Keshia Chanté (June 16, 1988) was a Canadian Juno Award-winning critically acclaimed⁴, singer, songwriter, actress⁵, Ford model, socialite⁶, beauty queen⁷ and Fashionista. She signed to Sony BMG Canada at the age of 13⁸⁹ and as a result has released 2 major successful albums, and released 10 hit singles in Canada.¹⁰

Chante has been honoured with many awards and countless nominations, such as "Best New Artist" at the Canadian Radio Awards and Urban Music Awards, as well as "Video of the Year", "Fans Choice" and "Sexiest Female Artist".¹¹

She is best known as the Canadian "Princess of Pop"¹²¹³ for 8 of her #1 radio hits, such as, "Shook (The Answer)", "Unpredictable", "Bad Boy", "Does He Love Me", "Let The Music Take You"¹⁴, "Ring The Alarm", "Been Gone" and "2U".

She is known in the U.S for her "Bad Boy" video that was in heavy rotation on BET¹⁵ and her guest appearance in Bow Wow & Chris Brown's "Shortie Like Mine" video¹⁴.

Chante has also been controversially said to look strikingly similar to the late Aaliyah¹⁶, even being called her doppelgänger, as a result she has been chosen to play Aaliyah in the upcoming biopic of the singer's life.¹⁷.

Biography

1988–2003: Early life

Keshia Chanté was born in Ottawa, Ontario and she went to St. Peter Catholic High School and then moved to the suburb of Toronto¹⁸, Brampton, Ontario at the age of 14. She then attended Fletcher's Meadow Secondary School, and graduated as a straight-A student with her class in 2007¹⁹ . Her father is of Trinidadian descent and her mother is of Portuguese and Puerto Rican descent.²⁰²¹²².

In 1994, at the age of six, Chante began singing for the first time. Her first performance was Dear Mama by Tupac Shakur. The performance was taped, and seven years later passed on to a DJ who handed it off to a talent scout at SonyBMG²³.

Chanté cites Tupac Shakur²⁴²⁵ as her idol, with Beyoncé²⁶, Aaliyah²⁷ and Christina Aguilera²⁸ as her early childhood musical influences. For fashion inspirations, Chanté cites Jennifer Lopez and Donatella Versace²⁹.

2003-2005: Keshia Chanté

Her debut "Shook (The Answer)" appeared in early 2003. It was only meant to be a "buzz" single but it surprisingly broke into the Top 10 on Canadian music charts and won an Urban Music Award for "Best Pop/R&B Single".

For the follow-up, "Unpredictable" went #1 on both radio & video charts³⁰, she released her first video, which hit number one on YTV and the top ten on MuchMusic. In November 2003, the CD single of "Unpredictable" was certified gold. Because of that single, in 2003, she won the Canadian Radio Music Award for "Best New Solo Artist". It also became the highest selling single in Canada and the only Canadian artist to do so, other than Shania Twain. ³¹

In early February 2004, Chanté's third single, "Bad Boy", was released. It was also successful, breaking the Top 5 on radio and becoming the #1 video on MuchMusic for 4 weeks. The video was directed by director Little X.³²

Later, in June 2004, Chanté topped the charts again (Top 5) with the release of her fourth single "Does He Love Me?" ft. Foxy Brown which Chanté & Foxy Brown wrote and "Young Gav" (Foxy Brown's older brother) produced. The video was also directed by Little X and became #1 on MuchMusic for 3 weeks. The video also garnered her an Urban Music Video Award for "Video of the Year".

On June 22, 2004 Chanté released her debut album self-titled debut album. On December 3, 2004 it was certified gold. It contained her previous singles, as well as her later to be released fifth "Let the Music Take You" penned by Chanté. In October 2004, at the Canadian Urban Music Awards Chanté swept all three of nominations, winning awards for "Best New Artist", "Video of the Year" (for Bad Boy), "Fans' Choice Award" and by surprise taking home the "Rising Star of the Year" award.³³ In that same month, she also sang the national anthem at the Canadian Football League's Grey Cup³⁴.

