Lumidee

Lumiana DeRosa (better known by her stage name Lumidee) is making a comeback. Though only twenty-three, she first tasted fame at the age of nineteen when her debut single "Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh)" rose to the #3 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, prompting a record deal with Universal Records. She went on to release her first full length album, Almost Famous, later that year. Almost Famous - which combines vestiges of her Hispanic heritage (she was born in the vibrant ethnic neighborhood of Spanish Harlem in New York City) with elements of pop, hip-hop and R&B - went on to move over 800,000 copies worldwide. Along with "Never Leave You", standout tracks from Almost Famous include "Crashin' a Party" and "For Keeps".

Although her first album was a success, Lumidee dropped off the radar soon afterwards, severing her ties with Universal. Rumors spread like wildfire that she was leaving the music biz, but in reality nothing could be further from the truth. In 2004 she moved to Europe, gravitating towards dance, dancehall, and reggaeton music. While alternately living in Belgium, France, and Germany, Lumidee charted a number of hits on the other side of the Atlantic including the powerful single "Dance!", which copiously samples Whitney Houston's 1987 hit "I Wanna Dance With Somebody".

In 2006, executives from TVT Records (Ying Yang Twins, Da Muzicianz) convinced Lumidee to release another album stateside. Her sophomore album - aptly named Unexpected - materialized in early 2007 on TVT. Featuring both a revamped sound (with a focus on a reggaeton-esque aesthetic) and a long list of contributors (among them Wyclef Jean, N.O.R.E., and Pitbull), Unexpected proved to be an unexpectedly good album. It has so far produced four singles, three of which ("She's Like The Wind", "Crazy", "Feel Like Makin' Love") have so far charted on the Billboard Hot 100.

From Discogs:

Lumidee is not the average R&B singer. In fact, the 19 year-old artist hailing from Spanish Harlem was a self-proclaimed rapper before she even started to pen R&B ballads. Lumi, who began rhyming and singing at the age of 12, continued to hone her skills throughout high school and hooked up with neighborhood producer DJ TedSmooth after graduation. After years of perfecting her talents, Lumidee has created an album that fluidly blends both Hip-Hop and R&B, and testifies that she is finally on the golden path to fame.

From Lastfm:

Lumidee (born Lumiana DeRosa) is a female American R&B singer-songwriter and rapper of Puerto Rican descent.

Lumidee was born on August 24, 1984 in Bridgeport, Connecticut (later moving to Harlem, New York, United States). Her father died in 1995. She and her four siblings were raised by her grandparents. She began singing and rapping at the age of twelve. After graduating high school, she collaborated with local neighborhood producer DJ Tedsmooth to record her debut single, "Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh)" for an independent label, Straight Face. She later signed with Universal Records, where she released her debut album, Almost Famous, on June 23, 2003. Her single peaked at #3 in the U.S. and #2 in the UK, but it was her only hit until the 2007 release of "She's Like The Wind." According to Nielsen SoundScan, Almost Famous sold 276,000 copies in the U.S.

For the next few years, Lumidee was not in the mainstream music industry in the US, instead veering more towards reggaeton and dancehall music. After her hit single "Never Leave You" faded, Lumidee went overseas to continue her music career in Belgium, Germany, France, and The Netherlands. She released Grimey Streets in 2004, which was a mixtape consisting of new material, freestyles and tracks from Almost Famous. Lumidee also featured on several tracks in this era and had moderate success in Europe. However, due to her debut single being her only big hit to date, she was placed in the category of One Hit Wonders. In 2006, Lumidee released a song for the FIFA World Cup Album Soundtrack which was entitled 'Dance' and featured a sample of the classic Whitney Houston track "I Wanna Dance With Somebody." The song was a club hit around Europe and successfully entered the charts in the countries where it was officially released (Germany #5, Austria #5, Switzerland #32).

April 2007 brought the release of Lumidee's second album, Unexpected. It was released under TVT Records, unlike her debut which had been released under Universal. Lumidee stated in an interview, "I'm coming out of left field. Nobody ever thought of me coming back on a street credible label like TVT, alongside acts like Pitbull, N.O.R.E. and Jim Jones. Actually, nobody ever thought of me really even coming back, period." The US-Single "She's like the wind" peaked on #43. That song was not released as single in Europe because Lumidee had stolen the idea of making a cover version of that "She's like the wind" from a German Top 10 Hit. In Europe the Label released the single "Crazy" ft. Pitbull which had moderate chart success in Germany (#35), Austria (#65) and the UK (#74).

She currently resides in New Jersey as her crib was televised on MTV.

From Wikipedia:

Lumidee Cedeño (born August 24, 1984), known by her stage name Lumidee, is a female American R&B singer-songwriter and rapper of Puerto Rican descent.