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Cherise

I am a Jazz, Neo Soul and R & B singer, a song writer, a lyricist and a musician who began singing and performing publicly at a very young age. I was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland where I was encouraged to sing, play the piano and the flute. I grew up in a family where musical participation was expected of everyone, and family gatherings always ended in melodic singing with voices floating into four and five part harmonies.

My first professional appearance was at the age of five when I performed the popular Christmas carol "O Holy Night" in French. At age twelve, I began directing choirs and playing the piano for church services with my mother. My mother and I, both singers and musicians, performed together at churches, civic events and education conferences throughout the east coast. In 1987, we performed, "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" for more than 10,000 people at the Baltimore Arena for the inaugural ceremony of Baltimore's first elected African-American mayor.

For the next few years, I performed with several musical groups, recorded political campaign theme songs, did voiceover work, recorded background vocals, composed songs, and wrote lyrics. Then, somehow, I lost touch with music.

In 2004, music found me!!! I began performing with local bands as a background singer and quickly found my way back to singing leads. I have made a point of working with bands of numerous styles and I have met some of the most fascinating, amazingly talented people! I feel so fortunate and blessed to have a second opportunity to pursue my passion. I've found what makes me happy and I'm never letting it go again!

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