In November 2004, Chante did her first American interview with BET's Rated Next³⁵ and performed with Alicia Keys.³⁶

In December 2004, Chante headlined Nathan Phillips Square for New Year's Eve.³⁷

In February 2005, Chante won Chartattack Awards for "Best Album" and "Sexiest Female"³⁸. During the same month, she was also selected to represent Canada at Expo 2005 held in Japan.

In July 2005, Chanté went on a cross Canada mall and venue tour sponsored by Solo Mobile (Bell), EckoRed and SPC sponsored Chante's tour across Canada which helped raise awareness for phone counseling service Kids Help Phone³⁹.

In September 2005, Chante performed on tour with Destiny's Child throughout Canada during there Destiny Fulfilled ... And Lovin' It tour, and is also included on the Destiny's Child Live In Atlanta Tour DVD⁴⁰.

In October 2005, Chante received four nominations at the Urban Music Awards.⁴¹

2006-2007: 2U

After her signing, Chanté moved to New York to begin working on her second album. During that time, Chanté was on Teen People Magazines "Rock The Runway" Mall Tour (where Ciara started) and Seventeen Magazine's "Rock N' Shop" Mall Tour (where Britney Spears started). In May 2006, she posted 3 brand new songs, "Been Gone", "Kiss" and "Summer Love" on MySpace.

In March 2006 she released her "2U" Album teaser single, "Ring The Alarm", which was used for WarChild's "Keep The Beat" charity campaign. All the proceeds from "Ring The Alarm" went to supported children at war and was also featured on triple platinum compilation "MuchDance 2006".

In July of that year, she released her single "Been Gone", produced by Philadelphia's Matrax Productions. The video was shot by Little X (making it her 3rd collaboration with him) and was shot inside of "Fletcher's Meadow Secondary School" where Chanté attended in her last year of school and graduated. Her second single, "2U", produced by Matrax was released in early November. 2U's video was shot on October 22 in Miami by director Bobby O'Neill, and was released on Yahoo Music Canada on November 16.

Also in 2006, Chanté made a featured cameo appearance in label mate Bow Wow's video "Shortie Like Mine". The video depicts Rapper Bow Wow searching for Keshia Chanté on his laptop. They send messages back and forth throughout the video.

Her second album, in which Chanté executive produced⁴² was released on December 5, 2006 in Canada through Sony/BMG Canada and was released in May 2007 in Japan.

Chanté refused to finish promoting her album to its full potential because of "dirty label politics" infuriating her to back away from her album and begin working on a new one, which is her upcoming third album⁴³.

2008–present: New albums and films

In August 2008, Chante got the lead role in a television series titled "Soul", which they began filming for several months in Halifax. Chante's upcoming third album is confirmed to be titled The Vendetta releasing in the year 2011. Chante will also play the leading role as Aaliyah in a 2011 biopic film. The movie is titled Aaliyah.⁴⁴

Products and endorsements

Chante is the face of Ontario Tourism and sings the theme song "There's No Place Like This" in their commercials⁴⁵. Chanté is the face of the Sony's Cyber-Shot Digital Camera and was the face of EckoRed in 2006.¹ In 2005, Solo Mobile (Bell), EckoRed and SPC sponsored Chante's tour across Canada which helped raise awareness for phone counseling service Kids Help Phone⁴⁶.

Acting

In 2006, Chanté starred as herself in the indie flick "Cats Cradle"¹⁷. In 2007 she had a guest starring role in "Da Kink in My Hair"¹⁷. In August 2008, Chanté began filming Soul, a television series in which she stars as "Mahalia". In February 2009, Soul began to air on VisionTV throughout Canada.⁴⁷. It was reported and confirmed that Chanté would star as Aaliyah in the upcoming biopic of the late singer's life.¹⁷⁴⁸

Personal life

Public image

In Canada, Chante is considered a fashionista by fashion's high rankings⁴⁹. Her style has been described as "glamourous" meets "sexy elegance" by Holt Renfrew executives⁴⁹

She commonly gets crowned best dressed⁵⁰ for her high fashion looks seen on red carpets and events⁵¹. She frequently is seen in Roberto Cavalli, Versace and Valentino, famously wearing two dresses worth $20,000⁵² crystal jewel encrusted⁵³ dress to the 2007 Canadian Juno Awards⁵⁰⁵⁴⁵⁵.

