Born and raised in Michigan, its no wonder this girl has the soul and spirit of Motown!!! A little vocal training from Bertha McNeal of Motown’s “Velvelettes” didn’t hurt either. Now splitting time between Chicago and Dallas this singer, songwriter, performer and actress is definitely a bonafide quadruple threat on the scene!
Vocally - she has pipes that not only command attention with her range of power, she has a unique sound of her own.
Lyrically - Her lyrics range from such emotion and truth with everything from heartache, to love, to dancing, to suicide prevention, loving life despite obstacles such as cancer, bucket lists’ and to loving oneself...What can we say...Honest Music...Finally.
Performance - she not only has a smile thats radiant and contagious...she embraces you from the first note and makes you groove, cry, laugh and sing along without even taking a step away from the microphone!
Nicole started out performing in stage productions ranging from Beehive, Once on This Island, Dreamgirls, Wine in the Wilderness,and countless others even being cast as a replacement for Shenzi in Disney's "The Lion King". Once she moved to Chicago in 1998 she joined a few bands which led her to bassist and friend Lamar Jones and began performing around the city. Always having had a knack for writing she finally met up with Keith Henderson (M.D. and writer for “The Emotions”) who co-wrote and guided her thru her debut cd "The Many Moods of Me", which had successful sales worldwide and with the help of many supportive friends and fans she was able to produce, promote and headline her own concerts, selling out the HotHouse and packing the PARKWEST to cap! The sophomore cd entitled "A Sound of my Own" was released in 2008 and produced with the help of producers such as Keith Henderson, Khari Parker (drummer from Destiny's Child, Raphael Saadiq, Boz Skaggs and Joss Stone) Sharay Reed (M.D. and bass player for R.Kelly), G WIZ and a few others. Influences range from Ella, Sade, Maysa and Lisa Stansfield to Stevie, Bob Marley, Prince, Michael Jackson, Annie Lennox, CeCe Peniston, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige, Bonnie Raitt and Jill Scott. Although she has a unique sound of her own she has been compared to Toni Braxton, Lauryn Hill, Jill Scott, Lisa Stansfield and Randy Crawford. The 3 things that set her apart from other artist are 1. Her high energy and comedic spirit, 2. Her sound is her own, 3. Her look is her own. Nicole has been called to open shows for Wayman Tisdale, Paul Taylor, Michelle Branch, Avant, Cherrelle(she loved the cover of her "Everything I Miss At Home"-also performed background), Angela Winbush, Malcolm Jamal-Warner’s “Miles Long”, Al Johnson, Jeffrey, Shirley Jones of “The Jones Girls”, Jean Carne (also performed background) and Oscar winning actress and comedian “Monique” . Also appearing as a background vocalist on Preston Glass’s cd “Color’s Of Life” which led to performances with the likes of Ron Tyson of “The Temptations”, Cuba Gooding Sr, Freda Payne and more.
She has released a special project for a cause close to her heart for digital download only “No Suicide...Live..Be Aware, Show you Care”
She proudly released her 4th project "The Bi-Polar Music Project...Vol 1: Licensed To Chill" which was released in June 2011. The first single "Forever United" featuring Phil Perry is receiving strong accolades which was written by Nicole, Phil Perry and Preston Glass (Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Jermaine Stewart, Maurice White, Kenny G and others). While recording Volume 1 of "The Bi-Polar Music Project", Nicole was tapped to record soul/house music in The U.K., Switzerland, Chicago, Portugal and South Africa and has been releasing songs Since May 5, 2010 which has landed her in the top 100 on the house music charts 4 times and she shows no sign of stopping anytime soon. Her latest single “Missing You” with Carlos Vargas was voted one of the top 100 songs of 2011 in Portugal among stars such as Usher and Seal. This is one independent artist who has and who is definitely paying her dues and singing a happy song as she does.
Read more...