Solange Knowles
Listing Details
Perceptions are not always based in reality, and nobody knows this better than me. With the release of my sophomore album, SoL-AngeL & the Hadley Street Dreams (Music World Entertainment / Geffen Records), I am ready to have every listener step into my very personal field of dreams, minus the preconceived notions.
When you look up the word biography, the Webster dictionary defines this as a written history of someone's life. Well, I figured no one would be a ble to tell this story better than I could, which is why this won't be a traditional artist bio.
My life as a performer started very early on. Classically trained in ballet, jazz, tap and modern dance, I stepped in, unexpectedly, as a back up dancer when a Destiny's Child dancer suddenly had to leave the tour. This position gave me the opportunity to travel all across the World to places such as Europe, Australia, Asia, Africa and Mexico. It was then I developed a deep sense of culture, style, and artistic influences.
At the age of 16, I released my debut album, Solo Star, on Columbia Records. This album was a creative turning point for me; a melting pot of different genres and sounds including R&B, Reggae, Alternative, and even Country. My first single "Feeling You," featuring Noreaga, was a Reggaeton/Dancehall inspired song. This was always the vision I had for the record despite my label’s own reservations. Although I had all of the big-wig producers on board (The Neptunes, Timbaland, Rockwielder, and the Underdogs), I struggled to find one sound of my own. However, I found a new love for writing which I was able to showcase on Kelly Rowland’s debut solo album, Simply Deep, shortly after.
Tapping into an old passion, acting was next on the radar for me. I was ready to soak up any great opportunity I could get and when I was selected to play the daughter of Cedric the Entertainer and Vanessa Williams in Johnson Family Vacation I signed on.
It was shortly after wrapping production on Johnson Family Vacation that I, at the age of 17, signed on for the biggest and greatest accomplishment of my life - Marriage and motherhood. I spent the next few years of my life focusing on family life by moving to the countryside of Idaho. The life experience in itself there was more than enough inspiration I needed as a writer and it was then that I started exploring the idea for sharing my writing with other artists and projects. I had the opportunity to work with all three of the ladies of Destiny’s Child, as solo artists and collectively together as a group. I even got a chance to write the lyrics for the holiday campaign for superstore Wal-Mart.
My latest work for the ladies includes co-writing Beyonce's "Get Me Bodied" and "Upgrade You" off of her B’Day album, Kelly’s "Love" off of her second album, Ms. Kelly and Michelle Williams' latest first single "We Break the Dawn" off of her forthcoming CD, Unexpected, before getting back to making my own music for my second project.
I made my last acting appearance to date on the cult film series, Bring It On: All Or Nothing, which had the biggest 1st week of sales in the history of straight-to-DVD releases - selling over 750,000 copies. Although it was quite the accomplishment, it was time for me to express myself creatively in the true sense of where I was in my life . I decided this would be the last time I would attach myself to something because of an opportunity instead of an artistic expression.
When you look up the word biography, the Webster dictionary defines this as a written history of someone's life. Well, I figured no one would be a ble to tell this story better than I could, which is why this won't be a traditional artist bio.
My life as a performer started very early on. Classically trained in ballet, jazz, tap and modern dance, I stepped in, unexpectedly, as a back up dancer when a Destiny's Child dancer suddenly had to leave the tour. This position gave me the opportunity to travel all across the World to places such as Europe, Australia, Asia, Africa and Mexico. It was then I developed a deep sense of culture, style, and artistic influences.
At the age of 16, I released my debut album, Solo Star, on Columbia Records. This album was a creative turning point for me; a melting pot of different genres and sounds including R&B, Reggae, Alternative, and even Country. My first single "Feeling You," featuring Noreaga, was a Reggaeton/Dancehall inspired song. This was always the vision I had for the record despite my label’s own reservations. Although I had all of the big-wig producers on board (The Neptunes, Timbaland, Rockwielder, and the Underdogs), I struggled to find one sound of my own. However, I found a new love for writing which I was able to showcase on Kelly Rowland’s debut solo album, Simply Deep, shortly after.
Tapping into an old passion, acting was next on the radar for me. I was ready to soak up any great opportunity I could get and when I was selected to play the daughter of Cedric the Entertainer and Vanessa Williams in Johnson Family Vacation I signed on.
It was shortly after wrapping production on Johnson Family Vacation that I, at the age of 17, signed on for the biggest and greatest accomplishment of my life - Marriage and motherhood. I spent the next few years of my life focusing on family life by moving to the countryside of Idaho. The life experience in itself there was more than enough inspiration I needed as a writer and it was then that I started exploring the idea for sharing my writing with other artists and projects. I had the opportunity to work with all three of the ladies of Destiny’s Child, as solo artists and collectively together as a group. I even got a chance to write the lyrics for the holiday campaign for superstore Wal-Mart.
My latest work for the ladies includes co-writing Beyonce's "Get Me Bodied" and "Upgrade You" off of her B’Day album, Kelly’s "Love" off of her second album, Ms. Kelly and Michelle Williams' latest first single "We Break the Dawn" off of her forthcoming CD, Unexpected, before getting back to making my own music for my second project.
I made my last acting appearance to date on the cult film series, Bring It On: All Or Nothing, which had the biggest 1st week of sales in the history of straight-to-DVD releases - selling over 750,000 copies. Although it was quite the accomplishment, it was time for me to express myself creatively in the true sense of where I was in my life . I decided this would be the last time I would attach myself to something because of an opportunity instead of an artistic expression.
