Blu Cantrell

Blu Cantrell, born Tiffany Cobb on October 1, 1976 in Providence, Rhode Island, is an American Grammy Award-nominated R&B and soul singer.

Cantrell was born into a family of jazz enthusiasts from Providence, Rhode Island. She and her five siblings were born to an Italian American mother who is a jazz singer and an African American father who was an NBA basketball player. She was raised by her mother, in Atlanta, Georgia.
After several demo recordings Cantrell was discovered by Red Zone Entertainment heads Tab and Laney Stewart in early 2000. The producers promptly placed her to Antonio "L.A." Reid who offered the singer a contract with his label Arista Records after a successful audition. Afterwards Cantrell went straight into recording sessions with Dallas Austin, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, while - for a start - singing backup for artists such as Puff Daddy, Truth Hurts and Faith Evans.

In 2001, the singer released her debut album, So Blu, which eventually was certified platinum. The longplayer saw major success when it peaked at #8 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, eventually selling over 800,000 copies in the United States. The album featured the hit single "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)", which peaked at #2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and earned Cantrell a Grammy nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, as well as an American Music Awards nomination. The album also showcases her ability to go into the whistle register with the song "Waste My Time."[citation needed] In 2003, Cantrell released her second album, Bittersweet. The record failed to reprise the success of her debut album but did earn Cantrell a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Album and managed to enter the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart at #8. The album spawned 2 hit singles, these being "Breathe" and "Make Me Wanna Scream", of which the first is a collaboration with Sean Paul. Though breathe"" failed to reach the top 50 in the U.S., it later peaked at number one for four weeks in the UK. It eventually became one of the most successful singles of the year in both Europe and Australia.

In the summer of 2005, a music video for the previously unreleased song, "The Cha Cha" was produced, but never released because Cantrell ended up dissatisfied with the final result. Also in 2005, Hit 'em Up Style: Chart and Club Hits was released without any promotion in the U.S. It was a compilation/remix album containing Cantrell's two biggest hits, some other tracks from the former two albums and some remixes of tracks featured on the first albums.