Jazmine Sullivan

Jazmine was born and raised to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Pam her mother, who is Jazmine's mom, was a backing vocalist at Philadelphia International Records. Her father offered her the job of curator for the Historic Strawberry Mansion. She together with her family then relocated into the historical landmark. In 2005 she graduated from the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts in the class of a vocal music major. Sullivan sang as a contralto for the choir for children and later after a couple of years later, she was a singer in the adults ' choir. Sullivan was not exposed secular music at first. "I started singing as a soloist in the church, and someone asked me to commit for a gospel recording at the age of 11. But I wasn't ready to take that step," she says. "Then McDonald's offered a competition that was open to kids in cities. This competition provided me with an opportunity to perform God's Will on Showtime Apollo. My audiences were extremely welcoming." She sang with Stevie Wonder at his grandson's birthday celebration at 13. Sullivan had signed her first contract to Jive Records when she was fifteen. There, she recorded an entire album. But it was never released. Sullivan was then removed from the label. They maintained a friendship with Missy Elliott and produced a number of the tracks from her debut, which included the hit single "Backstabbers" - produced by Timbaland and composed by Elliott.