Tweet (born
Charlene L. Keys on January 21, 1971) is an
American R&B,
soul, and
neo soul singer-songwriter and
guitarist.
Biography
Early years
The youngest child of Tom and Shirley Keys, Tweet was born in
Rochester,
New York and grew up singing in the church along with her parents and her four older siblings (three brothers, Tom, Cedric and Lonnie, and one sister, Sundra). Among them, the five children mastered instruments such as the
piano,
guitar,
bass guitar,
drums and many more.
As a young girl, Tweet was inspired not only by her family, but also by larger-than-life divas
Janet Jackson,
Tina Turner,
Aretha Franklin, and
Whitney Houston (whom she later worked with). Tweet's first steps into a career in the music industry first began when she enrolled in the
School of the Arts (Rochester, New York). In 1990, at the age of 19, Tweet gave birth to her daughter, Tashawna. The name came from a mixture of both parents' names: "T" from Tweet and "Shawn" from Shawn, and the addition of two "A"s.
In the early nineties, Tweet joined the female quintet
Sugah, leaving her daughter with her parents in
Panama City,
Florida, while Tweet relocated to many places. Sugah was comprised of Tweet, Susan Weems, and Rolita White, and was a part of
Devante Swing's
Swing Mob collective. While there, she met
Timbaland,
Magoo,
Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott (who at the time was apart of the Hip-Hop/R&B group Sista),
Playa (band),
Ginuwine and Renee Anderson who were also all apart of the Swing Mob collective. During her time with Sugah, Tweet formed a close friendship with Elliott.
Around 1999 with Sugah going nowhere, no album to show, and many broken promises, Tweet returned to her parents' home in Panama City penniless and depressed. After Tweet fell into a deeper depression after a string of bad relationships and a number of jobs she had suicidal thoughts,but she received a phone call from Missy Elliott, calling to ask if Tweet would contribute background vocals on her latest album
Miss E ...So Addictive. Tweet felt she could tell Elliott about her situation and what she was going through. To this day she calls Elliott her "Guardian Angel".
In 2000, Tweet began recording vocals for Elliott's album and was also reunited with her old friends from the Swing Mob days, Timbaland, Magoo, Playa, and Ginuwine. She also recorded vocals for Timbaland and Magoo's follow-up to their platinum selling 1997 debut album,
Welcome To Our World and Timbaland's solo album,
Tim's Bio: Life From Da Bassment. In 2001, Elliott released her Platinum selling third album
Miss E ...So Addictive with Tweet contributing vocals to five tracks. 2001 also saw the release of
Ja Rule's
Pain Is Love, Beat Club Records
Bubba Sparxxx's
Dark Days, Bright Days,
Petey Pablo's
Diary Of A Sinner: 1st Entry and Timbaland and Magoo's
Indecent Proposal, on all of which Tweet contributed vocals.
Meanwhile, Tweet was signed to Elliott's record label, through
Elektra Entertainment Group,
The Goldmind Inc. with the help of an impromptu performance of "Motel" for
Violator Management's Mona Scott. Then Tweet began recording her debut album.
In November 2001, Tweet made her debut on the single's charts as a feature artist along with Ginuwine on Elliott's "Take Away", a tribute to Elliott's late friend
Aaliyah. Timbaland and Magoo's "All Y'all" featuring
Sebastian (Timbaland's younger brother) followed. She was described as an Aaliyah wannabe by the receptive public and to a certain extent was seen as a replacement for Aaliyah. She was also seen as a replacement for Missy's former protégé,
Nicole Wray.
Southern Hummingbird (2002)
In March 2002, Tweet entered the charts with her debut solo single, "
Oops (Oh My)", a risqué song about self-loving and female
masturbation. The song was produced by Timbaland and featured guest vocals by Missy Elliott. The single hit #1 on the R&B Charts and #7 on the U.S. Pop Charts, with the help of a remix featuring
Fabolous.
In April 2002, Tweet released her debut album
Southern Hummingbird to mostly strong reviews. The album featured production by Craig Brockman, Nisan Stewart, guitarist John "Jubu" Smith, Timbaland (who contributed four tracks) and Tweet herself. It also featured guest vocals by Elliott --"Oops (Oh My)",
Bilal-- "Best Friend", BeatClub Record's
Ms. Jade-- "Sexual Healing (Oops Pt. 2)" and featured a bonus track from Elliott--"Big Spender". The album was filled with soul-stirring vocals and lyrics taken from Tweet's own life experiences. The album spawned another two singles, Timbaland-produced "Call Me", and the radio single "Smoking Cigarettes", which had a video shot and directed by
Little X but was never released. The album reached #3 on the Billboard album charts.
That year Tweet appeared as a guest vocalist on
Trina's second single from her hit album
Diamond Princess. The song was called, "No Panties" and was written and produced by Missy Elliott and Nisan Stewart. Tweet also appeared on
Meshell Ndegeocello's
Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape,
Karen Clark Sheard's
2nd Chance, Ms. Jade's
Girl Interrupted, Whitney Houston's
Just Whitney... and Elliott's
Under Construction. Tweet appeared on four of the tracks and also made a cameo performance in both videos released from the album, "Work It" and "Gossip Folks".
Tweet was nominated for a
Soul Train Lady of Soul Award (among others) for Best New Artist but lost to her rival Ashanti. However, that year Tweet was awarded the Key To The City for Rochester, New York.
Along with Missy Elliott,
Lil' Kim,
DMX,
Toni Braxton,
Queen Latifah,
Ananda Lewis,
Playa,
Jamie Foxx,
Lil' Mo,
AJ,
Free (among others), Tweet appeared in the late
Aaliyah's posthumous hit single, "Miss You".
