Epiphany (I’m Leaving)Chrisette Michele

Chrisette Michele

While most recognized for her featured artist contributions, Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Chrisette Michele has produced a #1 album and numerous Billboard-charting records to her own credit. Born Chrisette Michele Payne on December 8, 1982 in Central Islip, New York, she grew up in a church-heavy household in Patchogue, New York, and her life as a performer began early as she sang with the choir of her parents' church congregation. After a high school teacher gave her a CD to Astrud Gilberto’s “The Girl From Ipanema”, her first exposure to secular music, she enrolled vocal performance programs at Five Towns College, where she would study Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holliday, and Frank Sinatra as models for her career prior to her graduation.

At the same time, Chrisette began showcasing within small-scale New York City venues, including at the Village Underground club in 2006, where she was discovered separately by India.Arie, who offered her an opening act role on the Testimony Tour, Vol. 1, and by representatives of Island Def Jam Records, where she would eventually sign under the direction of L.A. Reid. By the next year she had scored featured artists credits on records alongside Jay-Z, Nas, and Kanye West and her debut album, I Am, was released with strong success. Most of her first effort consisted of music Chrisette had begun recording or writing prior to signing to Def Jam; with assistance from John Legend, Salaam Remi, and Babyface, the album earned a Gold certification, topped at #5 in the R&B/Hip Hop chart, and a Top 30 spot in the Billboard 200. Her Grammy came from the song “Be Ok”, featuring Will.I.Am, for ‘Best Urban/Alternative Performance’ in 2009.

After opening up for Kem and Angie Stone on their tours, Chrisette co-headlined The Art of Love Tour with Raheem DeVaughn and opening artist Solange Knowles in 2008. She took on more features and songwriting gigs with The Roots, Ghostface Killah, The Game, and Wale, solidifying her growing hip hop fan base in time for her second album, Epiphany on May 5, 2009, which is still her best-selling album to date. It debuted at #1 with 83,000 first-week sales, knocking over Bob Dylan’s Together Through Life from the top of the Billboard chart. With major production or assistance from Ne-Yo and Darkchild, the singles “Epiphany” and “Blame It On Me” took over urban radio and made her one of Def Jam’s top artists. In 2010, as she completed her first solo headlining tour, The Epiphany Tour, she was featured on the Rick Ross hit “Aston Martin Music” with fellow singer-songwriter Drake, another Top 30 release and her best-selling feature to date. Her next album, Let Freedom Reign came out on November 30 of that same year and was Chrisette’s third consecutive Top 30 Overall/Top 10 R&B/Hip Hop Billboard album.