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| Dani
Stevenson |
Long before she sang the hook on Nelly's "Hot In Herre" (I am gettin' so hot, I wanna take my clothes off), Dani Stevenson was a star in waiting and her style was well defined. If you saw her story portrayed in a made-for-TV movie, you'd never believe it: "That girl's rise to fame was too fast," you'd say. "Too drama-free. No one gets discovered like that." But here she is, in an ascent that can testament to her great talent.
A native of Atlanta who moved to Harlem, New York at the age of 12, Dani's childhood showed hints of the single mindedness that would one day bring her success. "I always knew I wanted to sing," she says. "When I was a kid I would sing whatever my mother was listening to, like Whitney Houston or Anita Baker." She would stage one-woman shows - hairbrush in hand - live from her kitchen or lend accompaniment to her favorite singers from the backseat of her mother's car. "I know my family was about to be sick of me," she laughs.
But it wasn't long before Dani moved her show to a larger arena, performing her own rendition of the national anthem at her junior high graduation. "That's when I knew for sure: Yes, I am a singer." Shortly after that performance, her mother began signing her up for talent shows and even though she didn't always win she never doubted that music was her calling. "I never even thought about doing anything else," she says. "My ultimate goal back then was to get signed."
In August of 2001, Dani met her producer, Rhemario Webber, through a mutual friend. Together they recorded a 10-song demo, which quickly resulted in her being signed to Universal Records. More remarkable than the speed with which she was signed, is the fact that eight out of the ten songs on her demo made it onto the album. "We just added more music and some background to fill out the sound," she says with a modest shrug. "And that was it."
On her Universal Records debut IS THERE ANOTHER?! Dani proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that her place in the spotlight is well earned. And listeners will agree once they get a dose of her funkdafied, jazzed-up R&B style. Her voice and music pay homage to her eclectic cast of influences and the styles they purveyed. Clearly, the fingerprints of Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Donnie Hathaway, Whitney Houston, and Roberta Flack are all over this prodigious debut.
IS THERE ANOTHER?! is a "soulful mix of R&B," says Dani, who wrote 11 of the album's 13 tracks. She did yield, however, to super producer/artist Missy Elliot, who penned the first single, "Honk Your Horn." In true Missy fashion, the song is sassy and edgy. Enhanced by Dani's seductive vocals, it's a bonafide hit waiting to happen. "Hot Like Fire" features label mate Mr. Cheeks while "Jungle Up In Here" is a sweat-dripping party anthem that rides comfortably on African beats.
"All I want is that when people listen to my album, they get a sense of me as a person. There are a lot of different sides to me and that's why there is something on my album that everyone can relate to. Whether it's my lyrics or my sound, everyone can relate to it." And everyone will know that, in today's R&B circles, there's not another album like IS THERE ANOTHER?! and not another singer like Dani Stevenson.
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