Kreesha Turner

Kreesha Turner (born June 10, 1985) is a Canadian/Jamaican recording artist and songwriter, born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Raised in both Canada and Jamaica, she began her musical career after a successful audition with Virgin Records. She signed a record deal with the Capitol Music Group, under which the Virgin imprint operates. Concurrently, EMI Music Canada signed her in order to more effectively tap into the Canadian market.

She has released two albums in Canada. Her first album Passion (2008) spawned singles "Bounce With Me," "Lady Killer" and "Don't Call Me Baby". The latter became the #1 most played song (by a Canadian) on Canadian radio in 2008 and became her very first number one single on Billboard's U.S. Hot Dance Club Play. During this year, she was nominated for two Juno Awards for "Best New Artist" and "Best Pop Album of The Year." Her second double disc studio album, Tropic Electric (2011) saw Turner alter her public image and return to her original sound. She released three moderately successful singles "Rock Paper Scissors," "I Could Stay,"^[1] and "Love Again."^[2] which gained her another Juno Award Nomination for "Best R&B Album."

Turner is currently finished recording her third album entitled Evolution Inevitable with a new direction of her sound infused with Dancehall, Hip Hop and R&B.

Throughout Turner's career, she has been well known for her style and image. She's been ranked on Complex magazine list of "25 Sexiest International Singers You've Never Heard Of" and Much Music's "Sexiest Girls list" in 2008. She has been featured on multiple major Canadian magazine covers and starred in a national Kit Kat campaign. Her music has been featured on major network television shows such as, "Entourage (TV series)", "Desperate Housewives", "Ugly Betty", "Gossip Girl", "The Hills", "Keeping Up With the Kardashians", "Smash (TV series)", "Lipstick Jungle (TV series)" and "Brothers & Sisters (2006 TV series)".

Biography

Early life

The oldest of three children born to a Canadian father of Scottish ancestry and a Jamaican mother of African and Chinese descent,^[3] Turner was born in Edmonton, Alberta.^[4] Her mother arrived in Canada in 1978 with absolutely nothing. “Now she owns an industrial engraving company she feels like she has accomplished the impossible.” As a young child, Turner danced in her bedroom to music by jazz musician Oscar Peterson.^[5] Turner has always mentioned jazz^[6] as an inspiration, especially artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday^[7] and Peggy Lee.

In 2000, when Turner was 15, her mother sent her to Jamaica^[8] to live and experience Jamaican culture. Turner quickly learned that singing is a big part of everyday life in Jamaica, particularly at the Pentecostal church. Friends convinced her to audition for the youth choir despite her own belief that she could not sing. On the strength of her rendition of Canada's national anthem, Turner was accepted into the choir and began singing gospel songs at the Faith Temple Tabernacle in Bayside, Portmore.^[9] Turner says this is the time she realized she loved to sing. She went to Victoria School of Performing and Visual Arts in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada prior to her high school years in Jamaica. Turner attended Wolmer's Girl School in Kingston, Jamaica from 2000 - 2002. She attended Harry Ainlay Composite High School in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada after returning from Jamaica which she then graduated from in 2003.

Musical Beginnings

In 2003, immediately after graduating from high school, Turner became an active member in the underground urban/hip-hop community. Writing, recording and performing all her own material, she aggressively began pursuing her musical career. Turner quickly gained attention from her peers, developing an underground fan base that had a number of industry insiders excited. Turner performed on any and every stage she could, entering and winning several competitions, but it was not until a couple of years later that she was successful.

In 2005, Turner won a talent contest in Edmonton organised by local radio station The Bounce (91.7 FM). Winning the contest allowed her to record four studio tracks in Vancouver with songwriting/production team, Hipjoint Productions,^[10] the most important to Kreesha's career being "Bounce With Me".^[11] This was noticed by urban and R&B music manager and Canadian entertainment mogul Chris Smith (Nelly Furtado, Fefe Dobson, Tamia) and led to the start of her mainstream music career.

