Home » Keshia Chanté » Biography

Eighteen year-old Keshia Chanté is one of Canada’s fastest-rising stars. Her tremendous talent and tireless commitment to her music has earned her critical acclaim since she began singing at age 6.

Accolades for Keshia Chanté began in 2003 with her winning “Best R&B Single” at the Canadian Urban Music Awards with her hit song “Shook-The Answer.” Since this time, Keshia has padded her resume receiving numerous awards at radio, television and video including a 2005 Juno Award for “R&B/Soul Recording of the Year.” Keshia was also recognized at the 2004 Canadian Radio Awards when she won “Best New Solo Artist.” Keshia’s self titled debut album garnered numerous Top 10 radio singles including: “Shook-The Answer,” “Unpredictable,” “Bad Boy,” “Does He Love Me” and “Let the Music Take You”. Keshia’s debut album has surpassed Gold sales in Canada.

Keshia first began to garner US attention when BET caught a glimpse of the Little X directed video for “Bad Boy” (Usher, Alicia Keys, R. Kelly, Nelly and G Unit). BET added the video into rotation and featured it as the “Hot New Joint” on their top rated show 106 & Park. US label attention solidified when SONY Urban/Epic Recordings Executives were presented with Keshia’s Canadian debut and met with the artist who was already signed in Canada.

As noted by Lisa Ellis, President SONY URBAN U.S. "Keshia is one of the most refreshing talents I have seen come along in a long time. She is vibrant and a beautiful person inside and out. She fills a void in a marketplace full of female artists... uniquely comfortable in her own skin at such a young age. I have fun watching and listening to her; every time I notice something new, which is great..... She has a lifetime of evolution in front of her! "

2006 has proved to be a successful and busy year for Keshia Chanté. Keshia was one of the featured artists in the Teen People “Rock N Shop” mall tour throughout the US in July and August. Keshia also performed at Seventeen Magazine’s “Rock the Runway” and at MTV’s New Talent Development Showcase at the Improv in Hollywood which left MTV Executives speechless!

No stranger to hard work, Keshia has spent the past year stretching her time between New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Toronto to record her Canadian sophomore release and US debut 2U. Keshia has aligned herself with upper echelon songwriters and producers including Danja (Notorious B.I.G., Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake), Happy Perez (Ludacris), Matrax (Missy Elliot, P. Diddy, Glenn Lewis) and Rock Wilder (Jay Z, Busta Rhymes, Prodigy). Throughout the recording process Keshia continued to perform on various superstar tours with the likes of Destiny’s Child and Ciara.

The first single from 2U entitled, “Been Gone” has received Top 40 radio success. “Been Gone” takes a huge leap of faith in utilizing the sounds of Beethoven’s Concerto No. 4, marrying classical music and hip hop. “When you hear something different you don’t really know how to take it in…that was my frame of mind when I first heard that track, but then I loved it” says Keshia. Keshia co-wrote on this Matrax produced single making it apparent that she is able to step outside of her comfort zone and build into a world class writer.

The second single is the title track “2U”. “This song was the last song we recorded. I had six hours to do it because we were in the middle of the mixing phase for the album,” explains Keshia. “I decided last minute we wanted it on the album. I decided to sing it differently from the other songs on the album and it ended up becoming the single and title for the album!”

Other standout tracks on 2U include: “Kiss,” “Summer Love,” “Little Things” and “Fallen.” The track “Kiss” represents everything young, relatable and innocent as the word implies and was produced by the duo that gave Musiq Soulchild “Just Friends,” (Carvin “Ransum” Haggins and Ivan “Orthodox” Barias-Karma Productions). Philly words-worth Freeway lends his spitfire vocals to the midtempo track entitled, “Fallen.” “As soon as I started recording it in L.A, Mischke (vocal producer) and I realized how powerful the song was and I have been in love with it ever since,” says Keshia. “This song is my favourite to perform.”

The track “Little Things” was featured on Keshia’s self-titled debut and makes a second appearance on 2U. “Everyone from SONY US loved it and felt it was so touching that it had to be on the new album for the US fans. I recorded this song when I was 14 in Toronto and the words are still very current in my life,” confirms Keshia.

Keshia’s My Space page and website (http://www.keshiachante.com) have received tremendous amounts of fan traffic with each blog, posting and fan reply coming directly from Keshia. Keeping her fans a priority is at the top of Keshia’s agenda. “I know what its like to be a diehard fan since I was 6 and a huge fan of Tupac Shakur. I know what its like to anticipate a new video and it’s not what you wanted it to be. So I understand what it’s like to have that kind of love for an artist, and when I think of my fans, I try and take everything to the next level. I try and push myself so they won’t be disappointed.”

Keshia’s sights are set high and she will continue raising the bar. Keshia explains, “I’m extremely ambitious. This is my whole life, this is what I do 24/7. This is what I love. I anticipate positive things because I feel like when you put out positive energy you’re going to get it in return. With God above, a great family and a great team, I think everything should work out pretty well.”

Prepare for the evolution of Keshia Chante