With 2003 came more guest vocals appearances:
Madonna's
American Life The Remixes Single,
Monica's
After the Storm,
Mark Ronson's
Here Comes the Fuzz, and
Angie Stone's
Stone Love on the 2004
Grammy Award-nominated song "U-Haul".
Tweet turned to
acting, having a cameo appearance in the film
Honey, directed by
music video director
Billie Woodruff and starring
Jessica Alba,
Mekhi Phifer,
Lil' Romeo,
Joy Bryant and Missy Elliott. Tweet's other acting credits include an episode of the comedy series
The Parkers in 2002, in which she performed "Oops (Oh My)" and "Smoking Cigarettes". Tweet also appeared on the
Honey Soundtrack on the Missy Elliott-produced "Thugman". Tweet also performed "Hypnotic" in the film, but it doesn't feature on the soundtrack.
It's Me Again (2005)
In 2004, Tweet appeared in another of Elliott's music videos, "I'm Really Hot", off of
This Is Not a Test!, but Tweet was absent from the album as a vocalist. Tweet also appeared on the posthumous unreleased Missy Elliott-produced Aaliyah track "
Where Could He Be". The song did enjoy slight radio success, but has not yet been released officially. Missy Elliott made her move from Elektra Entertainment Group to
Atlantic Records, taking Tweet and The Goldmind Inc. with her.
During 2003 and 2004, Tweet began recording songs for her follow-up to her Gold-certified album
Southern Hummingbird which was supposed to be released in 2004, but due to the label change went back into the studio. In late 2004, Tweet joined
Cee-Lo Green and
Teedra Moses on the 2004 Seagram's Gin Live Tour in promotion of her new single, "Turn da Lights Off" The song was produced by Missy Elliott and
Kwame, featured vocals from Elliott and contained a sample of
Marvin Gaye's "If This World Were Mine" and
Nat King Cole's "Lost April". While on tour, Tweet performed her old tracks, and premiered her new single and some of her newer tracks, including "My Man" and "Sports, Sex & Food".
On March 22, 2005, Tweet released her second album
It's Me Again. The album featured production from Missy Elliott on seven of the tracks, Craig Brockman, Nisan Stewart, brothers Charlie Bereal and Kenny Bereal, Walter Milsap III,
Kwame, The Goldmind Inc.'s Soul Diggaz, Marty Cintron III, Madball Entertainment and, Timbaland and Tweet (who both only contributed producing credits on one track each). The album featured vocals from Tweet's 15-year-old daughter, Tashawna, on "Two of Us",
Rell on "Could It Be", and Missy Elliott on "Turn da Lights Off" and "Things I Don't Mean". The album also featured the hidden bonus track "When I Need a Man" (theme song from the USA Network Original Series,
Kojak, starring
Ving Rhames). The album peaked at #17 on the Billboard album charts and then quickly flew off the charts due to lack of promotion and mis-management from Atlantic Records. There was talk to film a second video for either "Cab Ride", which sampled "Taxi" theme song, "Angela", or "Sports, Sex & Food", but this never happened. Tweet then broke away from her manager, Mona Scott, and Violator Management, and signed with
Mathew Knowles of
Sanctuary Urban Records Group, who manages the careers of his daughter and niece
Beyoncé Knowles,
Kelly Rowland and
Michelle Williams also known together as
Destiny's Child. Tweet stills maintains a close friendship with Mona Scott and is still signed to The Goldmind Inc.
Tweet also appeared on Elliott's sixth album release,
The Cookbook, contributing vocals to three tracks, including the single, "Teary Eyed".
Love, Tweet (2008)
In 2006
Jheryl Busby and
Mike City's new record label
Umbrella Recordings, whose acts include
Patti LaBelle,
Carl Thomas, and a few other well-known R&B chart climbers.
Tweet's third album "
Love, Tweet" is forthcoming from Umbrella Records. The album was rumored to be lead by "Anymore", later, "Real Lady" was later chosen as the album's lead single. Tweet told VH1 of a tentative single/confirmed track on the album "My Dear" featuring is not exactly what her fans would expect from her but this album is for the fans, hence the signed diary title. The track was later recorded with
Ciara. The album so far is said to feature
Missy Elliott and
[Backstage at Hip Hop Honors]
It has long been rumored Tweet's third album will feature a collaboration with
Whitney Houston ("Another Day"), and in turn Tweet will feature on Whitney Houston's next album. on October 8, 2008, it was confirmed that the delays for the album's release were due to a second merge within the recording label, the album is scheduled to be released in December.
Other Work
Tweet currently resides in
Atlanta,
Georgia.
On December 2nd, 2006, two songs, "Whisper" and "See Ya", leaked onto a Tweet Myspace page, but were confirmed by Tweet to be songs rejected from past albums. Another song has been posted on her Myspace page called "Give It To Ya", along with a sneak peek of her next album.
A cover of "
Boogie 2nite" (a song from the album
Southern Hummingbird) by
Booty Luv (vocalists Nadia and Cherise from UK act
Big Brovaz) reached number 2 in the UK Charts on December 10th, 2006, after three years of UK club success, but no official single release, of Tweet's original.
Tweet performed with
Timbaland at the 4th annual VH1 Hip Hop Honors, which aired on October 8, 2007.
[1]
In 2008, Joy Denalane & Tweet performed with the The Dresden Soul Symphony.
Discography
Albums
Solo singles
Filmography
- 2002: The Parkers: Kim's 21st Birthday (TV)
- 2003: Honey
- 2008: The Dresden Soul Symphony (Live Concert DVD)
- 2009: Aaliyah (The Movie)
Endorsements
