Birth name Keyshia Michelle Cole
Also known as KC, The Princess of Hip-Hop Soul
Born October 15, 1981 (1981-10-15) (age 28)
Genres R&B, Soul, hip hop, hip-hop soul
Occupations Singer–songwriter
Instruments Vocals
Years active 2004–present
Labels A&M, Geffen
Associated acts Ron Fair, Manny Haley, Remy Ma, Monica, Daniel Gibson, Kanye West
Website www.keyshiacole.com
Cole was featured on Jaheim's 3rd Single, "I've Changed", off his fourth Album, The Makings of a Man.
2008–2009: A Different Me
In 2008, Cole made guest appearances on songs such as "I Got a Thang for You" with rapper Trina on her album Still Da Baddest and "Boyfriend/Girlfriend" with hip-hop band C-Side on their album Class In Session. She also made a guest appearance in the music video for "She Got Her Own", by singers Ne-Yo and Jamie Foxx and in the song "Game's Pain" by Compton-based rapper The Game.
Cole is also featured on the charity song "Just Stand Up", which was released in August of 2008 and raises money for cancer research along with various pop, hip-hop, and R&B artists that year. As a result of SU2C fund raising endeavors, the SU2C scientific advisory committee, overseen by the American Association for Cancer Research was able to award 73.6 million dollars towards novel, groundbreaking cancer research.
Cole embarked on the I Am Music Tour with Keri Hilson, Lil' Wayne, and T-Pain from December of 2008 to February of 2009.
She released her third studio album, A Different Me, on December 16, 2008. It debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200, selling 322,000 copies in its first week. The album has gone on to sell 980,000 copies in the US, receiving a Platinum certification from the RIAA, like her first two albums. The album is Keyshia's least successful album to date.
The album was preceded by lead single "Playa Cardz Right", featuring the late rapper 2Pac, which was released on October 28, 2008, and reached #63 on the Hot 100. The second single from the album, "You Complete Me", was released on January 20, 2009, and reached #62 on the Hot 100, making the first and second singles mild hits.
Cole released the third and final single from the album, "Trust", a duet with Monica, on May 5, 2009, and reached #5 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and #70 on the US Hot 100. The fourth single from A Different Me was confirmed as "This is Us", and was due for a release in September of 2009, but it was never released, due to Cole's pregnancy and the commercial underperformed success of the album.
Cole was on the cover of the March 2009 issue of Vibe, and was on the cover of the Summer 2009 final double-cover issue of King. Keyshia and Yvonne Cole appeared on the June issue of Sister 2 Sister magazine.
In 2009, she also made a guest appearance on Keri Hilson's "Get Your Money Up" from her debut album In a Perfect World…. Keyshia began work on her fourth studio album in early 2009.
She also toured with Keri Hilson, The-Dream and Bobby Valentino on the A Different Me Tour.
2010-present: Keyshia
In August 2009, Keyshia Cole announced that she was beginning work on her self-titled fourth studio album which will be released by Winter of 2010. The new album is said to contain production from KrucialKeyz, The Runners, Kanye West, and Missy Elliott.
Cole was featured on the Remix of R. Kelly's single "Number One" along with T-Pain. She is also currently listed as one of the inspirations for Pepsi: We Inspire.Cole also worked with Gucci Mane on the song "Bad, Bad, Bad" from The State vs Radric Davis.
On June 27, 2010 she returned to the spotlight for her first televised appearance since the birth of her son, filling in for Hayley Williams to sing the chorus to B.o.B.'s "Airplanes (Part II)", featuring Eminem during the 2010 BET Awards.
Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is
In conjunction with her album release, BET began airing the second season of Cole's reality show Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is on October 30, 2007. The show premiered to record breaking ratings for BET. It is the top returning series premiere in BET history, as well as the number one original series premiere of the year. A reported 2.9 million viewers and 2.0 million households watched the season 2 finale. It is now the #1 series telecast in BET history. Season 3 of the series was filmed in Summer 2008 and premiered on November 11, 2008. The show was rumored to be having a fourth season, however; Cole has concluded that there will not be a fourth season. On Tuesday, August 25, 2009, Cole's mother and sister debuted their own reality show titled Frankie & Neffe on BET. Their show's season finale aired on Tuesday, October 6, 2009.
