Stephanie Edwards (born May 13, 1968), better known by her stage name Sparkle, is an American R&B singer. She began her career in 1998 as a protégé of fellow Chicago native R. Kelly. Sparkle is best known for her 1998 R&B debut hit single "

Be Careful BE or be may refer to: Linguistics * ''To be'', the English copular verb * Be (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet * ''be'' (interjection), in several languages * Be language or Ong Be, a language of northern Hainan province, China *Bla ...

Career

Sparkle first started singing in her family's gospel music group. Sparkle met singer R. Kelly in 1989. Sparkle was the first and only successful artist to release an album on Kelly's Rockland label. Sparkle's début album, the self-titled ''

Sparkle Sparkle may refer to: * Sparkle (catamaran), a catamaran designed by Angus Primrose * Sparkle (drink), a lemon-flavored soft drink * Sparkle, a brand of paper towels owned by Georgia-Pacific * Sparkle Plenty, a character in the ''Dick Tracy'' c ...

'', was released on May 19, 1998. The album debuted at No. 3 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and No. 2 on the

R&B charts The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

and was certified gold soon after its release. The album is best known for the single "

," a 1998 duet with R. Kelly, which made it to two of Billboard's major airplay charts, peaking at No. 3 on the Rhythmic Top 40 and charted at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot R&B Airplay for six consecutive weeks, while also reaching No. 7 in the UK. Despite the success of her début album, Sparkle and R. Kelly began to have creative differences while working on her second album, which led to her asking to be released from Rockland/Interscope. She then signed with Motown Records, where she would release her second album '' Told You So'' in 2000. However, the album didn't do as well because of lack of promotion, only making it to 121 on the Billboard 200, while scoring a minor hit with the single "It's a Fact". On August 13, 2012, Sparkle released her first music video in 12 years called "So Bad"; however, the single is currently not available for purchase on iTunes or any digital music outlet.

Works

Sparkle has worked with several artists, including Aaliyah (backing vocals on

Age Ain't Nothing but a Number ''Age Ain't Nothing but a Number'' is the debut studio album by American singer Aaliyah. It was released on May 24, 1994 by Blackground Records and Jive Records. After being signed by her uncle Barry Hankerson, Aaliyah was introduced to recordi ...

album), R. Kelly on '' R'';

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 ...

on '' Share My World'';

Wyclef Jean Nel Ust Wyclef Jean (; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, musician, and actor. At the age of nine, Jean immigrated to the United States with his family. He first achieved fame as a member of the New Jersey hip hop group the Fugees, a ...

on "Loving You Remix";

Avant AVANT, also known as AVANT street art guerrilla collective, was the artist group active in New York City from 1980 to 1984. By 1984 AVANT had produced thousands of acrylic on paper paintings and plastered them on walls, doors, bus-stops and gallerie ...

on the remix of "Separated" which features

Kelly Rowland Kelendria Trene Rowland (born February 11, 1981) is an American singer, actress, and television personality. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as a member of Destiny's Child, one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. During the gr ...

; Joe on "Woman's Heart", Jimmy Sommers; and Tank. Sparkle also has sung background vocals for

Toni Braxton Toni Michele Braxton (born October 7, 1967) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, actress and television personality. She has sold over 70 million records worldwide and is one of the best-selling female artists in history. Braxton has won ...

in her Las Vegas stage show ''Toni Braxton Revealed''.

Personal life

In 2002, the Chicago Police and a writer for the ''

Chicago Sun Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' showed Sparkle a videotape allegedly of her young niece, then approximately 14, and R. Kelly engaging in sexual acts. Sparkle identified the young girl as her niece. Sparkle testified against R. Kelly in a subsequent criminal trial on charges of child pornography in 2008. However, in the end, the jury found Kelly not guilty in the case.

Discography

Albums

Singles

* "

" (featuring R. Kelly) (1998) * "Time to Move On" (1998) * "What About" (1998) * "Lovin You" (1999) * "It's a Fact" (2000) * "Good Life" (2001) * "So Bad" (2012) * "We Are Ready" (2018) * "Easy" (2020) * "Open Letter" (2021)

References

External links

2019 ''New York Times'' article on Sparkle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sparkle American contemporary R&B singers 1975 births Living people Singers from Chicago African-American women singer-songwriters Interscope Records artists Motown artists Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century African-American women singers 20th-century African-American women singers Singer-songwriters from Illinois