Kelly Price

R&B singer Kelly Price spent her early years in the music business behind the scenes, lending backing vocals to records from stars including Mariah Carey, Aretha Franklin, Faith Evans, and Brian McKnight. Additionally, she was the featured voice on the Notorious B.I.G.'s "Mo Money, Mo Problems" and Mase's "Feels So Good." In 1997 Price also appeared on Puff Daddy's smash No Way Out and was a featured performer on Puffy's subsequent tour. Price's solo debut, Soul of a Woman, followed in 1998 on the Island label; a remix of one of its singles, "Friend of Mine," featured R. Kelly and Ronald Isley and topped Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart. After switching to Def Soul in the wake of the Polygram-Universal merger, Price issued her second album, Mirror Mirror, in 2000. A cover of Shirley Murdock's Roger Troutman-penned ballad "As We Lay" was its biggest success, falling just short of the Top Ten of the R&B/Hip-Hop chart. After a Christmas album, she released her third proper album, Priceless, which enjoyed strong first-week sales but failed to produce a major single. This Is Who I Am, a contemporary gospel set on Zomba, came in 2006 and was followed by a secular 2010 disc through My Block/Malaco, Kelly. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi