Rest in paradise, Nicole Mitchell. You will be missed, but never forgotten…
“Born and raised in Michigan I 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 I moved to Chicago in 1998 I joined a few bands which led me to bassist and friend Lamar Jones (who was instrumental in the introduction to alot of the cats i now play and cowrite with) and began performing around the city. I’ve always had a knack for writing so finally I was fortunate to meet up with Keith Henderson who co-wrote and guided me thru my first cd “The Many Moods of Me” Cd has had extremely successful sales worldwide and with the help of many supportive friends and fans I have been able to put on my own concerts, selling out the HotHouse and packing the PARKWEST to cap! (who woulda thunk it…yeah i said thunk it). Im now burning the midnight oil writing and working on new music and promoting my newly released cd entitled “A Sound of my Own” with the help of producers such as Keith Henderson, Khari Parker (yes yes yawl,drummer from Destiny’s Child, Raphael Saadiq, Boz Skaggs and Joss Stone can push the faders for real!) SHARAY REED (straight funky) G WIZ and a few other hot cats. Other than that Im still flying the friendly skies until Im able to sing, sell or whatever a song that will allow me to stop the Madness! My influences range from Ella, Sade, Maysa and Lisa Stansfield to Stevie,Michael Jackson, Prince, Berry Gordy, Quincy Jones, Whitney Houston, Bob Marley, Annie Lennox, Mary J. Blige, Bonnie Raitt and Jill Scott to name a few. I’ve been compared to Toni Braxton, Lauryn Hill, Jill Scott, Lisa Stansfield and Randy Crawford. The 3 things that set me apart from other artist are 1. My high energy and comedic spirit, 2. my sound is my own, 3. My look is my own. I was vocally coached by Bertha McNeal of Motowns “Velvelettes” as i was originally extremely shy. I then took to the stage performing in productions such as Dreamgirls, Beehive and Once Upon This Island to name a few. Was casted as a replacement in Disneys “Lion King”. Sang with a Chicago band which led to Saturdays at the House Of Blues. Started writing and through the connections i made with Keith Henderson, Lamar Jones (slammin bassist for Brian Culbertson) I released my first cd “The Many Moods of Me” From there i was enlisted to open for Wayman Tisdale, Paul Taylor, Michelle Branch, Avant, Cherrelle(she loved my cover of her “Everything I Miss At Home”), Angela Winbush and Monique from “The Parkers” to name a few. I Headlined to sold out houses at HotHouse, ParkWest and other venues in which tickets were sold hand to hand as i gained a fanbase one listener at a time. It was hard but worth it which led me to complete “A Sound of My Own” which released 5/31/08 and was licensed to Spafax for commercial airline play. Currently writing and producing “The BiPolar Music Project”.”