Alternative R&B singer Dionne Farris was born in Plainfield, New Jersey on December 4, 1969. She got her start performing lead vocals for Atlanta-based hip-hop group Arrested Development, most notably appearing on the group’s top Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop chart hit, “Tennessee,” featured on the group’s critically acclaimed debut album, March 1992’s 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of…, Farris eventually parted ways with the group’s leader Speech toward the end of 1992, due to reported tensions and creative differences. She was sought out by American Idol’s Randy Jackson and accepted his offer to sign with Columbia Records.

She released her debut album, October 1994’s Wild Seed – Wild Flower, which featured the 1995 huge hit, “I Know,” the single charted at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1996. Her follow-up, For Truth if Not Love, was delayed by ongoing record company problems and Farris wanting out of her Columbia contract. The album was eventually released on December 18, 2007 by Music World.

Subsequent follow-up albums, April 2011’s Signs of Life, February 2013’s Dionne Get Your Gunn, November 2012’s Lady Dy, The Mixtape pt. 1, and her latest effort, February 2014’s Dionne Dionne, an album of Dionne Warwick covers with Charlie Hunter released independently on Free & Clear Records.

Dionne has appeared on several motion picture soundtracks, most notably December 1996’s Ghosts of Mississippi, included her rendition of Billy Taylor’s 1963 jazz song, “I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free,” and “Hopeless,” penned by Van Hunt, featured on the Love Jones soundtrack, which was released on March 9, 1997.