2007–2010: Passion

Turner at the 2009 Juno Awards

After a successful audition with Virgin Records, she signed a record deal with the Capitol Music Group, under which the Virgin imprint operates. Concurrently, EMI Music Canada signed her in order to more effectively tap into the Canadian market.

Before her mainstream success, the singer's song "Bounce With Me" was heard as early as spring 2006 on Vancouver stations but was not officially released as a single until 2007. Her first official video was for, "Bounce With Me", which was released to iTunes on December 4, 2007. This single was eventually used as 'The Free Song of the Week' on iTunes and it became her first song to enter the charts, peaking at number 53 on the Canadian Hot 100. Her follow-up single, "Don't Call Me Baby", was released to radio in April 2008 and on iTunes May 20, 2008. It eventually rose in the Canadian Hot 100 from #41 to #8,^[12] making "Don't Call Me Baby" her first Canadian Top 10 single. "Don't Call Me Baby" reached #1 on the Canadian sub HOT AC Charts and remained there for eight consecutive weeks.

On August 5, 2008, Turner's debut album, Passion, was made available for advanced streaming on MuchMusic.com.^[13] On August 12, 2008, Passion was released in Canada.

On November 22, 2008, Turner had her first US number-one with her single "Don't Call Me Baby" on the US Billboard Dance Charts. ^[14]

After a year of success, Turner was ranked 16th on MuchMusic's 2008 Sexiest Girls list. Turner performed some of the year’s biggest hits in a live, national broadcast from Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square on New Year's Eve.

On March 13, 2009, Turner received an award for "Best New Group/Solo Artist (Rhythmic/Dance/Urban)" at the Canadian Radio Music Awards in Toronto, Canada - her first award for her musical contribution. Turner was nominated for two Juno Awards: New Artist of the Year and Pop Album of the Year. Leading up to the 2009 Juno Awards, Turner appeared in a number of heavily aired Nestle Kit Kat Senses commercials, which feature the singer and her hit song "Bounce With Me". The commercials still air to this day.

Turner returned to Hipjoint Productions in Vancouver in spring 2009 to sing on "Dust in Gravity", a song by alt-pop band Delerium which was featured on a new remix collection released in 2010. "Dust In Gravity" featuring lead vocals by Turner reached number-one on The US Billboard Dance Charts on June 5, 2010, giving Turner her second number-one in the US.^[15]

2011–2012: Tropic Electric

On July 5, 2011, Kreesha premiered her new single, "Rock Paper Scissors". In September of that year, Turner premiered another new single, "I Could Stay", on Canadian radio. Turner released her second album, Tropic Electric in November 2011. She released it as a double disc, one side Tropic, and the other Electric. The Tropic side was recorded in Jamaica, to capture a new type of genre, a mix of reggae and pop music. The Electric side of the album is dedicated to fans who enjoyed the vibe on her previous album, Passion. The third single from the album is "Love Again", which was released in April 2012. In May 2012, Kreesha provided vocals for Spanish DJ Wally Lopez's debut single "Keep Running the Melody". The song was written by Eritza Laues, Angel David Lopez Alvarez & Ian Alec Harvey Dench. After premiering May 18, 2012, after a series of previews being released onto Lopez's YouTube channel, the song reached #1 on the iTunes sales charts within 3 hours of its release. The track later reached #1 on multiple charts in Spain, and was a summer hit across the country.^[16]

Turner performed her song "Love Again" on the Much Music Video Awards pre show.

