Album Notes

The main ingredients: an angelic voice, a professional work ethic and bewitching
good looks… blend them together and you get Dionyza (dee-on-juh). The Los Angeles
native was born into music. She’s the daughter of Motown singer/songwriters Michael
and Brenda Sutton. Though never pushed into the business by her folks, she inherited
its finest points and practices to become one of 2007’s most seasoned and diversified
new artists.

The proof is on brilliant display with her self-titled 5 track debut EP, “Dionyza” which will initially be released digitally January 2008 on Little Dizzy Records. She’s collaborated with hit-makers such as: Rashod Holiday & Sauce (Ne-Yo), David Frank (The System), Jared Gosslin (Macy Gray) and Nate Butler (3LW).

Dionyza says, "I've been around music all of my life, up to the wee hours in studios while Mom and Dad were working. My greatest memory is being at Motown where I got to meet Smokey Robinson and Teena Marie. Teena took my sister and me to the park while my parents were in the studio. As children we saw the ups and downs of the music business first hand, so they didn't have to warn us about anything! We can all sing… but I'm gonna take it all the way!”

Thus far, “all the way” has included chop-building, behind the scenes work and singing background vocals for top-flight songwriter/producers such as Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds and the team of Soulshock & Karlin. Her extensive credits include singing on Christina Aguilera’s, “My Kind of Christmas” album and accompanying singer Jon B on his Cool Relax tour (which included promotional stops on Soul Train and Motown Live).

Dionyza sang on the best-selling soundtrack of the Disney TV movie “High School Musical 1 and 2” and provides the singing voice of the characters “Sasha” and “Jade” on the Saturday morning cartoon The Bratz. “I guess you can say I’ve been a busy lil’ studio rat,” she laughs!

What Dionyza has ultimately become is a well-rounded creative artist of the highest order – a distinction in keeping with the classical literary character from whom she received her name. “I was named after ‘Dionyza from William Shakespeare’s play Paraclese.’ So I read the play and found that ‘Dionyza’ is a strong independent woman - the wife of the town mayor who comes to her for decisions to make. I was feelin’ that!”

Which brings us to Dionyza’s self-titled debut. She has wisely chosen to collaborate with several different writers. One intriguing example of her writing approach can be found on her first single- “I Told Myself,” which she co-wrote with Robbie Nevil. Dionyza says, “Robbie asked me, ‘What are you going through right now? I told him I was seeing a guy


and I thought he was going to be a dog… a player. I told myself to stop hanging out with him. I told myself I need to let him go.” Robbie said, “That's it - I Told Myself - we've got a hook!”

What makes “I Told Myself” even more special is the music track. Back in the `70s, Motown vocal quartet The Originals recorded one of Michael & Brenda Sutton’s songs titled “Sunrise.” That song was sampled by producer Kanye West for rappers Scarface & Jay-Z’s “Guess Who’s Back” (2002) and was a Multi- Platinum hit. Bringing the song full circle and back to family, Dionyza has sampled Kanye’s flip of the track for “I Told Myself.”

Dionyza says the most important thing she learned from her parents was to never give up. “They tell me that I'm at a place where a lot of people are still trying to get to. Sometimes I just want to stay in the background. It’s satisfying enough sometimes just hearing another singer's voice on a track that I wrote. Then I’ll go to a great show and want to jump on stage, grab the mic and get up and hit the stage and in the studio as well, I love bringing songs to life.”