Singer/songwriter Priscilla Renea was born on September 14, 1988 in Vero Beach, Florida. She says she always knew that she wanted to be a singer and sang wherever she could from high school football games to her father’s Navy events. She states that her dream was supported up until high school at which point she was encouraged to get what she calls a “real job”.
When Renea found out about Youtube she started uploading videos of herself singing and found fans. She was one of the first to utilize Youtube as a stepping stone for a career. She released music independently before being signed to Capitol Records. Her debut album “Jukebox” was released December 1, 2009 and contained the singles ‘Dollhouse’ and ‘Lovesick’. The album only sold 1,200 units in its first week but was lauded by critics. After the second single ‘Lovesick’ failed to garner chart success Renea’s label stopped promoting the album.
Renea turned to writing songs for other artists and found much success. She wrote songs for artists including Rihanna, Demi Lovato, Mary J. Blige, Train, Pitbull, Miranda Lambert, and Madonna. Her versatility is notable - she’s written in the R&B, Country, Hip Hop, and Pop genres and her new music showcases different sides of the artist.
Renea’s first placement after her own album was in 2009 with a song called ‘Happy Hour’ by UK singer Cheryl Cole. The following year Renea wrote four more songs for Cole including the number 1 UK hit ‘Promise This’; for Rihanna she wrote ‘California King Bed’ a song that has been certified Double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. For those who don’t know the certifications are based on sales of songs (in this case digital sales) starting at 500,000 copies for Gold, 1,000,000 copies for Platinum, 2,000,000 copies for Multi-Platinum, and 10,000,000 copies for Diamond.
In 2011 Renea co-wrote songs by Kelly Rowland, Demi Lovato, Cher Lloyd, and Mary J. Blige. She also wrote ‘My Last’ by Big Sean and ‘Who Says’ by Selena Gomez and the Scene; the former was certified Gold and the latter was certified Triple Platinum. In 2012 she co-wrote songs by Madonna and Bridgit Mendler. She also co-wrote the Gold certified ‘Popular Song’ by Mika which either featured herself on guest vocals (the explicit album version) or Ariana Grande (the clean single version).
2013 was her biggest year yet. She wrote songs for K. Michelle, Tamar Braxton, B.o.B., and Chrisette Michele. Her biggest hit was ‘Timber’ by Pitbull featuring Kesha, which went Six Times Platinum! In 2014 she co-wrote ‘Somethin’ Bad’ by Miranda Lambert featuring Carrie Underwood which went Platinum. In 2015 she co-wrote songs by Mariah Carey and Monica as well as ‘Worth It’ by Fifth Harmony featuring Kid Ink which went Triple Platinum. In 2016 Renea co-wrote songs for Nick Jonas, Meek Mill and Pusha T, Fantasia, and Sabrina Carpenter; ‘Thumbs’ by Carpenter went Gold. In 2017 she co-wrote songs for Brooke Candy, ZZ Ward, Train, and Kelly Clarkson; ‘Love So Soft’ by Clarkson went Gold. For a playlist of some of the songs written by Renea follow the link here.
On April 6th 2018, Renea released a dual music video for the songs ‘Gentle Hands’ and ‘Heavenly’ via the Paper Magazine website. The article included an interview with the singer who said of the music video, “I want viewers to walk away feeling magical and full of love because I love, love. This video beautifully showcases my personality, my tender and loving side along with my goofy side."
On May 21, 2018 TheBLACKMedia released an interview with Renea on their Youtube channel entitled “Priscilla Renea The 2018 Interview: Talks Youtube, #1 Hits, Sexism And More”. The video is just 2 minutes over an hour long and contains interview interspersed with performance shots. If you want to learn more about Renea’s childhood or hear about her long journey to where she is today then I highly suggest you watch it here.
Priscilla Renea’s sophomore album “Coloured” will be out June 22nd and will feature a country/blues sound and the songs ‘Family Tree’, ‘Gentle Hands’, ‘Heavenly’, and ‘Lets Build a House’. All four songs are available to listen to on Youtube here.
Website: http://www.priscilla-renea.com/
Credits: Wiki, Paper Magazine, Music-Map, TheBLACKMedia
For Fans of: Chrisette Michele, Elle Varner, Ledisi
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