Y'Anna Monique Crawley (born April 11, 1977) is an American

urban contemporary gospel Urban/contemporary gospel, also known as urban gospel music, urban gospel pop, or just simply urban gospel, is a modern subgenre of gospel music. Although the style developed gradually, early forms are generally dated to the 1970s, and the gen ...

artist and musician. She began her music career in 2009, performing on the ''Sunday Best'' on

BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

. Her first studio album, ''The Promise'', was released in 2012, by Imago Dei Music Group. This album was her breakthrough release upon the ''Billboard'' magazine charts.

Early life

Crawley was born Y'Anna Monique Crawley, Work ID No. 883710938 ISWC No. T9148038997 IPI No. 429710357 (CRAWLEY YANNA MONIQUE), on April 11, 1977, in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, and she resides in Washington, D.C. She graduated from Eastern High School in NE Washington, D.C., where she sang in the schools choir. Crawley comes from a long line of musicians, and is related to

Julius Cheeks Rev. Julius "June" Cheeks (August 7, 1929January 27, 1981) was an American gospel singer, who enjoyed the majority of his success with The Sensational Nightingales. Biography In 1954, he became a preacher but continued performing full-time unti ...

. She became pregnant when she was 17, and this caused her to do backup vocal duties for

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Lopez (born July 24, 1969), also known by her nickname J.Lo, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, dancer and businesswoman. Lopez is regarded as one of the most influential entertainers of her time, credited with breaking ...

and gospel musician

Stephen Hurd Stephen Arthur Hurd (born January 25, 1968) is an American gospel musician. He started his music career, in 2000, with the release of, ''Minister Stephen A. Hurd & Corporate Worship, Vol. 1'', which was released by Hurd the Word Music. His sec ...

Music career

Crawley's music career began in 2009, with appearances on the

network's signing competition, ''Sunday Best'', where she finished as the

season 2 Season 2 may refer to: * ''Season 2'' (Infinite album), 2014 * ''2econd Season'', an album by Unk, 2008 * "Season 2", a song by Phoenix from ''Alpha Zulu ''Alpha Zulu'' is the seventh studio album by French indie pop band Phoenix, released on 4 ...

champion, and received a recording contract. She released, ''The Promise'', on August 24, 2010, with Imago Dei Music Group. The peaked at number 2 on the

Top Gospel Albums Top Gospel Albums is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States, ranking the popularity of gospel albums. As of Tuesday, January 31, 2017 (with the charts dated February 11, 2017), it uses the same multi-metric m ...

and number 42 on the

Independent Albums The Independent Albums chart (previously titled Top Independent Albums) ranks the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays (EPs) in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by '' Billboard'' mag ...

charts. She would win a

Stellar Award A Stellar Award is an award presented by SAGMA to recognize achievements in the gospel music industry.Sagma
The Stel ...

for Female Artist of the Year, in 2012. She also is a choir member in Coming 2 America.

Personal life

Crawley has two sons, born 13 years apart.

Discography

Studio albums

References

External links

Archive official websiteNPR InterviewDa Gospel Truth review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crawley, Y'Anna 1977 births Living people African-American songwriters African-American Christians Musicians from Maryland Musicians from Washington, D.C. Songwriters from Maryland Songwriters from Washington, D.C. 21st-century African-American musicians 20th-century African-American musicians Eastern High School (Washington, D.C.) alumni