Schea Boatwright (born January 27, 1971), better known by the stage name of Leschea (pronounced le-SHAY) is a

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, ...

performer who had success in 1995 and 1996 with her debut album ''Rhythm & Beats''. On December 6, 2005, her album was re-released through

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

. Leschea was also part of the group

Masta Ace Incorporated Masta Ace Incorporated was an American Hip hop music, hip hop crew formed by rapper Masta Ace. History The group, also known as ''The I.N.C.'', included Eyceurokk (Eyce, Uneek and Rokkdiesel), Lord Digga, Paula Perry and R&B vocalist Leschea. ...

Early life and career

Leschea was born and raised in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, and began singing and performing at the age of eight. Despite having no formal training, she honed her vocal and performing skills through school productions from junior high to junior college. In 1995, Leschea sang background vocals on

Masta Ace Duval Clear (born December 4, 1966), better known by his stage name Masta Ace, is an American rapper and record producer from New York City. A lead member of Mr. Magic's hip hop collective Juice Crew, he is best known for his guest appearance alo ...

's album, '' Sittin' on Chrome'', which led to her signing with Warner Bros. Records in 1996. The following year, she achieved chart success with the singles "How We Stay" and "Fulton St." Her buzz grew heavily in the summer of 1997 thanks to a strong street promotions campaign and the success of her two singles. "Fulton St." in particular was a top 10 best-selling single in NYC for seven weeks. Despite her initial success, Leschea's debut album, ''Rhythm & Beats'', was prematurely released and did not receive much attention. However, her music videos became hits on BET, peaking in the top twenty of the network's weekly most-played list. The first single, "How We Stay," received heavy mix show play in NYC, while the follow-up single, "Fulton St.," peaked at number 44 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 ...

R&B Singles chart. Leschea was released from Warner Bros. after the production company complained of poor marketing and promotions. She has been married to executive producer Masta Ace since 2001, and they have one daughter together. Currently, Leschea hosts an online radio program called "The Leschea Show," which won the Online Radio Awards for Best Online Talk Show, Culture in 2016 on Mixcloud.com. The show broadcasts weekly on

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and

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Discography

Solo albums

Albums from Masta Ace Incorporated

References

Living people American hip-hop singers 1971 births Warner Records artists {{US-RnB-singer-stub