She is a frequent seen sitting front row at Fashion Week and has performed for Chanel's Fashion Show⁵⁶.

She is also known to model Valentino,⁵⁷ as she did for Hello Magazine, Elle Magazine and on red carpet.

On November 20, 2009, rumors of a nearly fatal car accident with Chante involved were posted on Wikipedia. The post, which stated that she was critically injured in a car accident, was cited from the Toronto Star. However, The Toronto Star did post a car accident, which did not involve Chante, but another 17 year-old girl. Her mother cleared all of the rumors with CTV News the next day.⁵⁸

Philanthropy

Chante worked closely with Alicia Keys to throw a fundraising concert to help build awareness about AIDS with the Stephen Lewis Foundation⁵⁹⁶⁰ and was apart of BET'S Rap-It-Up campaign.

She has also helped build awareness about children affected by war in third world countries with WarChild's Keep The Beat campaign donating the proceeds of her singles to them, as well as the proceeds that came from her songs inclusion into the MuchMusic's MuchDance compilations.

In 2008, she visited Dominican Republic to work with World Vision.⁶¹⁶² She has also been apart of three consecutive WorldVision 30 Hour Famine's and has been apart of many of their campaigns and advertisements endorsing the event.

Chante also developed the Roger's Love Music Speaking Tour where she spoke to school students across Canada and donated tens of thousands of dollars to their music programs⁶³.

Awards and nominations

2003

• Canadian Urban Music Award for Best R&B/Soul Single for "Shook (The Answer)" - Won
• Canadian Radio Music Award for "Best New Solo Artist" (Dance Urban Rhythmic) - Nominated⁶⁴
• Canadian Radio Music Award for "Best New Solo Artist" (CHR) - Won⁶⁴

2004

• Canadian Urban Music Award for Best New Artist - Won
• Canadian Urban Music Award for Video Of The Year for "Bad Boy" - Won
• Canadian Urban Music Award for Fans Choice - Won
• Rising Star Award for Rising Star of the Year - Won
• MuchMusic Video Award for "Best R&B Video" for "Does He Love Me?" - Nominated
• Chart Poll Awards - won Golden Toque Award and Throw Your Underwear Female Award categories⁶⁵

2005

• Juno Award for "R&B/Soul Recording Of The Year" - Won⁶⁶
• Canadian Urban Music Award for "Video Of The Year" for "Does He Love Me?" - Won
• MuchMusic Video Award for "People's Choice: Favorite Canadian Artist" - Nominated
• MuchMusic Video Award for "Best Pop Video" for "Does He Love Me?" - Nominated
• Juno Award for "New Artist of the Year" - Nominated
• 10th Annual Chartattack Award - "Sexiest Female" - Won
• 10th Annual Chartattack Award - "Best Album" - Won

2006

• Yahoo Music Canada Online Award for Best Canadian Video for "Been Gone" - Won
• Sony Ericsson Stylus Award for R&B Single of the Year for "Ring The Alarm" - Nominated⁶⁷

2007

• MuchMusic Video Award for "Best Pop Video" for "2U" - Nominated⁶⁸
• Juno Award for "R&B/Soul Recoding Of The Year" for "Been Gone" - Nominated⁶⁶

2008

• Juno Award for "R&B/Soul Recoding Of The Year" for "2U" - Nominated

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (December 2008)

• Her middle name "Chanté" means "sung" in French.
• Her website hit 1 million hits in a matter of a few months from its launch, becoming the top website for Sony BMG Canada ¹⁴

Discography

• Keshia Chanté (2004)
• 2U (2006)
• The Vendetta (2011)

Singles

⁷⁰⁷¹

References

External links

• Official Website - Main
• Official Website - Myspace
• Official Website - YouTube
• Official Website - Twitter