Jazmine Sullivan facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jazmine Sullivan
Sullivan in 2015
Background information
Birth name	Jazmine Marie Sullivan
Born	(1987-04-09) April 9, 1987 (age 38) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	Error: Need valid death date (first date): year, month, day
Genres	Contemporary R&B neo soul
Occupation(s)	Singer songwriter
Years active	2003–present
Labels	RCA J Arista

Jazmine Marie Sullivan (born April 9, 1987) is an American R&B singer and songwriter. She has won many awards, including two Grammy Awards and two BET Awards. In 2022, Time magazine named her one of the 100 Most Influential People in the world.

Jazmine was born and grew up in Philadelphia. She signed with J Records and released her first album, Fearless, in 2008. This album was very popular, reaching number six on the Billboard 200 chart. It also became platinum, meaning it sold over a million copies! Two songs from the album, "Need U Bad" and "Bust Your Windows", were big hits. "Need U Bad" even reached number one on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Her second album, Love Me Back (2010), also did well. After a break, Jazmine signed with RCA Records and released Reality Show in 2015. This album was also a success and got three Grammy nominations. Her fourth album, Heaux Tales (2021), was a huge hit. It reached number four on the Billboard 200 and included popular songs like "Pick Up Your Feelings" and "Girl like Me".

Life and career

Early life (1987–2006)

Jazmine Sullivan was born to Don and Pam Sullivan. Her mother used to be a backup singer for Philadelphia International Records. When Jazmine was five, her family moved into the Historic Strawberry Mansion in Philadelphia. Her father became a curator there.

Jazmine went to the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. She studied vocal music and graduated in 2005. She started singing as a contralto in her church choir when she was very young. At first, she didn't listen to much popular music.

Starting her career and Fearless (2003–2009)

Sullivan performing live in Columbia, South Carolina in 2008.

When Jazmine was fifteen, she signed with Jive Records. She recorded an album, but it was never released, and she left the label. She later sang on songs for other artists, like Kindred the Family Soul. During this time, she met rapper Missy Elliott. Missy Elliott later helped produce many songs on Jazmine's first two albums.

Jazmine also wrote a song called "Say I" with producers Cool & Dre. This song was given to singer Christina Milian and became a hit for her. Jazmine's own breakthrough song, "Need U Bad", came out in May 2008. This song featured Missy Elliott and Sandy "Pepa" Denton. It reached number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed at number one on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart for a long time.

Jazmine's first album, Fearless, was released on September 23, 2008. She wrote many of the songs herself and helped produce the album. Fearless went straight to number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. It also reached number 6 on the Billboard 200. The second single from the album, "Bust Your Windows", was also very popular. It reached number 4 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. This song was even featured on the TV show Glee and was nominated for a Grammy Award. The album Fearless has sold over 510,000 copies in the United States and is certified platinum.

Sullivan performing live in February 2009

Jazmine also sang on songs with other artists, like Jadakiss and Ace Hood. She toured with Maxwell and Ne-Yo. In 2009, she performed at the Essence Music Festival. She also appeared in commercials for Cotton Incorporated.

Love Me Back (2010-2011)

Jazmine started working on her second album, Love Me Back, in 2009. Many producers helped with the album, including Missy Elliott and Ne-Yo. The album was finished in June 2010 and released on November 30, 2010. It reached number 17 on the Billboard 200.

Jazmine shared that the album was about her own life experiences. She said that writing songs was like therapy for her. She learned to think more before reacting to things.

The first song from the album, "Holding You Down (Goin' in Circles)", came out on July 10, 2010. Its music video was released in August. This song was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2011. The second song, "10 Seconds", was also a hit.

In December 2010, Billboard magazine honored Jazmine as the 'Rising Star' of the year. In January 2011, Jazmine announced that she was taking a break from music. She said she would only sing if it was still fun for her. Later that year, her record label, J Records, was closed. Jazmine and other artists moved to RCA Records.

Returning to music and Reality Show (2014–2019)

In 2014, Jazmine announced she was returning to music with a new album called Reality Show. She said she couldn't stay away from her passion for music. She got the idea for the album's name from watching reality TV shows during her break. The album had 14 songs.

The first song from the album, "Dumb", featured rapper Meek Mill. It was released on May 12, 2014. The second song, "Forever Don't Last", came out in September 2014. It reached number 10 on the Adult R&B Songs chart.

Reality Show was released on January 13, 2015. Critics loved it! The album reached number one on the Billboard R&B Albums chart. It sold 30,000 copies in its first week. The album earned Jazmine three Grammy Award nominations.

In 2016, Jazmine sang on four songs for Frank Ocean's visual album Endless. She also helped write and sang backup for four songs on Mary J. Blige's album Strength of a Woman. Jazmine also sang "Insecure" with Bryson Tiller for the TV show Insecure. She performed the national anthem at a hockey game in 2016. In 2019, she was featured on Pentatonix's Christmas album, singing "Joyful, Joyful".

Heaux Tales and recent work (2020–present)

In August 2020, Jazmine announced a new song called "Lost One". This marked her return to music. People were very excited, and "New Jazmine" became a trending topic online. The song was released the next day, along with news of her new album, Heaux Tales. She released another song, "Pick Up Your Feelings", in November 2020.

Heaux Tales was released on January 8, 2021. It was a huge success! The album debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 chart. This was her highest-charting album ever. In February 2021, Jazmine was nominated for the 52nd NAACP Image Awards. On February 7, she sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" with country artist Eric Church at Super Bowl LV. In May, "Pick Up Your Feelings" became a gold-certified single.

On June 24, 2021, Jazmine released "Tragic". A few days later, she performed "Tragic" and "On It" at the 2021 BET Awards. She won the BET Award for Album of the Year that night for Heaux Tales.

In 2021, Jazmine also sang a duet called "Our Love" with Curtis Harding. This song was for the soundtrack of the Netflix series Arcane. She also recorded a song for the movie Tick, Tick... Boom! In 2023, Rolling Stone magazine named Jazmine Sullivan one of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Musical style

Jazmine Sullivan's voice is known for being strong and flexible. Music critics say her sound mixes modern styles with a classic 1980s feel. She is a contralto, which means she has a deep singing voice. InStyle magazine described her voice as "raspy."

Jazmine often writes about her own feelings and experiences, especially about difficult relationships. Her song "Bust Your Windows" is a famous example of this. She takes her time writing songs, sometimes a day or even a month. When she was making her album Reality Show, her producers had to tell her to stop making changes so the album could be released! Jazmine is well-known for writing her own songs, which makes her very popular with both critics and fans.

Her song "Bust Your Windows" was listed as one of the 200 Greatest Songs by 21st Century Women by National Public Radio.

Personal life

On May 11, 2020, Jazmine shared that her mother, Pam, was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer in October 2019. Jazmine wrote on Instagram that her mother taught her how to turn something painful into something beautiful. On July 24, 2023, Jazmine announced that her mother had passed away.

Discography

Studio albums

• Fearless (2008)
• Love Me Back (2010)
• Reality Show (2015)
• Heaux Tales (2021)

Concert tours

Headlining

• The Reality Show Tour (2015)
• The Heaux Tales Tour (2022)
• Europe 2024 (2024)

Co-headlining

• Year of the Gentlemen Tour (2009)
• The Serenade Tour (2024)

Awards and nominations

See also

In Spanish: Jazmine Sullivan para niños

• List of Billboard number-one R&B albums of 2008
• List of R&B number-one singles of 2008 (U.S.)