Artist:Case
Song:Happily Ever After
Album:Personal Conversations
Case Woodard is an R&B singer songwriter who had success in the late 90s on DefJam. He scored four big hits. And then he kind of disappeared for a few years and he now records for smaller labels so he can own his own music. So he's not a big star anymore but maybe he's happier. He was born Oct. 4,1971 in New York City. His father was in the funk band Cameo. His family tried to discourage him from becoming a musician. So he left home as a teen and lived in the streets. He started out in music in the R&B group Future and got studio work singing backup for Usher and Al B. Sure. He was spotted by DefJam Records owner Russell Simmons who signed him to a record deal. Woodard recorded three albums for DefJam. The 1999 single Happily Ever After is from the second album Personal Conversations. It reached #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the R&B Singles chart. The album was certified Gold. Woodard wrote most of the songs on the album with various songwriters and producers. For Happily Ever After, Woodard wrote the song with Christopher "Deep" Henderson and he produced. He's had his greatest success with Jamie Foxx. There is supposed to be a comp available but I couldn't find it. Personal Conversations is available on CD. For the 2001 album Open Letter, Woodard was moved to DefJam's new label So So Def. The album did even better and the single Missing You was a top five pop hit. But then he disappeared and wouldn't record again until 2009. In a 2014 interview, Woodard said that he left DefJam because of internal label politics. He actually did record an album but he got it back from DefJam and released it himself. Since then he has recorded for labels that are too small to promote artists. But he does own the masters. He last recorded in 2018. Yes, record label politics suck. But most artists need that big promotional machine of a label like DefJam to get anywhere. So they live with the negative part to get positive results. Knowing this, most artists would not have left DefJam. Here's the video for Happily Ever After by Case. And yes, that is Beyonce in the video. She was 17 years old.
I find it interesting that his father was in the band Cameo. I still listen to their big hit Word Up. Thanks for the bio Frank. Take care sir. David.
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