Kreesha Turner: A Passion For Music

June 26, 2008— -- Most people realize it takes a small army of stylists and production personnel to create the sexy, glamorous look of those slick hip-hop and R&B videos in high rotation on the music stations. For most of us, just finding a clean shirt to wear in the morning is tough enough. But when you're a rising star on the music scene who's poised to be the next urban diva, well, you'd better work it. So it's no surprise that everything about Kreesha Turner is perfect when she arrives for a lunch interview, from her impeccably ringleted hair to her subtle yet defined makeup.

Chances are you've already heard her hit single, "Bounce With Me". The infectious, summer-ready tune is the reason the 23-year-old singer, who was born and raised in Edmonton, is attracting significant interest. Aside from burning up the radio and TV charts, the song has popped up all over the small screen recently in popular shows like "Entourage", "Gossip Girl" and "The Hills".

The song is also what got Turner a record deal in the first place. Two years ago, she won a talent contest hosted by Edmonton radio station Bounce 91.7. The prize was time in a studio, where she recorded "Bounce With Me". She and her mother hired promoters to push the track to radio, and the gambit worked: the tune caught the ear of influential Toronto manager Chris Smith, who has worked with such artists as Nelly Furtado and Tamia. Soon, Turner was signed to EMI Music in Canada and Virgin in the United States.

Turner is a bit of an anomaly at a time when labels are cutting back their budgets—and their rosters. She's clearly a priority for both labels, and is being groomed as a major breakout artist. Her album Passion is slated for release in Canada in August, and in the U.S. in September. Though she honed her vocal chops in Edmonton's hip-hop scene for a few years, Turner still considers herself a relative newcomer to the music scene and knows she's being given a platform to launch her career.

Although label marketing and the upbeat rhythms of "Bounce With Me" might suggest Turner is being positioned as another urban pop ingenue à la Rihanna, Passion consists mostly of slower R&B fare that shows off Turner's sultry soprano. The album blends all of Turner's stylistic influences into 13 sleek tracks that run the gamut from the Euro-funk vibe of "Don't Call Me Baby" to soulful ballads like "Always (Lovin' You)" (a modern take on Minnie Riperton's "Lovin' You"), with Turner's supple, emotive vocals taking centre stage throughout.

"When people just hear 'Bounce With Me', I don't think it gives them a full definition of me as an artist," Turner says. Soft-spoken and prone to wide-eyed enthusiasm, she comes across in person as tinier and more approachable than the confident starlet who shimmies through the "Bounce With Me" video. "Yeah, it's an attention-grabber that gets people dancing—it's a bit light and fun. But a lot of people have said that when they heard the album, it wasn't what they expected."