Billy Lawrence

Infobox musical artist 2
Name = Billy Lawrence
Background = solo_singer
Born = birth date and age|1971|01|20
Died =
Origin = St. Louis, Missouri, United States
Genre = R&B, soul, hip-hop soul
Occupation = Singer, songwriter,
Years_active = 1992–2005

Billy Lawrence (born January 20 1971, in St. Louis, Missouri) is a an American R&B/soul singer-songwriter, record producer and arranger. Her career has spanned 15 years. She has worked with artists including Jennifer Lopez, Mandy Moore, Mary J. Blige, TLC, Aaliyah, Blaque, and Mase.Fact|date=August 2008

Biography

Lawrence cites Deniece Williams, Stacy Lattisaw, Sade, and Jennifer Holliday as her favorite female singers who have influenced her career.Fact|date=August 2008

In 1992, Lawrence made her start in the music industry as a background singer for Jamaican singer Jimmy Cliff. Not long after she was signed to Eastwest Records when she recorded her debut "One Might Say" in 1994, in which she wrote, produced, and arranged along with her brother Kyra Lawrence.

The album spawned two hit singles and music videos for "Happiness" and "Boyfriend". It was a mixture of R&B, soul, rock, contemporary jazz, and newjack-hiphop. She was also featured on the song "Freedom" on Spike Lee's "Panther" soundtrack in 1995.

Since her debut album, Lawrence has written or sung background on tracks from Mary J. Blige, Shades, En Vogue, Ray J, DeeDee O'Neil, Shanice, Chubb Rock, and Nas.

In 1997, Lawrence had the first single and music video from the platinum soundtrack to the film "Set It Off" with the song "Come On" that featured female rapper MC Lyte. Elektra Entertainment released Lawrence's sophomore album "Paradise". She was then featured on label-mate Rampage’s debut single "Take It to the Streets". She went on to tour with Busta Rhymes, Rampage and the Flipmode Squad. She made a cameo on Rampage’s video for his second single "We Getz Down" with 702. She also released a non-album track as a maxi-single called "Up & Down" which sampled the disco song "The Glow of Love" by Change featuring Luther Vandross as a second single.

After "Paradise", Lawrence was featured on the debut album of rapper Mase, "Harlem World" which had multi-platinum success. Along with her brother Kyra Lawrence she wrote and sang background on Jennifer Lopez's debut album "On the 6". She also wrote and sang background for Mariah Carey’s group Allure. Charli Baltimore recruited Lawrence to be on her debut album "Cold as Ice" on the song "Pull the Alarm". The album was never released. Lawrence also was at the helm of the album from Lisa “Left Eye” Lopez's group Blaque. Lawrence wrote and sung background on three of the album’s songs; "Leny", "Bring It All to Me" and "Release Me". "Bring It All to Me" featured NSync singer JC Chasez and became Blaque’s biggest hit to date. The chorus was sung completely by Lawrence although on the album’s liner notes, she did not receive credit.Fact|date=August 2008 In 1999 Hinda Hicks covered Lawrence’s "Truly" from her debut album "One Might Say", and released it as a single from her album "Hinda".

In 1999, Lawrence worked with R&B band TLC on their studio album "FanMail" alongside Dallas Austin. She wrote four songs for TLC out of 40 that were recorded during the album making phase. None of Lawrence's songs made the final cut of the album. Lawrence was also recording for her next album "Too Many Times" for Elektra Entertainment during this time. "Too Many Times" featured producers Poke & Tone, Trackmasters, Darrell "Delite” Allamby, Dallas Austin, SoulShock and Organized Noise. Lawrence wrote or co-wrote eight out of the 11 songs. She also produced or co-produced five songs. The first single was going to be the title track which featured TLC. A remix of the title track was also recorded with Left Eye (Lisa Lopez) and Busta Rhymes. Lawrence also remade Anita Baker's "Fairy Tales". The album was set for a November release date, but was pushed back until eventually Elektra Entertainment was bought out by new owners Warner Music Group and the album was shelved.

After leaving the label, Lawrence signed with Epic Records, and she wrote and sung background on two songs for label mate, Mandy Moore on her debut album. Moore's debut single "Candy" had Lawrence on background vocals.

The domain billylawrence.com was purchased by Epic Records but is not in use by Lawrence.

In 2002, she joined Jennifer Lopez on her studio album "This Is Me... Then" on two songs which she wrote and sung background on. Billy also was featured on two songs by Orlando rap group Smilez & Southstar.

As of 2005, not much has been heard of her besides a song called "Oh Boy" featuring rapper TJ Hooker that has been featured on a few mixtapes. She has started a family and gives vocal training to students on the side.Fact|date=August 2008

Discography

Albums