Post by Crystal on Jun 12, 2006 8:17:51 GMT -5
Kandi, as well as being a successful recording artist, is the first woman ever to have won the extremely prestigious ASCAP Rhythm&Soul Songwriter of The Year Award, as well as being awarded a Grammy for penning TLC's mega-smash "No Scrubs".
Imagine being in high school and having a No.1 record. Not only that – imagine being a songwriter so in demand that you have the likes of Destiny’s Child, `NSync and Mariah Carey asking you to write songs for them, and having a Grammy and an ASCAP Award tucked firmly under your belt - all by the time you’re 24!
Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 1990. At high school, Kandi Burress and her pals Tameka "Tiny" Cottle and sisters LaTocha and Tamika Scott decide to form a band. They go by the name of Xscape, and their lucky break comes relatively early: Ian Burke, their friend, helps them get on the Teen Summit Showcase on the regional TV channel BET, where they are spotted by one Jermaine Dupri, who is quick to sign them to his label, the Atlanta-based So So Def Recordings, at the same time setting up a distribution deal with Sony/Columbia. Jermaine himself is similarly precocious, having produced his first album at the age of 14 and set up the aforementioned label at 17, where he developed Kriss Kross, who broke big in 1992 with "Jump", and Da Brat, who broke in 1994. They release their first album, "Hummin’, Comin’ At Cha", in 1993, when their average age is 17, which, together with their debut single "Just Kickin’ It", goes platinum in the US.
Kandi pens 3 tracks for the second million-selling album, "Off The Hook", in 1995, and it isn’t long before her fledgling songwriting talents are noticed. In a joint venture with Jermaine Dupri’s Air Control Music (the So So Def publishing company that holds the rights for Xscape’s material), Jody Gerson, Senior Vice President Creative, signs her to EMI Music Publishing,( West Coast ), in 1996. "Traces Of My Lipstick", Xscape’s third album ( also a platinum album ), is released in 1998, after which they amicably decide to call it a day. It is a curious fact that throughout their career, the girls followed none of the conventional routes to success – they sent no demos, didn’t network, didn’t contact mangers or labels – and nevertheless made it big time. Perhaps it was an indication that nothing could go wrong for Kandi, who now took some time off from showbiz and started writing at home in earnest.
Some time later, in 1999, Kandi and "Tiny" are demoing some tracks in a studio in Atlanta for a possible future recording collaboration, and they meet Kevin "She’kspere" Briggs, an up-and-coming producer. When he plays them one of this tracks, Kandi confidently claims that she can do a better job with the lyrics, so he lets her and "Tiny" rewrite them. The result is "No Scrubs". She’kspere plays it for L.A. Reid, President at La Face Records in Atlanta (home to Pink, TLC, Usher, Outkast etc.), who loves it, and being the Executive Producer for TLC, lets them record the track for their new album. Although the song was originally for Kandi and "Tiny"’s project, Kandi’s reaction to the proposal is an enthusiastic "Let ‘em have it!" It is a spot-on decision: the tune goes on to top the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B Singles Chart in the US, and helps make TLC’s album "Fanmail" a ( 6 X )platinum-selling success.
Kandi had known for a long time that she had a knack for writing melodies and lyrics, but it is only now that she, along with everybody else, wakes up to her full hit-writing capabilities. Within the next two years, she is approached by a wide array of stars and newcomers, and co-writes (with She’kspere) hit after hit, including Destiny’s Child’s "Bug A Boo" and "Bills, Bills, Bills"; Pink’s debut "There U Go"; Mariah Carey’s "X Girlfriend" and ‘NSync’s "It Makes Me Ill", all of these tracks which they wrote specifically for the artists in question.
Kandi hadn’t quite forgotten how fun it was to be a performing artist either, as she now embarked upon a solo career. The ground had been laid earlier: when Xscape were released from their distribution deal with Sony/Columbia, they had offered her a solo record deal. Tye-V Turman, fresh from breaking Mary Mary who had just had a huge hit with "Shackles", becomes her dedicated A&R. Kandi had previously, in 1999, signed a management deal with Marvin McIntyre at Marvelous Enterprises, Atlanta (also manager for Keith Sweat), whom she’d met at an Xscape show and had been friends with for a number of years.
Work begins on her debut album in 2000, and, although she suffers a touch of writer’s block composing tracks for herself, something which she has never experienced when writing for others, she overcomes this in the studio with Kevin and soon has the 13 tracks featured on "Hey Kandi" (she co-wrote them all save "Cheatin’ on Me", the second single, signed by Bernard Edwards Jr.) "Don’t Think I’m Not", a post-feminist defence of female infidelity, is chosen by Sony/Columbia as the debut single, and it goes on to become a Billboard Hot 100 Top 20 hit. After testing her talent from every angle, it’s easy to believe this multifaceted artist when she says, "I know I can do anything".
