Andwele Gardner (born February 14, 1978), better known by his stage name Dwele, is an American R&B

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

, rapper,

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

and

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

from

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

Biography

Gardner was raised on the west side of Detroit in a musical family. He played

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

from the age of six, later taking up

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

, bass and

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

. He was deeply affected by the fatal shooting of his father outside his home when he was age ten, later stating "I learned to put my emotions into music; it was my therapy." He cites

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

Donny Hathaway Donny Edward Hathaway (October 1, 1945 – January 13, 1979) was an American soul singer, keyboardist, songwriter, and arranger whom ''Rolling Stone'' described as a "soul legend". His most popular songs include " The Ghetto", "This Christmas ...

Roy Ayers Roy Ayers (born September 10, 1940) is an American funk, soul, and jazz composer, vibraphone player, and music producer. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Pol ...

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

, and

Freddie Hubbard Frederick Dewayne Hubbard (April 7, 1938 – December 29, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter. He played bebop, hard bop, and post-bop styles from the early 1960s onwards. His unmistakable and influential tone contributed to new perspectives fo ...

as favorite artists, and took inspiration from hip hop group

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip

, becoming an MC, and working with Slum Village. Gardner recorded a demo in his bedroom, called, ''The Rize'', and sold it out of the trunk of his car. He had about 100 copies, which sold out within a week. He caught the ears of local hip hop group Slum Village and their producer

J Dilla J, or j, is the tenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its usual name in English is ''jay'' (pronounced ), with a now-uncommon varia ...

. Slum Village invited Dwele to sing the hook of the song "Tainted" for their album '' Trinity (Past, Present and Future)''. It was successful and led to more high-profile work with rapper

Bahamadia Antonia D. Reed (born April 22, 1966), known professionally as Bahamadia, is an American hip-hop artist and singer. Bahamadia released her debut album, '' Kollage'', in 1996, followed by the independently released EP ''BB Queen'' in 2000. She ...

, the group

Lucy Pearl Lucy Pearl was an American R&B supergroup formed in 1999. The group was composed of Raphael Saadiq (formerly of Tony! Toni! Toné!), Dawn Robinson (formerly of En Vogue), and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (formerly of A Tribe Called Quest). History In 199 ...

and London's New Sector Movement. Dwele signed to

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

in 2001, and the label released his debut album, '' Subject'' in spring 2003, which mixed

neo soul Neo soul (sometimes called progressive soul) is a genre of popular music. As a term, it was coined by music industry entrepreneur Kedar Massenburg during the late 1990s to market and describe a style of music that emerged from soul and contempo ...

and hip hop. In a 2005 review in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', his style was summed up: "Dwele's rooted in vintage soul but isn't stuck in the past, overly reverential or an exercise in pastiche - there's a major hip-hop edge which betrays his original incarnation as a rapper." A second album, '' Some Kinda...'', followed in 2005. He then later signed with RT Music Group and KOCH records in March, 2008 He released his fourth album titled, ''

W.ants W.orld W.omen ''W.ants W.orld W.omen'' is the fourth studio album by American musician Dwele. It was released on June 29, 2010 via RT Music Groupp/E1 Music. Recording sessions took place at the Loft in Detroit, at the Durt Factory in Norfolk, at 916 Studios in ...

'' on June 29, 2010. Dwele was featured on the first single from

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

's fifth studio album, ''

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'' is the fifth studio album by American rapper and producer Kanye West. It was released by Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records on November 22, 2010, following a period of public controversy for West. Re ...

''. The song is entitled "

Power Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may a ...

". He is also featured on "Flashing Lights" from West's 2007 album ''Graduation''. Dwele released the first single, "What Profit", from his fifth studio album ''Greater Than One''. The song was written and produced by

Mike City Mike City (born Michael Flowers) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for producing the singles "I Wish" for Carl Thomas, " Heard It All Before" for Sunshine Anderson, "Full Moon" for Brandy and "One Woman M ...

- the same producer behind his other singles "I Think I Love U" and "What's Not to Love". The song was sent to radio on May 22, 2012.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Featured on

References

External links

* – official site *
Dwele: W.ants W.orld W.omen
review at Cream {{Authority control Living people American people of Nigerian descent American neo soul singers Midwest hip hop musicians 1978 births Virgin Records artists MNRK Music Group artists American hip hop singers Singers from Detroit American contemporary R&B singers 21st-century African-American male singers