Shaquana "QT" Elam

Infobox musical artist 2
Name = Quana


Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Shaquana T. Elam
Born = birth date|1984|10|24|mf=y
Died =
Origin = Brooklyn, New-York
Genre = R&B
Occupation = Singer, songwriter
Years_active = 1995–present
Label = Interscope (1995–2000)
Arista Records (2001–2004)
Associated_acts = Tha' Rayne
URL = [http://www.quanaonline.com QuanaOnline.com]

Shaquana T. Elam a.k.a Quana or QT (born October 24, 1984) is an American R&B singer and songwriter hailing from Brooklyn (New York). She is known for having been a member of Tha Rayne.

Child prodigy, Shaquana Elam got her first recording deal before she get 11 years old. She did the Apollo when she was only 8, and she was noticed at one of her performances, by Shari Headley and Donna Roberts who became her manager and introduced her to her fiancee : platinum producer Teddy Riley who signed Quana to his label Littleman Records and made her sign her first major album recording contract with Interscope Records in 1995, at the tender age of 10.

She spent years balancing school and the studios, working on her album and also doing background vocals for artists related to Teddy Riley, such as Blackstreet. In 1996 she was credited for backing vocals on Blackstreet's platinum #1 hit single and Grammy Award winning "No Diggity". In 1999 she made an impressive collaboration to Blackstreet's album "Finally", performing on her own the intro of the album - a powerful track that revealed Shaquana's vocal capacity. But things didn't just happened at Interscope and her album never came out.

Her years under the mentorship of Teddy Riley made Quana having a lot of connections in the business. Through mutual friends she caught the attention of super-producer Kay Gee in 2000 and hooked up with Yummy Bingham as Tha Rayne, a duet that then turned into a trio and signed to Arista Records.

When Arista folded in 2004, Tha Rayne was lost in the shuffle and their album "Reign Supreme" was scrapped. The group remained with Kay Gee's Divine Mill Records after a change in the line-up but they definitely split a year later, in july 2005 and Quana re-concentrated on her solo career.

Her still untitled album is to be released in 2008. The title 'Till I'm Thru' (produced by Dre & Vidal) has surfaced on the web as a teaser online single creating a lot of buzz.

External links

* [http://www.quanaonline.com Quana Online] (No Longer Active)