Divine Brown

Divine Brown, formerly known as Divine Earth Essence, is a Canadian-born R&B singer whose expansive octave range and engaging soul sound has made her one of Canada's most prominent R&B artists in the new millennium. After performing in a handful of stage performances as a teenager, Brown decided to pursue recorded music when she was 18 years old. Unfortunately for her, her five-octave range was deemed "too sophisticated" by the executives whom she met, which led to a stall in her quest. Ultimately, Brown continued to perform in shows and festivals, and her talent became something that was no longer able to be ignored. In 2005, Brown signed with Universal Music Canada, and began crafting her eponymous debut. Brown's album, mostly self-penned, found mainstream success thanks to her first single, "Old School Love." Brown's throwback soul style was something of an underground favorite, since it was such a refreshing change from the bulk of overproduced pop music currently on the market. In 2006, Brown was nominated for two coveted Juno Awards, Canada's Grammys counterpart. Brown was nominated for "R&B/Soul Recording of the Year" for her self-titled album, as well as "New Artist of the Year." After achieving a level of success with her debut album and its couple of singles, Brown made a second splash in the market in 2008 with her second album, The Love Chronicles. The Love Chronicles was something of a critical favorite, seeing as Brown managed to create an R&B/soul release that featured styles of music from a 50-year period. Chronicles fared much better than her previous album commercially, and charted high on a variety of Canadian charts, including debuting at number 22 on the Canadian Album Chart. Her first single off that album, the summery "Lay It on the Line," peaked at number 32 on the Canadian Hot 100, Brown's first single on that chart. That single was followed up with "Meet Me at the Roxy" and the '80s inspired "Sunglasses," which was a Top 25 hit on the Canadian Hot 100. In 2009, Brown was once again nominated for two Juno awards: "Single of the Year" for "Lay It on the Line," as well as "R&B/Soul Recording of the Year" for The Love Chronicles; this time however, she won her first Juno (in the latter category). As time goes on and she gets more exposure, Brown is proving to be a truly formidable talent, and her combination of commercial and critical appeal makes her an artist whose validity seems to be more and more noticeable, and for good reason. ~ Matthew Chisling, Rovi