Michel'le

One of the more interesting urban contemporary vocalists of the late '80s and early '90s, the Los Angeles-based Michel'le was known for having a squeaky, high-pitched speaking voice and an aggressive, full-bodied style of singing. Some people jokingly called her the Betty Boop of urban contemporary, although the Boop comparisons had more to do with her speaking voice than her singing (which could be quite gritty at times). Michel'le, who is best-known for her smash hit "No More Lies," favored a very hip-hop-minded approach to R&B, and that isn't the least bit surprising when you take into consideration the company that she kept. The members of N.W.A. -- especially Dr. Dre and the late Eric "Eazy-E" Wright -- were partly responsible for the success of Michel'le, who pronounces her name "meesh-a-lay." And her manager was music industry veteran Jerry Heller, who was also managing N.W.A. back then. Arguably, the singer was ahead of her time. Before Mary J. Blige was exalted as the "Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" -- and before the rise of Faith Evans and Lauryn Hill -- Michel'le was a young neo-soulstress who had strong ties to the hip-hop world. It was in 1989 that Michel'le signed with Eazy-E's Ruthless Records, which was the home of N.W.A. as well as Dallas native the D.O.C. and the female pop-rap group J.J. Fad (of "Supersonic" fame). Ruthless was distributed by different labels, depending on the artist. N.W.A. (one of the most important and influential groups in the history of gangsta rap) went through Priority, while the D.O.C., J.J. Fad, and Michel'le were signed to Ruthless/Atlantic. Although Ruthless was primarily a rap label, Dre and Eazy wanted to branch out into urban contemporary singing; and Michel'le, although quite hip-hop-influenced, was very much an urban...