Dionne Yvette Farris (born December 4, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, and producer. Born and raised in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

, she began singing in elementary school and competed in pageants as a teenager. In the early 1990s, she was featured on the hip hop group Arrested Development (1992) hit single "

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 36th-largest by ...

". Farris rose to fame with the release of her debut album, ''

Wild Seed - Wild Flower Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to: Common meanings * Wild animal * Wilderness, a wild natural environment * Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed Art, media and entertainment Film and television * ''Wild'' (2014 film), a 2014 Am ...

'' (1994) on

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the A ...

. The album featured the

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "cont ...

single, " I Know" (1995). That same year, the video earned Farris the Billboard Music Video Awards Best Pop/Rock New Artist Clip of the Year. She was nominated for the

Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The awar ...

(1996).

Early life

Farris was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, the daughter of Larraine (Wall) and Richard Farris, both of whom had musical talents and aspirations, and named Dionne for their favorite singer

Dionne Warwick Marie Dionne Warwick (; born December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on ''Billboards Hot 100 pop singles ch ...

. Farris was raised in Bordentown, New Jersey by her single mother, whose side of the family introduced her to the musical acts that shaped and influenced her. Farris was a huge fan of Diana Ross as a child – one of Farris’ fonder memories was attending a Ross concert in Manhattan at the age of eight, being lifted by her uncle onstage, and getting kissed by the superstar. Farris began taking dance lessons at the age of three at Irene Parker Dance Studio in Hamilton Township, New Jersey. She danced ballet, jazz, tap, and toe for 10 years, opting at 13 to sing instead. She sang in her high school's choir. After graduating from Bordentown Regional High in 1987, Farris attended Mercer County Community College, where she studied photography. Farris entered into the Miss Hemisphere Pageant regional competitions, directly after high school and won her first and only pageant as 1987's Miss Hemisphere's Adult Talent, singing

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "Honorific nicknames in popular music, The Voice", she is Whitney Houston albums discography, one of the bestselling music artists ...

's "

Saving All My Love for You "Saving All My Love for You" is a song written by Michael Masser and Gerry Goffin, originally recorded by Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. for their album ''Marilyn & Billy'' (1978). American singer Whitney Houston recorded a cover of the song ...

" in Miami, Florida. She joined a band known as 2.0 and later as Breaking Ground. They began performing on the Manhattan's club circuit, and looked to sign a record deal. Farris decided to move to Atlanta with her then boyfriend Donald "Rasa Don" Jones (one of the early members of Arrested Development), where her father lived. After a short time, Farris met with Atlanta producer Jermaine Dupri and began writing songs for Atlanta-based acts such as TLC and singing backgrounds for acts such as Xscape, and El Debarge. She signed a management contract with Michael Mauldin's (father of Dupri) company as a solo artist, but later became a member of a girl group they were producing, known as Onyx (a name later co-opted by a semi-gangsta rap group).

Career

Arrested Development

Farris and Arrested Development were signed to the same management company. The group wanted a female singer for their '' 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of...'' album and Farris, although she was not interested in being in the group, agreed to sing with them and became an unofficial "extended family" member. Farris sang on three songs with the group: "Fishin' 4 Religion", "Give a Man a Fish" and "

". Farris performed the song with Arrested Development on the 1992 MTV Movie Awards and ''

The Arsenio Hall Show ''The Arsenio Hall Show'' is an American syndicated late-night talk show created by and starring comedian Arsenio Hall. There have been two different incarnations of ''The Arsenio Hall Show''. The original series premiered on January 3, 1989, ...

'' as well as went on the group's first national tour. After the success of "Tennessee", she began to receive media attention, and Duff Marlo offered Farris a solo deal, contingent upon

Speech Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if they are th ...

producing the project, but she rejected the offer in search of a deal where she would have artistic control. Farris began experiencing personal and business conflicts with the group's leader despite the success of "Tennessee" (the band's first and biggest hit in 1992). Farris was never an official member of the band, and she left the group in September 1992 before a show at the Fox Theater after having a fight with Speech and co-leader Headliner.

''Wild Seed – Wild Flower''

Farris reached out to Milton Davis and David Harris and began a collaboration. A demo sent to

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainmen ...

was first reviewed by

Bobby Colomby Robert Wayne Colomby (born 20 December 1944) is a jazz-rock fusion drummer, record producer and television presenter. He is best known as an original member of the group Blood, Sweat & Tears, which he co-founded in 1967. He has also played wit ...

, then by

Randy Jackson Randall Darius Jackson (born June 23, 1956) is an American record executive and television presenter, perhaps best known as a judge on ''American Idol'' from 2002 to 2013. Jackson began his career in the 1980s as a session musician playing ba ...

(who became known as a judge on ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to ...

''). Jackson signed Farris to a deal at

. Her debut album, '' Wild Seed – Wild Flower'' (1994), featured the 1995 single " I Know", which reached number four on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and was nominated for the

in 1996. In the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, "I Know" peaked (after a re-release) at No. 41 in May 1995. ''Wild Seed – Wild Flower'' reached No. 57 on the ''Billboard'' 200

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent ...