2013-Present: Evolution Inevitable

Turner in Santa Monica performing for MAC Cosmetics

In February 2013, Kreesha appeared on two tracks from rapper DeStorm Power's mixtape "King Kong", titled "Scattin' On Me" and "Fuckin' Wit Me". Also in February, producer Young Yonny along with Kreesha began dropping hints about their new project, tweeting to the hashtag "#EvolutionInevitable". Kreesha later revealed this would be her upcoming EP's title, and on March 22, 2013, she premiered its first single release, titled "Gimme' Dat". The song was released for free download on SoundCloud the following day. The song is a significant departure from her previous sound, incorporating Hip-Hop and Dancehall. A music video was filmed on April 22, 2013, and a behind the scenes video was released on May 29, 2013, revealing that the song would feature guest verses from rapper Kardinal Offishall, as well as new vocals from Kreesha.^[17][18] On April 12, 2013, Kreesha premiered a new song sung to the instrumental of Lil Wayne's "Mo' Fire", titled "Mo' Fire (Remix)".^[19] A music video for the song premiered on April 17, 2013.^[20]

Turner announced in an interview that the album is now finished and will be released this year. Turner describes her new album as, “aggressive and in your face, full of sass and completely swagged out. The overall energy is different from my earlier albums. It’s very hip hop.”^[21] The first single from the album is "MJ" and will be available on ITunes internationally. The music video will be premiering on VEVO May 13, 2014. The album features Kardinal Offishall, while rappers King Chip and Ty Dolla $ign are rumored to be included as well.

Artistry

Billie Holiday (left), Jill Scott (middle) and Erykah Badu (right), among others, are cited as inspirations by Kreesha Turner.

Musical style and voice

Turner possesses the vocal range of Jazz and soprano. She spoke of her beginning with understanding music by stating “I started doing everything I possibly could: I did vocal, guitar, piano, music theatre, acting; I was a part of a gospel choir, jazz choir, I started writing, recording my own material. It was about increasing my odds, and also, increasing my knowledge.” On Passion, Kreesha co-wrote just five songs, among them, the album’s title track. That first time out, she went into every writing session with the mindset of a student. “I’d work with a songwriter and they’d ask ‘how do you want to approach this? And I’d say, ‘no, how do you work as a songwriter?’ I wanted to learn, to gain tools to put into my own songwriting tool kit.” In early 2010, when Kreesha began the writing/recording process for Tropic Electric, she brought that tool kit to work every day. “Last time I watched them build the house. This time I felt I could grab the tools and do it myself. I was there for the creation of every song and influenced every element.

Influences

Turner cites the country Jamaica music scene as her inspiration in embarking on a music career. Also, Turner has mentioned jazz^[6] as an inspiration, especially artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday^[7] and Peggy Lee. Turner's musical tastes developed when she discovered the music of Erykah Badu,^[7] Jill Scott^[7] and D'Angelo, A Tribe Called Quest, Kylie Minogue, Grace Jones, Andre 3000, Common, the Foo Fighters and Our Lady Peace. Turner's early musical expression was through modern, tap, jazz, hip-hop and African dance.

Personal life

She owns a pet Shiba Inu named "Panda" due to her strong affinity of Panda's.

Awards and nominations

Discography

Studio albums

• Passion (2008)
• Tropic Electric (2011)
• Evolution Inevitable (TBA)

Mixtapes

• The Body: Part 1 (2015)

Singles

Collaborations and Features

Dust In Gravity (2010) - Delerium featuring Kreesha Turner

Keep Running The Melody (2012) - Wally Lopez featuring Kreesha Turner

Scattin' On Me (2013) - DeStorm Power featuring Kreesha Turner

Fuckin' Wit Me (2013) - DeStorm Power featuring Koowplayy and Kreesha Turner

Like Me Like Dem (2014) - Yonni featuring Rock City and Kreesha Turner

Champagne Dreams (2015) - Ky-Mani Marley featuring Kreesha Turner

Can't Wait (2016) - Kreesha Turner featuring Konshens

Reggae Dancer (2016) - Kreesha Turner (credited simply as Kreesha) featuring Shaggy and Costi

References

External links

• Official website
• Kreesha Turner on Twitter
  
• Kreesha Turner on Facebook
• Turner Kreesha Turner on SoundCloud
• Kreesha Turner on YouTube
• Official fan page
• Kreesha Turner: Faze magazine cover story
• Exclusive interview with Kreesha Turner on Orato.com