Jazmine Sullivan

Jazmine Sullivan is a native of in and lived from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Pam her mother was a former backup singer for Philadelphia International Records. At the age of five, old, her father landed job as curator for the city's Historic Strawberry Mansion in the Strawberry Mansion section, and her family moved into the landmark historical building. She was a graduate in 2005 from the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts where she was the vocal music instructor. Sullivan started singing in children's chorus as a contralto before joining the adult choir just a few years further on. Sullivan's exposure to secular music was initially limited "I had solos singing in church and someone wanted me to sign to an evangelical label when I was 11, but I was not ready to do that," she recalls. "Then when McDonald's had a competition for kids in major cities and I was offered the chance to sing 'Accept What God Gives' on Showtime at the Apollo and the audience loved it". Stevie Wonder sang her part when he turned 13. Sullivan, at age 15 at the time, signed her first contract with Jive Records. There, she recorded an entire album. But the album wasn't released. Sullivan was later dropped by the label. Missy Elliott was the producer for a few tracks from their debut album. The most notable of these was "Backstabbers" was a viral song produced by Timbaland and written by Elliott.