. ''

Radio & Records ''Radio & Records'' (''R&R'') was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It started as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006 and became a relaunched sister ...

'' magazine ranked "I Know" as the number-one most played song on mainstream Top 40/CHR radio stations for 1995 and spent 10 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Mainstream Top 40 chart (April 1 – June 3, 1995). On April 8, 1995, she was the musical guest on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...

'', performing "I Know" and a roots acoustic rendition of the

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...

song " Blackbird."

Soundtracks

In 1995, her version of Billy Taylor's "

I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" is a jazz song written by Billy Taylor. Taylor's original version (as "I Wish I Knew") was recorded on November 12, 1963, and released on his ''Right Here, Right Now!'' album (Capitol ST-2039) the foll ...

" appeared on the soundtrack to the documentary ''The Promised Land''. It appeared again as the opening song to the film '' Ghosts of Mississippi'', about the true story of the 1994 trial of

Byron De La Beckwith Byron De La Beckwith Jr. (November 9, 1920 – January 21, 2001) was an American murderer, white supremacist and member of the Ku Klux Klan from Greenwood, Mississippi. He murdered the civil rights leader Medgar Evers on June 12, 1963. Two tria ...

, the white supremacist accused of the 1963 assassination of

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life ...

activist of Medgar Evers. Farris' soundtrack work continued for the movie ''

The Truth About Cats & Dogs ''The Truth About Cats & Dogs'' is a 1996 American romantic comedy film directed by Michael Lehmann and written by Audrey Wells. It stars Janeane Garofalo, Uma Thurman, Ben Chaplin and Jamie Foxx. The story is a modern reinterpretation of the 1897 ...

'', in which she contributed a version of the

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, s ...

classic " For Once in My Life" as the closing song and the movie ''

The First Wives Club ''The First Wives Club'' is a 1996 American comedy film directed by Hugh Wilson, based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Olivia Goldsmith. The film stars Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton as three divorcées who seek retribution ...

'' with a rendition of

Bill Withers William Harrison Withers Jr. (July 4, 1938 – March 30, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He had several hits over a career spanning 18 years, including " Ain't No Sunshine" (1971), " Grandma's Hands" (1971), " Use Me" (197 ...

' "Heartbreak Road". Her single "Hopeless" (written by Van Hunt) appears on the '' Love Jones''

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrac ...

(1997).

''For Truth If Not Love''

Farris recorded a second album ''For Truth if Not Love'' with Columbia, but she and the label parted ways before the project was released. It was released in 2007, issued on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mu ...

. It featured the track "Stuck in the Middle".

Independent releases

Farris released her official follow-up album ''Signs of Life'' in (2011), named Top 10 soul albums of 2011, a

mixtape A mixtape (alternatively mix-tape, mix tape or mixed tape) is a compilation of music, typically from multiple sources, recorded onto a medium. With origins in the 1980s, the term normally describes a homemade compilation of music onto a cassette ...

''Lady Dy, the Mixtape Pt 1'' (2011) and a live

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

album ''Dionne Get Your Gunn: Featuring the Russell Gunn Quartet with Dionne Farris'' (2012) via

PledgeMusic PledgeMusic was an online direct-to-fan music platform, launched in August 2009. It was started to facilitate musicians looking to pre-sell, market, and distribute projects; such as recordings and concerts. It bore similarities to other artist p ...

crowd funding on her own record label, Free & Clear Records.

Personal life

Farris has a daughter, rapper Baby Tate, whose father is former Follow for Now member David Ryan Harris.

Discography

Albums

* '' Wild Seed – Wild Flower'' (1994),

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...

* '' For Truth If Not Love'' (2007), Music World * '' Signs of Life'', (2011), Free & Clear Records * '' Dionne Get Your Gunn'' (2013), Free & Clear Records *'' DionneDionne'' (2014), Free & Clear Records

Mixtapes

*''Lady Dy, The Mixtape pt. 1'' (2011), Free & Clear Records

Singles

*" I Know" (1995), Sony *"Don't Ever Touch Me Again" (1995), Sony *"Passion" (1996), Sony *"Food for Thought" (1996), Sony

romo Romantic Modernism, more commonly known as Romo, was a musical and nightclubbing movement, of glam/style pop lineage, in the UK circa 1995–1997, centred on the twin homes of Camden-based clubnight Club Skinny and its West End clone Arcadia ...

*" For Once in My Life" (1996), ''

'' (movie soundtrack) *"Hopeless" (1997), Sony

Soundtracks

*''The Promised Land'' (1994), Columbia *''

'' (1996), A&M *'' First Wives Club'' (1996), Work Group *'' Ghosts of Mississippi'' (1996), Sony *'' Love Jones'' (1997), Sony

References

External links

Dionne Farris Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Farris, Dionne 1969 births Living people 20th-century African-American women singers American contemporary R&B singers American soul musicians American neo soul singers Columbia Records artists People from Bordentown, New Jersey Musicians from Plainfield, New Jersey Singers from New Jersey 21st-century American women singers Arrested Development (group) members 21st-century American singers African-American rock musicians 21st-century African-American women singers