Kreesha Turner

Kreesha Turner
Kreesha Turner at the 2009 Juno Awards
Background information
Birth name	Kreesha Turner
Born	June 10, 1985 (1985-06-10) (age 24)
Origin	Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Genres	R&B Pop
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Years active	2006–Present
Labels	EMI Music Canada (2007–present) Capitol (2007-present) (US)
Website	Official Website

Kreesha Turner (born June 10, 1985)^[1] is a Canadian R&B/Pop Recording artist. She cites R&B acts like Erykah Badu, Jill Scott and D'Angelo, hip-hop acts including A Tribe Called Quest, Andre 3000 and Common and rock acts like the Foo Fighters and Our Lady Peace as her inspirations.^[2]

Early life

The oldest of three children born to a European Canadian father and a Jamaican/Chinese mother^[3], Kreesha was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta^[4]. As a young child, Kreesha would dance in her bedroom to music by jazz icon Oscar Peterson^[5]. Kreesha has always referenced jazz^[6] as an inspiration, especially artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday^[7], and Peggy Lee.

Kreesha's musical tastes developed when she discovered the music of Erykah Badu^[7], Jill Scott^[7] and D'Angelo, A Tribe Called Quest, Andre 3000, Common, the Foo Fighters and Our Lady Peace. Kreesha's early musical expression was through modern, tap, jazz, hip-hop and African dance.

In 2000 when Kreesha was 15, Kreesha's mother sent her to Jamaica^[8] to live for a year to experience Jamaican culture. Kreesha quickly learned that singing is a big part of everyday life in Jamaica, particularly at the Pentecostal church. Friends convinced her to try out for the youth choir despite her own belief that she couldn't sing. On the strength of her rendition of Canada's national anthem, Kreesha was accepted into the choir and began singing gospel songs at the Faith Temple Tabernacle^[9]. Kreesha cites this as the time she realized she loved to sing.

Music

In 2005, Kreesha won a talent contest in Edmonton held by radio station The Bounce (91.7 FM). Winning the contest allowed her to record four 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 Chris Smith (Nelly Furtado, Fefe Dobson, Tamia), and resulted in the start of her mainstream career.

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

Prior to her mainstream success the singer's song "Bounce With Me" was heard as early as spring of 2006 on Vancouver AC stations but was not officially released as a single until 2007. Kreesha released her first official single "Simple" to the Canadian iTunes Store on November 13, 2007 but the single did not create any success for the young singer. Her first official video was for her second single "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 charting song and peaked at number 53 on the Canadian Hot 100. Her third single, "Don't Call Me Baby", was released to radio in April 2008 and on iTunes May 20, 2008. It eventually rose on the Canadian Hot 100 from #41 to #8^[12], making "Don't Call Me Baby" her first Canadian Top 10 single.

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

In late July 2008, Kreesha was recognized by gossip blogger Perez Hilton, as the next big singing sensation, comparing her sound to soulful pop stars such as Duffy.^{[citation needed]}

Kreesha was selected to perform the Canadian anthem at the Rogers Centre in Toronto for the first ever NFL regular season game to be played in Canada between the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins. However, her leisurely rendition was not well received by the sold out crowd as they started to sing over her voice.

After a year of success, Kreesha was ranked 16th on MuchMusic's 2008 Sexiest Girls list.^{[citation needed]} Following this honorable mention, Kreesha performed some of the year’s biggest hits on a live, nationwide broadcast from Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square on New Year's Eve.^{[citation needed]}

On March 13, 2009 Kreesha walked away for the Canadian Radio Music Awards in Toronto,Canada with an award for "Best New Group/Solo Artist (Rhythmic/Dance/Urban)" her first award for her musical contribution, yet. Kreesha is nominated for two Juno Awards: New Artist of the Year and Pop Album of the Year.

Leading up to the 2009 Juno Awards, Kreesha will be appearing in Nestle Kit Kat Senses commercials, which feature the vocalist and her hit song 'Bounce With Me'. The commercial has been launched already, and will be global within the months to come.

Kreesha returned to Hipjoint Productions in Vancouver in the spring of 2009 to lend her vocal talents on "Dust In Gravity" a song by alt-pop legends Delerium which will be included on their greatest hits record to be released in late 2009.

Awards and nominations

Discography

Albums

• 2008: Passion (August 12, 2008)

Singles

References

1. ^ Elle Canada Magazine July 2008 Edition (pg 39)
2. ^ MuchMusic.com - Kreesha Turner Biography
3. ^ [1]
4. ^ [2]
5. ^ [3]
6. ^ [4]
7. ^ ^{a b c} [5]
8. ^ [6]
9. ^ [7]
10. ^ http://www.hipjointproductions.net/
11. ^ http://www.hipjointproductions.net/productions/kreesha_turner/index.html
12. ^ Canadian Hot 100: Don't Call Me Baby. Billboard.com. June 7, 2008. Retrieved February 4, 2009.
13. ^ MuchMusic.com - First Spin: Kreesha Turner
14. ^ Acharts.us - Peak Positons

External links

• Official website
• Official Kreesha Turner MySpace page
• Kreesha Turner Faze Magazine Cover Story
• Kreesha Turner at Hipjoint Productions
• Exclusive Interview With Kreesha Turner
• Kreesha Turner Rehearsal
• Kreesha at the 2009 JUNO Fan Fare