Blu Cantrell Biography

Birth Name : Tiffany Cobb

Date of Birth : 1 October 1976, Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Height : 5' 7" (1.70 m)

Occupations : Singer, songwriter, musician (drums and guitar) and producer

Blu Cantrell (born Tiffany Cobb on March 16, 1976) is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter. As a child, her jazz singer mother frequently brought Blu along to the clubs where she had performed. While idolizing her mother during her upbringing, along with a number of well-known artists such as Aretha Franklin, Prince and Whitney Houston, Blu often used music as a remedy during difficult times. Eventually, this form of inspiration persuaded her to follow in her mother's footsteps as a singer.

As she grew up in Providence, R.I., with her five siblings, Blu Cantrell was toted from one jazz performance to another to watch her mother sing. From that point forward, she knew what she wanted to do, and began auditioning for vocal gigs and displaying her dynamic alto at talent shows. On a visit to Atlanta in 2000, Cantrell played her demo tape for A&R executive Tab and producer C. Stewart (aka Tricky) of RedZone Entertainment. They were so impressed that they immediately provided studio work to the young singer, and she sang backgrounds for artists including Gerald Levert, Faith Evans, Puff Daddy, and Aaron Hall. Meanwhile, Cantrell began recording tracks for what would ultimately become her first full-length album.

In 2003, Cantrell released her second album, Bittersweet, which peaked at #37 on the Billboard 200. The success of 'Bittersweet' was much greater worldwide than in the U.S. due to the number one single 'Breathe' climb to the top of the charts. The song became number one without the support of any major radio syndication and eventually was added to major rotation after it had already become independently worldwide. The record earned Cantrell a Grammy Award nomination for Best R&B Album and entered the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart at number eight. The album produced two hit singles, these being "Breathe" and "Make Me Wanna Scream", the former being a collaboration with Sean Paul. "Breathe" peaked at number one for four weeks in the United Kingdom and broke Madonna's song "Lucky Star" single for most played on radio. It eventually became one of the most successful singles of the year in both Europe, Australia, South Africa, Germany and several other countries worldwide. That same year, Cantrell was to appear in Playboy magazine, but decided against it at the last minute because "I felt it was going to make me more of a sex symbol and I didn't want anything to take away from the fact that I can sing".