Amerie

    Amerie's mother was from Korea and her dad was an African-American. She was raised in a military family, so she moved often and lived on bases from Alaska to Germany. The traveling stopped when her family moved to Virginia, and Amerie moved to Washington DC, which she has called home for several years.

    Because her mother was a painter, singer, and classical pianist, Amerie was exposed to the arts. As a result, Amerie began gravitating towards pop and R&B and greatly enjoyed Madonna, Mary J. Blige, Toni Braxton and Whitney Houston. Along with a healthy dose of divas and classical composers, Amerie dipped into her father's old soul collection. With the love of music and the desire to perform driving her, Amerie started studying dance, and in the 3rd grade, began to enter talent shows, which she continued to do throughout high school. After high school graduation, Amerie's family moved from Alaska to the East Coast, and once she had settled into her new hometown, Amerie decided to take her dreams to the next level and she began looking for an opportunity to get into the music business.

    Through a friend, Amerie was introduced to a DC native called Rich, whose production skills had already caught the ears of noted industry heavyweights such as Jeff Burroughs and Darryl Williams of Rise Entertainment and Edwin Holmes of EHM. Rich and Amerie got together, meeting for the first time in a McDonald's parking lot. After Amerie heard Rich's tracks, and Rich heard her sing, the work began. Quickly she and Rich realized that they not only had common goals, but had great creative chemistry as well. They would just sit and brainstorm and it just flowed from there. One song became two, two became three, and three grew to five, becoming a demo. Within months, that demo made its way to Columbia Records, where Amerie was immediately offered a deal. Soon, she was not only recording her own album, but also working on collaborations with label mates Nas and Royce.

    From the moment Amerie entered the studio to record All I Have, she knew that she wanted to unleash a sound that was gritty, yet melodic and pretty, yet tough. Something different, yet something familiar enough to entice listeners. Together, they married Rich's hard-edged beats and well-crafted melodies to Amerie's soaring vocals. You can hear the result in songs like the single, Talkin' To Me, and Amerie's vocal style caught a lot of attention because of it.,