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BIOGRAPHY
 Kelly
Price has been said to possess one of the most extraordinary voices in
modern music. Born and reared in Queens, NY, Price’s musical talent
showed itself at an early age. Price’s mother vividly recalls the
many, many nights the household was awakened to the sound of Kelly
singing out from her crib. As a child of the Church, both of her parents
are ordained ministers, music became inextricably intertwined with the
emotional fabric of her life, and it was through music that she
expressed feelings she was often unable to speak aloud. One day, after
being deeply saddened by a book she read for a black history project,
Price wrote a song to express the complicated emotions she was feeling.
That was her first song. She was 7 years old.
Before the age of 10, Kelly sang on her first recording and by 18, she
was recording and touring the world with multi-platinum pop diva Mariah
Carey. Always a quick study, Kelly watched and learned the intricacies
of studio and production work and soon began to expand into areas other
than background singing. Kelly refers to these early years as her
“formal education.”
As a guest vocalist, Price went on to appear on such acclaimed hit
singles as Mariah Carey's "Fantasy," The Notorious B.I.G.'s
"Mo Money Mo Problems," P. Diddy’s “No Way Out” and
Whitney Houston's "Heartbreak Hotel.”
In the years to come, Price would share her musical gifts – in vocals,
production and writing – with a Who’s Who of A-list and legendary
artists, including George Michael, Aretha Franklin, Brian McKnight, LL
Cool J, Ben Tankard, Mary J Blige, Brandy, The LOX, Donnie McClurkin,
The Williams Brothers, Faith Evans, Karen Clarke-Sheard, Yolanda Adams,
MASE, Mary Mary, Richard Smallwood, R. Kelly, Eric Clapton, Wynona Judd,
Gerald Levert, Angela Winbush, The Isley Bros and Ronald Isley, among
countless others.
Though many record labels pursued Kelly as a solo artist, it was her
connection with Isley and his relentless belief in her talent that
resulted in an alliance between Price and him and the birth of her debut
solo effort – Soul of a Woman. That 1998 CD delivered the #1 smash
women’s anthem of the year “Friend of Mine,” penned by Price.
Price followed her stellar freshman effort with platinum-selling Mirror
Mirror in 2000, One Family: A Christmas Album in 2002 and the critically
acclaimed Priceless in 2003.
Right from the start, Price broke records by reaching Billboard’s top
spot twice with the same song, having achieved the # 1 victory with no
music video at television. No artist has done that since the conception
of the instrumental marketing tool of the music video. It was a sweet
victory for Price after being told by several music executives that she
was talented and beautiful, yes, but, “No one wants to look at a fat
girl or buy her records, no matter how good she sounds.” Kelly
reminded the world that big was indeed beautiful.
Millions of albums later, this award-winning, Grammy-nominated, singer,
songwriter, producer, actress and, now, author has only begun to show
the world who she is and what she is capable of. Now, Price will expand
her reach yet again with the release of her first gospel CD, This Is Who
I Am, released by EcclectiSounds/GospoCentric through Zomba.
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