Xscape were managed by Lucy Raoof at Artist Control Management, Atlanta.
Imagine being in high school and having a No.1 record. Not only that – imagine being a songwriter so in demand that you have the likes of Destiny’s Child, `NSync and Mariah Carey asking you to write songs for them, and having a Grammy and an ASCAP Award tucked firmly under your belt - all by the time you’re 24!
Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 1990. At high school, Kandi Burress and her pals Tameka "Tiny" Cottle and sisters LaTocha and Tamika Scott decide to form a band. They go by the name of Xscape, and their lucky break comes relatively early: Ian Burke, their friend, helps them get on the Teen Summit Showcase on the regional TV channel BET, where they are spotted by one Jermaine Dupri, who is quick to sign them to his label, the Atlanta-based So So Def Recordings, at the same time setting up a distribution deal with Sony/Columbia. Jermaine himself is similarly precocious, having produced his first album at the age of 14 and set up the aforementioned label at 17, where he developed Kriss Kross, who broke big in 1992 with "Jump", and Da Brat, who broke in 1994. They release their first album, "Hummin’, Comin’ At Cha", in 1993, when their average age is 17, which, together with their debut single "Just Kickin’ It", goes platinum in the US.
Kandi pens 3 tracks for the second million-selling album, "Off The Hook", in 1995, and it isn’t long before her fledgling songwriting talents are noticed. In a joint venture with Jermaine Dupri’s Air Control Music (the So So Def publishing company that holds the rights for Xscape’s material), Jody Gerson, Senior Vice President Creative, signs her to EMI Music Publishing,( West Coast ), in 1996. "Traces Of My Lipstick", Xscape’s third album ( also a platinum album ), is released in 1998, after which they amicably decide to call it a day. It is a curious fact that throughout their career, the girls followed none of the conventional routes to success – they sent no demos, didn’t network, didn’t contact mangers or labels – and nevertheless made it big time. Perhaps it was an indication that nothing could go wrong for Kandi, who now took some time off from showbiz and started writing at home in earnest.
Some time later, in 1999, Kandi and "Tiny" are demoing some tracks in a studio in Atlanta for a possible future recording collaboration, and they meet Kevin "She’kspere" Briggs, an up-and-coming producer. When he plays them one of this tracks, Kandi confidently claims that she can do a better job with the lyrics, so he lets her and "Tiny" rewrite them. The result is "No Scrubs". She’kspere plays it for L.A. Reid, President at La Face Records in Atlanta (home to Pink, TLC, Usher, Outkast etc.), who loves it, and being the Executive Producer for TLC, lets them record the track for their new album. Although the song was originally for Kandi and "Tiny"’s project, Kandi’s reaction to the proposal is an enthusiastic "Let ‘em have it!" It is a spot-on decision: the tune goes on to top the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B Singles Chart in the US, and helps make TLC’s album "Fanmail" a ( 6 X )platinum-selling success.
Kandi had known for a long time that she had a knack for writing melodies and lyrics, but it is only now that she, along with everybody else, wakes up to her full hit-writing capabilities. Within the next two years, she is approached by a wide array of stars and newcomers, and co-writes (with She’kspere) hit after hit, including Destiny’s Child’s "Bug A Boo" and "Bills, Bills, Bills"; Pink’s debut "There U Go"; Mariah Carey’s "X Girlfriend" and ‘NSync’s "It Makes Me Ill", all of these tracks which they wrote specifically for the artists in question.
Kandi hadn’t quite forgotten how fun it was to be a performing artist either, as she now embarked upon a solo career. The ground had been laid earlier: when Xscape were released from their distribution deal with Sony/Columbia, they had offered her a solo record deal. Tye-V Turman, fresh from breaking Mary Mary who had just had a huge hit with "Shackles", becomes her dedicated A&R. Kandi had previously, in 1999, signed a management deal with Marvin McIntyre at Marvelous Enterprises, Atlanta (also manager for Keith Sweat), whom she’d met at an Xscape show and had been friends with for a number of years.
Work begins on her debut album in 2000, and, although she suffers a touch of writer’s block composing tracks for herself, something which she has never experienced when writing for others, she overcomes this in the studio with Kevin and soon has the 13 tracks featured on "Hey Kandi" (she co-wrote them all save "Cheatin’ on Me", the second single, signed by Bernard Edwards Jr.) "Don’t Think I’m Not", a post-feminist defence of female infidelity, is chosen by Sony/Columbia as the debut single, and it goes on to become a Billboard Hot 100 Top 20 hit. After testing her talent from every angle, it’s easy to believe this multifaceted artist when she says, "I know I can do anything".
Xscape were managed by Lucy Raoof at Artist Control Management, Atlanta.