Artist:Elisabeth Withers
Song:Be With You
Album:It Can Happen To Anyone
One of the trends we're seeing in R & B is young singers gaining experience on Broadway and then getting the attention of record companies. That's where the fabulous Heather Headley came from. This is also true of Elisabeth Withers. She was born in Joliet, IL and left home with a scholarship to study music at Berklee School Of Music in Boston. After graduating, she moved to New York and earned a masters degree at NYU in 2000. She worked as a backup singer and started hanging around New York clubs. In 2003, she recorded some dance singles under the name Elie Patrice. These got the attention of Nick Ashford (Ashford & Simpson) and he told her to audition for the Broadway musical The Color Purple. Elisabeth won a Tony Award for her performance as Shug Avery. Afterwards, she started singing in clubs with her drummer husband Damon Mendes. She was spotted by Blue Note Records head Bruce Lundvall and he signed her on the spot. Elisabeth has a great voice comparable to Anita Baker and writes a lot of her own songs on her 2006 debut CD It Can Happen To Anyone with German producer Toby Gad. Gad got his start in the 80s with producer Frank Farian (Boney M). In recent years, he seems to specialize in teenage female vocalists like Kaci Brown, Keke Palmer and yes...Hannah Montana. But he produced Elisabeth Withers in a more mature R & B style and the album did well on the R & B charts. Keep your eyes open for more from the very talented Elisabeth Withers. Here's the video for Be With You by Elisabeth Withers.
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