Lumidee Cedeño (born October 13, 1984) is an American rapper, singer and songwriter. She quickly rose to fame in 2003 with the release of her song "

Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh) "Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh)" is a song by American recording artist Lumidee, released as the debut single on May 12, 2003, from her debut studio album, ''Almost Famous'' (2003). The official remix features Fabolous and Busta Rhymes. "Neve ...

", which peaked at number three on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and also peaked within the top ten of the charts in over ten countries, including the United Kingdom, and topped the charts in several mainland European countries. However, she is mostly known for this one single, making her a

one-hit wonder A one-hit wonder or viral hit is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music p ...

Early life

Cedeño was born in East Harlem, New York, of Puerto Rican descent. After her father died in 1995, she and her four siblings were raised by their grandparents. She began singing and rapping at the age of twelve. She was diagnosed with

rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. Most commonly, the wrist and hands are involv ...

at the age of fourteen, after she was misdiagnosed with

lupus Lupus, technically known as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue in many parts of the body. Symptoms vary among people and may be mild to severe. Comm ...

. After graduating

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, she collaborated with a local neighborhood producer named DJ Tedsmooth to record her debut single, "

" for an

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

called Straight Face. Lumidee cites

Lauryn Hill Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. She is often regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, as well as being one of the most influential musicians of her generation. ...

Missy Elliott Melissa Arnette Elliott (born July 1, 1971), better known as Missy Elliott or Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliot, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She embarked on her music career with R&B girl group Sista in the earl ...

MC Lyte Lana Michele Moorer (born October 11, 1970), better known by her stage name MC Lyte, is an American rapper, DJ, actress and entrepreneur. Considered one of the pioneers of female rap, Lyte first gained fame in the late 1980s, becoming the first ...

and

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the " Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and " Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Award ...

as her major influences.

Music career

2003–2006: ''Almost Famous''

She signed with

Universal Records Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch–American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

, where she released her debut album titled ''Almost Famous'' on June 24, 2003. Her debut single, "Never Leave You", peaked at number 3 in the United States and number 2 in the United Kingdom, but it was her only hit until the 2007 release of "She's Like the Wind". According to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

, ''Almost Famous'' sold 276,000 copies in the U.S. For the next few years, Lumidee was not in the mainstream music industry in the US, instead veering more towards reggaeton and dancehall music. After her hit single "Never Leave You" faded, Lumidee went overseas to continue her musical career in Belgium,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, France and the Netherlands. She released multiple mixtapes during the years, which was a mixtape consisting of new material, freestyles and tracks from 'Lumidee was also featured on several tracks in this area, having some success in Europe. In 2006, Lumidee released a song for the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

album soundtrack entitled " Dance!". It featured a

sample Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of s ...

of the

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston in ...

track, "

I Wanna Dance With Somebody "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" is a song recorded by American singer Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of ...

". The song was a club hit around Europe, successfully entering the charts in the countries where it was officially released. In the summer of 2006, Lumidee was featured on Frankie Cutlass' 2006 Remix of his classic club hit anthem, "Puerto Rico" featuring Joell Ortiz,

Voltio Julio Voltio (born as Julio Irving Ramos Filomeno on June 11, 1977 in Santurce, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican former reggaeton artist. A pioneer of the reggaeton genre, Voltio retired from music in 2014 and dedicated himself to preaching Chris ...

, and

Yomo Toro Víctor Guillermo "Yomo" Toro (26 July 1933 – 30 June 2012) was a Puerto Rican left-handed guitarist and cuatro player. Known internationally as "The King of the Cuatro," Toro recorded over 150 albums throughout a 60-year career and worked ext ...

2007: ''Unexpected''

In 2007, Lumidee was named

youth ambassador A youth ambassador is a young agent, representative and/or steward for the charity for which they work.Anaphylaxis CampaignYouth Ambassadors/ref> Youth ambassadors have been introduced in order to promote participation, or spread goodwill or knowle ...

of the New York

Arthritis Foundation The Arthritis Foundation is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to addressing the needs of people living with arthritis in the United States. There are more than 50 million adults and 300,000 children living with arthritis, the nation's ...

’s Arthritis Walk. On April 17, she released her second album, ''Unexpected'', under

TVT Records TVT Records (Tee-Vee Tunes) was an American record label founded by Steve Gottlieb. Over the course of its 24-year history, the label released 25 Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum releases. Its roster included Nine Inch Nails, Ja Rule, Lil Jon, ...

. In an interview with ''

Vibe ''Vibe'' is an American music and entertainment magazine founded by producers David Salzman and Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down productio ...

'', Lumidee spoke about signing with TVT Records stating, "TVT Records is the perfect way for me to come back and again I'm coming out of left field, just like with Never Leave You. Nobody ever thought of me coming back on a street credible label like TVT ... Actually, nobody ever thought of me really even coming back, period." The U.S. single, "She's Like the Wind", peaked at 43, but it was not released in Europe. There, the label released the single "Crazy" featuring

Pitbull Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was f ...

, which had moderate chart success in Germany, Austria and the UK. Lumidee made an appearance on

MTV Cribs ''MTV Cribs'' (also known as ''Cribs'') is an American documentary television show that originated on MTV and features tours of the private homes of celebrities. It originally aired from 2000 to 2010. In 2017, MTV produced short-form episodes o ...

, showing her New Jersey home, which aired on August 6, 2007.

2009–present

On May 13, 2009, Lumidee released a mixtape called '' I'm Up, Vol. 1'' from her label, Logy Music Entertainment. In late 2009, Lumidee worked on another mixtape entitled ''Luminadee'', which was released exclusively on Coast2CoastMixtapes.com in early January 2010. Lumidee was working on an album which was set to be released sometime in 2010, but ultimately it did not materialize.*WHERE ARE THEY NOW* Lumidee
''hiphopwired.com'' Retrieved September 16, 2010 In 2011, she appeared in a re-work of

Remady Marc Würgler (; born on 12 December 1977), better known by his stage name Remady, is a Swiss music producer from Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regens ...

's dance hit "No Superstar". In 2011, she collaborated with rapper Somaya Reece on the single "Dale Mami". The video debuted on

Mun2 Universo is an American pay television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises subsidiary of NBCUniversal. The network serves as a companion cable channel to the NBCUniversal's flagship broadcast television network NBC and, to som ...

's "Urban Tip" on January 11, 2012. Universal Australia, Toughstuff Germany and Sony Scandinavia signed "Ring My Bell" ( Michael Fall featuring Lumidee, Rick Elback and Aziza) for release in 2014. On June 24, 2014, in an interview with Kevin Apaza of Directlyrics.com, Lumidee mentioned starting her own label Logy Music Entertainment. After leaving her previous major label, she will release her EP ''La Luz'' through her label Logy Music Entertainment.

Discography

* ''

Almost Famous ''Almost Famous'' is a 2000 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe, and starring Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson, and Patrick Fugit. It tells the story of a teenage journalist writing for ''Rolling Stone ...

'' (2003) * '' Unexpected'' (2007) * ''

1013 Year in topic Year 1013 ( MXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * King Henry II of Germany signs a peace treaty at Merseburg with Duke Boles ...

'' (2021)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lumidee 1984 births Living people People from East Harlem American women singers American contemporary R&B singers American musicians of Puerto Rican descent Hispanic and Latino American rappers American women rappers East Coast hip hop musicians Rappers from Manhattan Women in Latin music TVT Records artists Universal Records artists 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American women musicians 21st-century women rappers