Tracie Monique Spencer (born in Waterloo, Iowa) is an American pop
and R&B singer-songwriter, actress, and model.
She began singing by the age of three and modeling in pageant competitions
at age five. Tracie performed, produced and directed her first music
videos before she was ten years of age. This led to her competing
on Star Search the 1980s CBS televised talent competition. She performed
Whitney Houston's 1986 hit "How Will I Know" and won the
competition.[1]
Shortly thereafter, she became the youngest female artist to sign
a record deal with a major label, Capitol Records, and to release
a self-titled debut album on January 16, 1988. She found success
with the singles "Hide and Seek", "Symptoms of True
Love" and her remake of John Lennon's "Imagine". Her
second album, Make the Difference, was released on August 27, 1990.
The first single, "Save Your Love", showed an impressive
standing at #7 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart.
Her following single, "This House", became her biggest
hit to date reaching #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Tender Kisses",
one of her best known ballads, hit #1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop
Singles & Tracks and made her the youngest female artist to receive
the ASCAP songwriter of the year award. The other singles, "This
Time Make It Funky" and "Love Me", charted relatively
well on The Billboard Hot 100 and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks.
Spencer served on the board of the Children's Defense Fund as a
teen and was given the Martin Luther King Christian Leadership Award
for being a positive role model to youth and traveling across the
US and abroad as part of a "Stay In School" program.
She made a guest appearance on the hit ABC sitcom, Family Matters
as well as commercials, in 1993 and recorded the song "I'll
Be There for You" for the 1997 film, Good Burger, "The
Rain" for "A Smile Like Yours" starring Lauren Holly
and Greg Kinnear, "Down In The Delta", and "Girlfight" starring
Michelle Rodriquez. She also modeled for Tommy Hilfiger, Chanel and
Dollhouse, which lead to her being a part of New York and LA's fashion
weeks in 1999-2000, being styled by Derek Khan, being signed to "NEXT" modeling
agency and appearing in numerous magazines.
On June 29, 1999, she released Tracie, which featured the singles "It's
All About You (Not About Me)" and "Still In My Heart." In
the 2000s, she started singing background vocals on hip-hop songs
for rappers such as Kanye West ("Slow Jamz" and "Never
Let Me Down" from The College Dropout), 50 Cent ("Back
Down" from Get Rich Or Die Tryin'), and Eve as well as songwriting
for other artist's projects. She acted in the short film, A Tale
of Two Sisters; in 2004 and in 2006, she performed in a play called
Choices in Los Angeles. As of 2007, Spencer has taken a hiatus from
music and moved to the U.K. However, she is still modeling and pursuing
other interests.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio albums
Year Album Chart positions[2][3] Record label
US US
R&B
1988 Tracie Spencer 146 65 Capitol
1990 Make the Difference 107 43
1999 Tracie 114 19
[edit] Singles
Year Single Chart positions[2][3] Album
US US
R&B US
Dance UK[4]
1988 "Symptoms of True Love" 38 11 14 — Tracie Spencer
"
Hide and Seek" — 32 — —
"
My First Broken Heart" — — — —
1989 "Imagine" 85 31 — —
1990 "Save Your Love" — 7 20 — Make the Difference
"
This House" 3 7 7 65
1991 "This Time Make It Funky" 54 31 13 —
"
Tender Kisses" 42 1 — —
1992 "Love Me" 48 2 — —
1999 "It's All About You (Not About Me)" 18 6 — 65
Tracie
2000 "Still in My Heart" 88 36 39 —