music Award for R&B-Soul or Rap New Artist shared with Petey Pablo.
Raised in a family with military background does not stop Ciara to explore her singing talent. The family lived in basses in Germany, New York, California, Arizona and Nevada before eventually settled in Atlanta, Georgia. The girl who was born on October 25, 1985, never wishes to follow her parents’ track in military and decides to become a singer instead.
“I remember watching Destiny’s Child perform on TV one day. That’s when I made up my mind: ‘Hey I wanna do this.’ I watched my peers around me and they were worried about who’s wearing what, going to school, trying to talk to somebody and I was like ‘I’m trying to be somebody. What can I do to get there as soon as possible?’”
After seeing the group, she wrote her plan to become a singer on a piece of paper and cut out most of her daily activities. She also went to audition for a girl group called Hearsay. Realizing that the group did not take her anywhere, the singer who is born as Ciara Harris, left the group for a solo.
Ciara landed a publishing deal and met producer Jazze Pha, whom she claimed as her music soul mate. With the help from Jezza Pha and Lil’ John, a producer who dubbed her as Lady of Crunk, Ciara released her debut single “Goodies” (2004).
With her crunk-singing style, Ciara went on as her album “Ciara: Goodies” was offered for sale in the same year. Despite the successful hit “Goodies,” singles “1, 2 Step” featuring Missy Elliot and “Oh” featuring Ludacris have also added the success of the album.
Moreover, in 2005 she was nominated for 4 BET Awards, including Best Collaboration, Best Female R&B, Best New Artist and BET.com Viewer’s Choice. The Lady of Crunk eventually won the 2005’s Sammy Davis, Jr. Award for Entertainer of the Year - Female. Sadly, Ciara’s success was interrupted by the rumors about her being born with a male body or intersex. But the singer who was reported having a sexual reassignment surgery at age 11, denied the accusation and moves on living her life and career.
Aaliyah
Brooklyn-born and Detroit-raised R&B singer Aaliyah hit the big time in her early teens with a spate of hit records before she embarked at the ripe old age of twenty on a film acting career. A losing appearance on “Star Search†at age eleven failed to hold back the young dynamo, who performed later that same year with Gladys Knight (former wife of her uncle/manager Barry Hankerton), singing with the legend for a five night Las Vegas engagement in 1990. Within four years, Aaliyah would have two gold singles to her credit and was a proven multitalented performer, starring in compelling music videos that showcased her dance moves as well as her songs. As her debut album “Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number†headed up the charts on the strength of the hits “Back and Forth†and “At Your Best (You Are Love)â€, Aaliyah, whose sultry voice and adult image belied her tender age, found herself the target of some less-than-positive attention when it was reported the then-fifteen-year-old had wed friend and producer R. Kelly (a man over ten years her senior). A marriage license issued in the state of Illinois with the pair’s name on it and Kelly’s refusal to comment only fueled the fires of scandal, and the two were unceremoniously booed at that year’s Soul Train Music Awards.
Following this upheaval, Aaliyah changed record labels, hooked up with producers Jermaine Dupri and Missy ‘Misdemeanor’ Elliott and recorded her follow up, the successful and critically lauded “One in a Million†(1996). The album introduced the singer’s new, more mature sound and focused on her undeniable talent and range, fusing hip-hop beats with R&B grooves in a way that harkened back to a younger Mary J Blige. Although Aaliyah was managed by her parents, the teen singer’s videos and appearances were marked by a non-overt sexuality that she carried with easy confidence. Remarkably, her sensual image was altogether natural, where such attempts at more adult fare by contemporaries like Brandy smacked of forced Lolita-like precociousness. In 1997, Aaliyah contributed her vocals to the animated feature “Anastasiaâ€, singing the Oscar-nominated theme “Journey to the Past†over the end credits, and subsequently on the Academy Awards telecast in March 1998. Her performance of that same song on a 1997 episode of “The Rosie O’Donnell Show†so impressed producers of the then-developing Broadway musical “Aida†that she was invited to audition. While Aaliyah didn’t land that stage role, film would continue to offer her hit-making opportunities; she scored with the Grammy-nominated “Are You That Somebody?†from the “Dr. Dolittle†soundtrack in 1998.
Aaliyah’s next film project “Romeo Must Die†(2000) not only featured her hit song “Try Againâ€, but marked the singer’s film acting debut. She starred opposite Jet Li in this modern day multicultural crime world reworking of Shakespeare’s tragic romance. She played Trish O’Day, daughter of an African-American crime lord (Delroy Lindo) at odds with a rival Chinese gang whose allies include the vengeance-bent Jet Li. Soon Aaliyah and Jet Li’s characters fall in love, much to the disapproval of their warring families. Aaliyah brought a crucial toughness and quiet grace to her role, making an auspicious film debut in this music-infused actioner. Her relatively mysterious real-life persona (routinely dodging age questions and nearly always donning sunglasses) made her transition to the screen all the more seamless, allowing the public to readily believe her portrayals, where an artist with a more realized personality would be less credible.
After spending the first half of her career in R. Kelly’s shadow, the second chapter of Aaliyah’s career saw the spotlight focus squarely on her — and a stage she shared with no one. The change may have resulted from help from hit factories like Jermaine Dupri and Missy “Misdemeanor†Elliott, or possibly the obvious maturation of her voice and material. No matter. As a singer and performer, she found a niche in R&B that topped charts, sold big and kept her star shining while one hit wonders faded. Her career was tragically cut short by a fatal plane crash in 2001.