Tweet (born Charlene Keys, January 21, 1972) is an
American R&B and soul singer-songwriter.
The youngest child of Tom and Shirley Keys, Tweet was born in Rochester,
New York on January 21, 1972,[1] and grew up singing in the church
along with her parents and her four older siblings (three brothers,
Tom, Cedric and Lonnie, and one sister, Sundra). Among them, the
five children mastered instruments such as the piano, guitar, bass
guitar, drums, and many more.
As a young girl, Tweet was inspired not only by her family, but
also by larger-than-life divas Janet Jackson, Tina Turner, Aretha
Franklin, and Whitney Houston (whom she later worked with). Tweet's
first steps into a career in the music industry first began when
she enrolled in Rochester's School of the Arts. In 1990, at the age
of nineteen, Tweet gave birth to her daughter, Tashawna. Tashawna
can be seen singing on youtube with Corey Mekell, they refer to each
other as big brother/lil sister. Tashawna is also seen on a youtube
clip with her mother tweet.
In the early nineties, Tweet joined the female duo Sugah, leaving
her daughter with her parents in Panama City, Florida, while Tweet
relocated to many places. Sugah was composed of Tweet, Susan Weems,
and Rolita White, and was a part of Devante Swing's Swing Mob collective.
While there, she met Timbaland, Magoo, Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott
(who at the time was a part of Sista), Playa, Ginuwine, and Renee
Anderson who were also all apart of the Swing Mob collective. During
her time with Sugah, Tweet formed a close friendship with Elliott.
Around 1999 with Sugah going nowhere, no album to show, and many
broken promises, Tweet returned to her parents' home in Panama City
penniless and depressed. After Tweet fell into a deeper depression
after a string of bad relationships and a number of jobs she had
suicidal thoughts, but she received a phone call from Elliott, calling
to ask if Tweet would contribute background vocals on her then-latest
album Miss E… So Addictive. Tweet felt she could tell Elliott
about her situation and what she was going through. To this day she
calls Elliott her "Guardian Angel".
In 2000, Tweet began recording vocals for Elliott's album and was
also reunited with her old friends from the Swing Mob days, Timbaland,
Magoo, Playa, and Ginuwine. She also recorded vocals for Timbaland
and Magoo's follow-up to their platinum-selling 1997 debut album,
Welcome to Our World, and Timbaland's solo album, Tim's Bio: Life
from da Bassment. In 2001, Elliott released her platinum-selling
third album, Miss E… So Addictive, with Tweet contributing
vocals to five tracks. 2001 also saw the release of Ja Rule's Pain
Is Love, Bubba Sparxxx's Dark Days, Bright Nights, Petey Pablo's
Diary of a Sinner: 1st Entry, and Timbaland and Magoo's Indecent
Proposal, on all of which Tweet contributed vocals.
[edit] Southern Hummingbird (2002)
Main article: Southern Hummingbird
In March 2002, Tweet entered the charts with her debut solo single, "Oops
(Oh My)", a risqué song about self-loving and appreciation.
The song was produced by Timbaland and featured guest vocals by Missy
Elliott. The single hit number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
and number seven on the Billboard Hot 100, with the help of a remix
featuring Fabolous. In April 2002, Tweet released her debut album
Southern Hummingbird to mostly strong reviews. The album featured
production by Craig Brockman, Nisan Stewart, guitarist John "Jubu" Smith,
Timbaland (who contributed four tracks) and Tweet herself. It also
featured guest vocals by Elliott on "Oops (Oh My)",[2]
Bilal on "Best Friend", and BeatClub Records' Ms. Jade
on "Sexual Healing (Oops Pt. 2)", and included a bonus
track performed by Elliott, "Big Spender". The album was
filled with soul-stirring vocals and lyrics taken from Tweet's own
life experiences. The album spawned another two singles, Timbaland-produced "Call
Me", and the radio single "Smoking Cigarettes", which
had a video shot and directed by Little X but was never released.
The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 chart.
