The sizzling singers of summer - Entertainment - Ashanti, Tweet, Shemekia Copeland - Biography

Ebony, August, 2002

ASHANTI

ASHANTI's career is rising faster than steam from an ice cube on a hot sidewalk. Although she is only 21, the princess of hip-hop's Murder Inc. label has been slaying the industry since Ashanti, her self-titled debut album, came out early this year, setting a record for first-week sales by a solo female artist, breezing past Lauryn Hill's and Alicia Keys' debuts. It went straight to No. 1, selling a half-million copies in its first week.

Ashanti, whose last name is Douglas, already had three songs in the top 10 record charts simultaneously--Ja Rule's "Always on Time," Fat Joe's "What's Luv?" and her own "Foolish." She is the first artist since the Beatles to achieve that feat. It's rare ground for a young singer who still lives at home with her parents, but this precocious "old soul" has proved she can hold court with the veterans.

The Long Island, N.Y., native says veterans like the late Ella Fitzgerald are among her major influences, but she also likes Blue Magic, Heat Wave, the Delfonics and the Stylistics. She gives major props to the reigning queen of hip, hop soul, Mary J. Blige. "Mary paved the way," says Ashanti who began pursuing her singing career at age 12. "I didn't want to sing only slow songs and I didn't want to be spittin' rhymes," she says. "But Mary put those concepts together. She cleared the way, and now I'm following my own path."

Her own path includes clever lyrics with a tantalizing blend of edgy, hip-hop grooves and subtle styling. Smart, as well as gorgeous, Ashanti's writing skills--she wrote all 12 songs on the album, most of them written on the spot or in the studio--rival even her vocals. "Ashanti flips the hard-core songs and makes `em sweet," says Murder Inc.'s CEO Irv Gotti, "so she appeals to both sexes."

The oldest daughter of a former singer (her dad, Thomas) and dancer (her "momanager," Tina), she was a track star in high school and was accepted by Hampton University and offered a track scholarship by Princeton University. However, music was her first love; and if her first album is any indication, the princess is in the line of succession for the Queen's crown. "Ashanti delivers at the highest level," Gotti says, adding, "and she has this personality that makes people love her. She's got too many people feeling her, too many hit records and too much heat for her to stop--she can't lose."

TWEET

In this debutante ball year of young songstresses, Tweet is making her mark with the best of them. A protegee of Missy Elliott, Tweet (born Charlene Keys) started at the top with her debut album Southern Hummingbird, which debuted at No. 3 on the music charts. Her single "Oops (Oh My)" hit No. 1 on the music charts.

Tweet's ability to capture complex relationship concepts and emotions in her songwriting belies her age (24). One reviewer says she has a unique ability to write, "revealing nuanced lyrics that capture the ebb and flow of life." Elliott says, "She hits that point of no return between love and hurt."

The youngest of five children, the Rochester, N.Y., native is the daughter of musician parents who thrived in gospel groups. It was that family foundation of strength and her friendship with Elliott that literally saved her life, she says. The two met when they were both aspiring performers, but while Elliott's career skyrocketed, Tweet's languished. Broke and depressed, she sought refuge in her parents' Panama City, Fla., home and even thought about taking her own life. "I was going to take a bunch of pills," she says. "I had gone through this period looking for any regular job I could find and coming up empty. My love life was deteriorating. I was just existing, hiding from my parents how deeply depressed I really was."

But the day before she was going to kill herself, Elliott called and asked her to sing background vocals on her album. "I call her my guardian angel now, because she truly rescued me from ending my life. She was God-sent!"

The singing sensation was recently chosen as the new national spokesperson for a cell phone giant and will headline the company's summer tour. Her album is now gold and approaching platinum status at press time.

Citing veteran performers like Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner as role models, she says she admires performers who have "stood the test of time." Tweet now lives in Atlanta, the new musical mecca for young entertainers, and is looking forward to a bright future. "I inherited a real passion for music, and respect for those who dedicate their lives to it as a career."

SHEMEKA COPELAND

People who think great blues singing is dead haven't heard Shemekia Copeland, a 23-year-old with a hurricane-sized voice that contains all the energy of youth and the flavor of old-time, shack-by-the-river, Delta blues living. Her voice, one reviewer says, has "enough power to knock you flat on your back and enough purr to make you want to stay there." The legendary blues queen Koko Taylor calls her a "firecracker."

The daughter of the late Texas blues guitar legend Johnny Clyde Copeland, she is the 2002 W.C. Handy Contemporary Female Artist of the Year. Her last album, aptly titled Wicked, was nominated for a Grammy, and she is currently in the studio recording a new album that is being produced by Dr. John.