Jentina Rose Rees (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Chapman, born 6 March 1984) is an English

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

and

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnic groups * Romani people, or Roma, an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin ** Romani language, an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities ** Romanichal, Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom * Romanians (Romanian ...

descent.

Biography

Jentina Chapman was born on 6 March 1984 in

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

, England to a Romani family that consisted of fourteen children. When she was one year old, her family moved to

West Molesey West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, Germanic word pass ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

. She got her first

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

at the age of nineteen whilst working in a computer shop. After an advertising campaign on

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

and features in various UK music magazines (notably ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

''), her debut single "

Bad Ass Strippa "Bad Ass Strippa" is the debut single by English rapper and singer Jentina from her eponymous debut album, '' Jentina'' (2005). It was released in Ireland, Italy, and the United Kingdom on July 16, 2004. It achieved average success in Italy and ...

" was released in the summer of 2004. The song was later parodied by

grime Grime may refer to: * Dirt, in the form of black, ingrained dust Music * Grime music, a genre of music * ''Grime'' (album), a 2001 album by Iniquity * "Grime", a 2023 song by Macklemore from ''Ben'' * "Grime", a 2024 song by Kittie from ''Fire ...

Lady Sovereign Louise Amanda Harman (born 1985), better known by the stage name Lady Sovereign, is a British rapper, best known for the songs "9 to 5" and " Love Me or Hate Me". She was signed to Def Jam in 2005 by Jay-Z. Early life and family Harman grew ...

. Sampling

the O'Jays The O'Jays are an American Rhythm and blues, R&B group from Canton, Ohio, formed in summer 1958 and originally consisting of Eddie Levert, Walter Lee Williams, William Powell, Bobby Massey, and Bill Isles. The O'Jays made their first chart appea ...

song "

For the Love of Money "For the Love of Money" is a soul, funk song that was written and composed by Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff, and Anthony Jackson; it was recorded by Philadelphia soul group The O'Jays for the album '' Ship Ahoy.'' Produced by Gamble and Huff for P ...

", it reached number 22 on the UK Singles Chart. Jentina's second single, " French Kisses" was co-written by Jentina along with

Cathy Dennis Catherine Roseanne Dennis (born 25 March 1969)Gregory, Andy (2002) ''International Who's Who in Popular Music 2002'', Europa; , p. 133 is a British singer, songwriter and record producer. She was discovered as a teenager by music manager Simon F ...

and

Greg Wells William Gregory Wells (born 1968) is a Canadian record producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and mix engineer. He has worked with Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Quincy Jones, J*Davey, Burt Bacharach, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Missy Elliott, ...

and was a more electro-hop/R&B-oriented song. The single was released in the autumn of 2004, entering the UK chart at number 20. Jentina released another single after this in Italy only, "

Mysterious Mysterious may refer to: * ''Mysterious '' (album), a 1988 album by Shizuka Kudō * "Mysterious " (song), a 2005 song by Jentina * "Mysterious", a song by Scorpions from the 1999 album ''Eye II Eye'' * Mysterious Walker (1884-1958), American bas ...

". It reached the top 30 in Italy. Her debut album '' Jentina'' was then released, again only in Italy. In 2005, "

", " French Kisses" and "

" gained worldwide exposure after featuring in episodes of '' CSI: NY''. In 2006, "Mysterious" underscored some of the audition stages of

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

's ''

DanceLife ''DanceLife'' is a 2007 dance-oriented reality show, featuring and produced by Jennifer Lopez. The series follows the lives of seven dancers trying to break into the world of professional dance and trying to "make it" in Hollywood. ''DanceLife ...

''. During 2005, Jentina dated

the Prodigy The Prodigy are an English electronic music band formed in Braintree, Essex, in 1990 by producer, keyboardist, and songwriter Liam Howlett. The original line-up also featured Rapping, MC and vocalist Maxim (musician), Maxim, dancer and occasi ...

member

Keith Flint Keith Charles Flint (17 September 1969 – 4 March 2019) was an English singer, motorcyclist, dancer and a vocalist of the Electronic dance music, electronic dance act The Prodigy. Starting out as a dancer for the group, he became the vocalist an ...

. She also has a son called Ralph and a daughter called Annie. Jentina was also a professional model. In November 2007, she represented lingerie brand

Wonderbra The Wonderbra is a type of push-up underwire brassiere that gained worldwide prominence in the 1990s. Although the Wonderbra name was first trademarked in the U.S. in 1955, the brand was developed in Canada. Moses (Moe) Nadler, founder and maj ...

, following on from the likes of

Eva Herzigová Eva Herzigová (; born 10 March 1973) is a Czech model and actress. Her career took a major turn in 1994 when she became the face of the Wonderbra campaign. The famous "Hello Boys" ad became iconic and contributed to her worldwide popularity. He ...

and Caprice. She featured in a spoof video of the

Cadbury's Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational corporation, multinational confectionery company owned by Mondelez International (spun off from Kraft Foods, Inc., Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second-largest c ...

popular ''

Gorilla Gorillas are primarily herbivorous, terrestrial great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or five su ...

'' television advertisement, in which a gorilla played the

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

s to the

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and later became the lead singer of the rock band Genesis (band), Genesis and had a successful solo career, ac ...

single, "

In the Air Tonight "In the Air Tonight" is the debut solo single by English drummer and singer-songwriter Phil Collins. It was released as the lead single from Collins's debut solo album, ''Face Value (album), Face Value'', in January 1981. It was selected as the s ...

". During 2011, Jentina was in the judging panel for ''Travellers Got Talent'', and she also appeared in the 8-part documentary ''A Gypsy Life for Me'' which aired on Bio in November 2011.

Discography

Albums

Singles

¹ - Released in the United Kingdom only.
² - Released in Italy only.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jentina 1984 births Living people English Romani people English female models British contemporary R&B singers 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singer-songwriters English hip-hop musicians English women rappers People from Woking Romani female models Romani rappers Romani singers British hip-hop singers Models from Surrey Virgin Records artists