Dani Stevenson (born September 3, 1980) is an American

contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music Music genre, genre, originating from African Americans, African-American musicians in the 1980s that combines rhythm and blues with elements of Pop music, pop, Soul music, soul, funk, Hip-hop, ...

singer. She is best known for her background vocals on

Nelly Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. (born November 2, 1974), better known by his stage name Nelly, is an American rapper, singer, and actor. He grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and embarked on his musical career in 1993 as a member of the Midwest hip hop g ...

's single " Hot in Herre" and her own singles " Honk Your Horn" (featuring

Missy Elliott Melissa Arnette "Missy" Elliott (born July 1, 1971), also known as Misdemeanor, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She began her musical career as a member of the Contemporary R&B, R&B girl group 4 All the Sistas Arou ...

) and " Yo, Yo, Yo", which was featured in the film '' XXX'' starring

Vin Diesel Mark Sinclair (born July 18, 1967), known professionally as Vin Diesel, is an American actor and film producer. One of the world's highest-grossing actors, he is best known for portraying Dominic "Dom" Toretto in the '' Fast & Furious'' fra ...

Early life

At the age of 12, Dani Stevenson moved from her hometown

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, to

Harlem, New York Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan ...

. Upon her arrival in Harlem, she had deep aspirations of pursuing a music career. She went on to perform the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European ...

at a junior high graduation and appeared in various talent contests. In 1998, she performed at the

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

open mic circuit.Kemp, Courtney. "NEXT > Dani Stevenson: The Hookup." ''

Vibe Vibe, alternatively '' vibes,'' is short for ''vibration''. A "vibe" is an emotional reaction to the aura or energy felt to belong to a person, place or thing. Vibe may also refer to: People * DJ Vibe (born 1968), Portuguese DJ * Lasse Vibe (b ...

''. January 2003: 66. Print.

Career

By August 2001, Stevenson met up with producer Rhemario Webber through a mutual friend and the two teamed up to craft a 10-track demo. The result was a contract deal with

Universal Records Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

in February 2002. After signing to Universal, the label suggested Stevenson to contribute vocals to labelmate

's 2002 single, " Hot in Herre"; Stevenson agreed and collaborated with Nelly and producer

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973), also known mononymously as Pharrell, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and fashion designer. He first became known as one half of the music production duo ...

. Stevenson recalled, "Nelly was writing lyrics in his two-way; Pharrell rom the Neptunes">the_Neptunes.html" ;"title="rom the Neptunes">rom the Neptuneswanted the song to be sexy. He sang it the way he wanted me to sing it, and then I just put my own little stamp on it. It only took about 15 minutes." Following the song's success, Universal Records gave her the go to prepare a debut album. Stevenson alongside Webber wrote 11 out of the 13 tracks and incorporated the 10-track demo to the debut. The debut album was tentatively titled ''Is There Another?!'' and was scheduled for a release in March 2003."Rising R&B Stars Make Music Magic at Organic Soul Night in New York City." ''

Jet''. December 16, 2002: 53. Print. The

–produced " Honk Your Horn" was released as the album's lead single on September 17, 2002. Although it was released to the general public that year, it did not begin to chart until October 2003, a year following its original release. On August 6, 2002, the soundtrack to '' XXX'' was released and featured Stevenson's song, " Yo, Yo, Yo". The song would be released on April 29, 2003, as the second single from Stevenson's debut. By 2004, ''Is There Another?!'' had passed its scheduled release date and its singles still failed to make a proper entry on the '' Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' charts. As a result, Stevenson left Universal Records and her debut album was shelved. In 2006, nearly two years after her departure with Universal, Stevenson contributed to Norman Hedman's Tropique's final studio album, ''Garden of Forbidden Fruit''. In 2010, Stevenson inked a new deal with Starrlet Entertainment, and released the single "Wishing Well" alongside its music video on September 6 of that same year. In 2011, Stevenson began working with Ruff Ryders rapper DMX (rapper)">DMX. Stevenson contributed vocals to DMX and New Orleans rap group N.O.4's collaborative single, "Tell Ya Friends". By December 2011, Stevenson was featured in the single's music video. In 2012, Stevenson was featured on DMX's album, ''Undisputed (DMX album)">Undisputed'', on the track "Sucka for Love".

Discography

Singles

As featured artist

Album guest appearances

Music videos

Concert tours

Headlining *2002: ''Organic Soul Night'' (sponsored by Coca-Cola and ''Ebony (magazine), Ebony'') Joint tours *2002: Yardfest Tour (sponsored by Colgate (toothpaste), Colgate Fresh Confidence and ''

'')Conway, Corren. "The Vibe Spot." ''

''. February 2003: 142. Print. *2003: ElleGirl (with 3LW and

Eve Eve is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop through oral traditions and there ...

)

Filmography

References

External links

*
Official YouTube channelAllMusic BioARTISTdirect Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevenson, Dani 1980 births Living people Musicians from Manhattan People from Harlem Singers from New York City African-American women singer-songwriters American women singer-songwriters American contemporary R&B singers American hip-hop singers 21st-century African-American women singers 21st-century American women singers Singer-songwriters from New York (state)