Videos : Blu Cantrell

Breathe

Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)

Make Me Wanna Scream

Blu Cantrell (born Tiffany Cobb on March 16, 1976) is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter.

Tiffany Cobb was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1976. Her father was a Narragansett Native American and Cape Verdean, and played in the National Basketball Association. Susi Franco, her mother, of Italian descent, was a former Miss Rhode Island, actress, and jazz vocalist[1]. Cantrell's parents split when she was a child, and she and her five siblings—Adam, Tino, Nicky, Kelli, and Summer—were raised by her mother in Rhode Island.[2] At the age of 19 she worked as a nude model for Black Tail. She has defended this by saying: "I have posed nude in the past and I will in the future, I'm not making porn, porn is when you do a video of sex. Posing nude is not making porn."

Her mother use to call her Blu and Cantrell is her Grandmother's last name.
[edit] Music career
[edit] Debut album: So Blu (2001–2002)

After several demos, recordings, and singing backup for artists such as Puff Daddy, Cantrell was discovered by Red Zone Entertainment heads Tricky, Tab and Laney Stewart in early 2001. She also did collaborations with Babyface, Usher, Dionne Warwick, will.i.am, Fat Joe, Lil Kim, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and jazz legend Herbie Hancock. The producers promptly placed her with Antonio "L.A." Reid who offered the singer a contract with his label Arista Records after hearing one song she wrote and sung in front of him and his staff. After a bidding war with five different labels, Arista's bid was the highest. It was said of Cantrell, "Since she was a little girl she always dreamed of being on Arista Records."[citation needed] Afterwards, Cantrell went straight into recording sessions with Dallas Austin and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. In 2001, her debut album, So Blu, was released. The record saw major success when it peaked at number eight on the Billboard 200 chart, eventually going gold in the United States. The album's hit single "Hit 'em Up Style (Oops!)", which peaked at number two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, became the number one most added record to radio in the country, breaking Elvis Presley's record for most played on all genres of radio. The song earned Cantrell Grammy Award nominations for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and for Best R&B Song, as well as an American Music Award nomination for Favorite Soul/R&B New Artist, both in 2002.

During this era, Cantrell helped write and compose, along with several other writers, the song "It's Killing Me (In My Mind)" for the soundtrack of the 2002 film Bad Company. Cantrell also featured in a small cameo role in the 2002 film Drumline, where she could be seen singing the American National Anthem. The film starred Nick Cannon and Orlando Jones.
[edit] Bittersweet (2003–2004)
Blu Cantrell

In 2003, Cantrell released her second album, Bittersweet, which peaked at #37 on the Billboard 200. The success of 'Bittersweet' was much greater worldwide than in the U.S. due to the number one single 'Breathe' climb to the top of the charts. The song became number one without the support of any major radio syndication and eventually was added to major rotation after it had already become independently worldwide. The record earned Cantrell a Grammy Award nomination for Best R&B Album and entered the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart at number eight. The album produced two hit singles, these being "Breathe" and "Make Me Wanna Scream", the former being a collaboration with Sean Paul. "Breathe" peaked at number one for four weeks in the United Kingdom and broke Madonna's song "Lucky Star" single for most played on radio[citation needed]. It eventually became one of the most successful singles of the year in both Europe, Australia, South Africa, and several other countries worldwide. That same year, Cantrell was to appear in Playboy magazine (and would have been only the fourth African American woman to appear on the cover), but decided against it at the last minute because "I felt it was going to make me more of a sex symbol and I didn't want anything to take away from the fact that I can sing".[3]
[edit] Most recent projects

In 2007, Cantrell starred alongside LisaRaye and Kenya Moore in the musical stage play Gossip, Lies and Secrets. Tour dates ran from September 27, 2007 until November 25, 2007.

In 2008, Cantrell appeared in NBC's Celebrity Circus. The first episode aired with a ninety-minute kick-off special on June 11, but Cantrell was eliminated in the second week, June 18, 2008. This made her the first Celebrity to be eliminated from the show. However, she returned for the final episode to perform her single "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)"

Colin Main, a music producer, composer, and recording engineer,[4] was, as of the last days of July of 2011, the only producer to announce that he was working on new music with Cantrell. Several previously unheard clips could subsequently be found on Main's Official YouTube account.[5] Among these were "My World" and "Secret in My Pocket." It had not, as of the last days of July of 2011, been confirmed if these tracks would appear on Cantrell's forthcoming album.[6]
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
[edit] Studio albums

2001: So Blu
2003: Bittersweet

[edit] Albums
Year Album Peak chart
positions
ARIA Charts U.S.
U.S. R&B
U.K.
2001 So Blu

Released: July 31, 2001
Label: Arista
Formats: CD, digital download, LP

87 8 5 -
2003 Bittersweet

Released: June 21, 2003
Label: Arista Records
Formats: CD, digital download, LP

23 37 8 20
[edit] Compilation albums

2005: Hit 'Em Up Style: Chart and Club Hits of Blu Cantrell

[edit] Mixtape

From L.A. to L.O. is a mixtape by Blu Cantrell, released in 2004 exclusively in the UK and Japan after the success of 2003's Bittersweet. Although its North American release was cancelled, the collection was heavily circulated on the internet and was mistaken as a full follow-up album to Bittersweet.

[edit] Singles
Year Title Chart positions Album
U.S. U.S. R&B UK[7] IRE AUS SWI AUT FRA NOR
2001 "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" 2 6 12 — 3 77 — 47 12 So Blu
" I'll Find a Way" — 104 — — — — — — —
2002 "Till I'm Gone" — 115 — — — — — — —
" Sleep in the Middle" (promo) — — — — — — — — — Bittersweet (UK)
2003 "Breathe" (featuring Sean Paul) 70 83 1 1 8 5 11 13 6 Bittersweet
2004 "Make Me Wanna Scream"
(featuring Ian Lewis) — — 24 33 62 60 68 — —
[edit] Soundtracks
Year Song Film
2002 "It's Killing Me (In My Mind)" Bad Company
[edit] Song appearances
Year Song Album
2001 "U Remind Me" (Remix) (with Usher and Method Man) U Got It Bad
2001 "Come My Way" (with Chauncey Black) non-album song
2002 "Round Up" (Lady May) Bittersweet
2004 "Take My Heart" (Kool & the Gang) The Hits: Reloaded
2008 "They Must Not Know" (RAW & Anonymous) Worth the Weight
2008 "Feeling Good" (RAW & Anonymous) Worth the Weight
[edit] Awards and nominations

American Music Awards
Favorite Soul/R&B New Artist (Nominated)

Grammy Awards
Best R&B Song: "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" (Nominated)
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance: "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" (Nominated)
Best R&B Album: Bittersweet (Nominated)