YOUR TOP SOURCE FOR TICKETS TO THE BEST CONCERTS AND EVENTS ACROSS NORTHEAST FLORIDA!

Ritz Theatre

Chrisette Michele

Friday, September 19, 2014 | 8pm

 

Chrisette Michele is a Grammy Award-winning R&B and singer and songwriter from New York. She is signed to Motown Records and won a Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance in 2009 for her song "Be OK".

 

The jazz-influenced vocalist was born in 1982 in Patchogue, New York, a small town on Long Island. At age 17, Chrisette fell in love with Brazilian jazz singer Astrud Gilberto's voice after hearing the bossa nova standard "The Girl from Ipanema" and spent endless hours learning jazz standards as sung by Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, among others.

 

After studying vocal and jazz performance at Five Townes College on Long Island she begain performing at local clubs around New York was soon discovered by legendary neo-soul singer India.Arie, at Manhattan's Village Underground club, who enlisted Chrisette to be her opening act, as did Kem and Angie Stone. At that same club, she was also discovered by representatives of Def Jam, who were so enamored with her vocal abilities, they signed her to their label by 2006.

 

At the end of the year, Def Jam brought her out in full force, allowing Chrisette to write and sing the hooks for Jay-Z's "Lost Ones" and Nas' Nat King Cole-inspired "Can't Forget About You." Her own debut album, I Am, followed in June 2007 and included contributions from notable artists like Babyface, Salaam Remi, John Legend, and will.i.am. For Epiphany followed in 2009 and topped the R&B and Billboard 200 charts. In 2010 Chrisette released Let Freedom Reign which debut on the Billboard Top 10 R&B chart. After moving to Motown Records, Better, her forth album was released in June 2013.  The album debuted at number 12 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling 27,000 copies in its first week and was nominated for a 2014 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album.