That year Tweet appeared as a guest vocalist on Trina's second single
from her hit album Diamond Princess. The song was called "No
Panties" and was written and produced by Missy Elliott and Nisan
Stewart. Tweet also appeared on Meshell Ndegeocello's Cookie: The
Anthropological Mixtape, Karen Clark Sheard's 2nd Chance, Ms. Jade's
Girl Interrupted, Whitney Houston's Just Whitney... and Elliott's
Under Construction. Tweet appeared on four of the tracks and also
made a cameo performance in both videos released from the album, "Work
It" and "Gossip Folks". Tweet was nominated for a
Soul Train Lady of Soul Award (among others) for Best New Artist
but lost to Ashanti. However, that year Tweet was awarded the Key
To The City for Rochester, New York. Along with Missy Elliott, Lil'
Kim, DMX, Toni Braxton, Queen Latifah, Ananda Lewis, Playa, Jamie
Foxx, Lil' Mo, AJ[disambiguation needed], Free (among others), Tweet
appeared in the late Aaliyah's posthumous hit single, "Miss
You".
With 2003 came more guest vocals appearances: Madonna's American
Life The Remixes Single, Monica's After the Storm, Mark Ronson's
Here Comes the Fuzz, and Angie Stone's Stone Love on the 2004 Grammy
Award-nominated song "U-Haul".
Tweet turned to acting, having a cameo appearance in the film Honey,
directed by music video director Billie Woodruff and starring Jessica
Alba, Mekhi Phifer, Lil' Romeo, Joy Bryant and Missy Elliott. Tweet's
other acting credits include an episode of the comedy series The
Parkers in 2002, in which she performed "Oops (Oh My)" and "Smoking
Cigarettes". Tweet also appeared on the Honey soundtrack on
the Elliott-produced "Thugman". Tweet also performed "Hypnotic" in
the film, but it is not featured on the soundtrack.
[edit] It's Me Again (2005)
Main article: It's Me Again
In 2004, Tweet appeared in another of Elliott's music videos, "I'm
Really Hot", off of This Is Not a Test!, but Tweet was absent
from the album as a vocalist. Tweet also appeared on the posthumous
unreleased Elliott-produced Aaliyah track "Where Could He Be".
The song did enjoy slight radio success, but has not yet been released
officially. Missy Elliott made her move from Elektra Entertainment
Group to Atlantic Records, taking Tweet and The Goldmind Inc. with
her.
During 2003 and 2004, Tweet began recording songs for her follow-up
to her Gold-certified album Southern Hummingbird which was supposed
to be released in early 2004, but due to the label changes, was pushed
back. In late 2004, Tweet joined Cee-Lo Green and Teedra Moses on
the 2004 Seagram's Gin Live Tour in promotion of her new single, "Turn
da Lights Off" The song was produced by Missy Elliott and Kwamé,
featured vocals from Elliott and contained a sample of Marvin Gaye's "If
This World Were Mine" and Nat King Cole's "Lost April".
While on tour, Tweet performed her old tracks, and premiered her
new single and some of her newer tracks, including "My Man" and "Sports,
Sex & Food".
On March 22, 2005, Tweet released her second album It's Me Again.
The album featured production from Missy Elliott on seven of the
tracks, Craig Brockman, Nisan Stewart, brothers Charlie Bereal and
Kenny Bereal, Walter Milsap III, Kwamé, The Goldmind Inc.'s
Soul Diggaz, Marty Cintron III, Madball Entertainment and, Timbaland
and Tweet (who both only contributed producing credits on one track
each). The album featured vocals from Tweet's 15-year-old daughter,
Tashawna, on "Two of Us",[3] Rell on "Could It Be",
and Missy Elliott on "Turn da Lights Off" and "Things
I Don't Mean". The album also featured the hidden bonus track "When
I Need a Man" (theme song from the USA Network Original Series,
Kojak, starring Ving Rhames). The album peaked at #17 on the Billboard
album charts and then quickly fell off the charts due to lack of
promotion and mis-management from Atlantic Records. There was talk
to film a second video for either "Cab Ride" (which sampled
the theme song from the tv show "Taxi,") or "Sports,
Sex & Food", but this never happened. Tweet then broke away
from her manager, Mona Scott, and Violator Management, and signed
with Mathew Knowles of Music World, who managed the careers of Destiny's
Child, Beyoncé Knowles, Michelle Williams, Kelly Rowland,
Solange Knowles, Sunshine Anderson, and Trin-i-tee 5:7. Tweet stills
maintains a close friendship with Mona Scott and is still signed
to The Goldmind Inc. Tweet also appeared on Elliott's sixth album
release, The Cookbook, contributing vocals to three tracks, including
the single, "Teary Eyed".
