Song:You Gotta Be
Album:I Ain't Movin'
British R & B singer songwriter Des'ree scored her one big hit with You Gotta Be in 1995. Here in North America she is perceived as a one hit wonder but she was more successful in her native England. She was born Desiree Annette Weeks Nov. 30, 1968 in London, England. Her mother was from Guyana and her father was from Barbados. The family lived in Barbados when Des'ree was a teen. When they returned to England, Des'ree sent demos to all the record companies. She got a positive response from CBS Records in England. They told her to finish school and come back in a few years. They were Sony Music by then and she was turned over to Sony A & R rep Lincoln Elias who worked with the successful R & B singer Terence Trent D'Arby. She recorded the song Delicate with D'Arby on her 1992 debut album Mind Adventures. The single did well in England and Des'ree appeared on TV with D'Arby and toured with Simply Red. So Sony liked Des'ree but they were trying to figure out how to break her. They found the solution when vh1 played the music video for You Gotta Be so much that it finally converted to album sales and radio play. You Gotta Be reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the album was certified Gold. Des'ree co-wrote all the songs on the album. You Gotta Be was co-written and produced by Ashley Ingram of the 80s British R & B group Imagination. She also wrote several songs with Jimmy Haynes of the British Reggae group Aswad. You Gotta Be would turn out to be Des'ree's only big hit in North America and I Ain't Movin' is available as a budget CD. But she continued to have modest success in England. Des'ree recorded five CDs for Sony with the last one being released in 2003. Des'ree returned to school to study art and she doesn't seem to be in the music business anymore. Here's the video for You Gotta Be by Des'ree.
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