[edit] Love, Tweet (2007 – present)
Main article: Love, Tweet
In 2007, Tweet signed to Jheryl Busby and Mike City's new record
label Umbrella Recordings, whose acts include Patti LaBelle, Carl
Thomas, and a few other well-known R&B chart climbers. There,
she began recording material for her third album, Love, Tweet.
The album was rumored to be led by the singles "Anymore", "Real
Lady", and "Procrastination", however all singles
were canceled due to internet leaks. The album was instead led by "Love
Again".
[edit] Other Work
Tweet currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia.
On December 2, 2006, two songs, "Whisper" and "See
Ya", leaked onto a Tweet Myspace page, but were confirmed by
Tweet to be songs rejected from past albums. Another song has been
posted on her Myspace page called "Give It To Ya", along
with a sneak peek of her next album.
A cover of "Boogie 2nite" (a song from the album Southern
Hummingbird) by Booty Luv (vocalists Nadia and Cherise from the British
act Big Brovaz) reached number two on the UK Singles Chart on December
10, 2006, after three years of UK club success, but no official single
release, of Tweet's original.
Tweet performed with Timbaland at the 4th annual VH1 Hip Hop Honors,
which aired on October 8, 2007.[1]
On April 26 and April 27, 2008, Joy Denalane, Bilal, Dwele and Tweet
performed with The Dresden Soul Symphony in Dresden, Germany. The
musicians reinterpreted soul hits and combined them with classical
music. An album The Dresden Soul Symphony and DVD were later released
on October 24, 2008.
[edit] Discography
Main article: Tweet discography
[edit] Albums
* 2002: Southern Hummingbird
* 2005: It's Me Again
* 2011: Love, Tweet
[edit] Solo singles
* Southern Hummingbird
o 2002: "Oops (Oh My)" (featuring Missy Elliott) - US #16[4]
o 2002: "Call Me"
o 2002: "Boogie 2nite" 1
o 2002: "Smoking Cigarettes" (Promo Only) 1
* It's Me Again
o 2004: "Turn da Lights Off" (featuring Missy Elliott)
o 2005: "When I Need a Man"
o 2005: "Cab Ride"
o 2005: "We Don't Need No Water" (Japan Promo Only)1
o 2005: "Steer" (Japan Promo Only)1
* Love, Tweet
o 2008: "Anymore" 1
o 2008: "Real Lady" 1
o 2009: "Procrastination" (featuring Missy Elliott and Timbaland)1
o 2010: "Love Again"
* Non-Album Singles
o 2003: "Thugman" (featuring Missy Elliott)
o 2003: "Hypnotic"
Notes: 1 Denotes canceled single.
[edit] Filmography
* 2002: The Parkers: Kim's 21st Birthday (TV)
* 2003: Honey
* 2008: The Dresden Soul Symphony (live concert DVD)
[edit] Endorsements
* Verizon Wireless TV & print ads (featured in the "Call
Me" music video)
* Citizen Watches print ads
* 2002 Gap Stretch Jeans TV ads directed by Peter Lindbergh, performing "I'll
Take You There" together with Taryn Manning
* Pantene Pro-Voice TV & print ads (with Mýa, Vanessa Carlton and
Lucy Woodward)