Jazmine Sullivan

Jazmine Sullivan’s catalog of compositions holds sufficient breadth to anchor an entire jukebox musical. Her command of R&B, shaped by gospel immersion and formal stage preparation as a commanding vocalist, would necessitate an expansive, highly skilled company capable of doing the material justice.

Blocked from issuing a project cut during her mid-teens, the Philadelphia native emerged in her late teens by penning “Say I” (2006), a Top 40 success for Christina Milian. Soon afterward she stepped forward as a featured performer with the comparably charting “Need U Bad,” the opening single from Fearless (2008), a Top Ten album that earned seven Grammy nominations encompassing Best R&B Album and Best New Artist. Although she has delivered only two subsequent full-lengths, Love Me Back (2010) and Reality Show (2015), both likewise earned broad praise, strong chart showings, and further Grammy nods. Throughout this span Sullivan has assembled a sizable parallel body of work as songwriter and featured vocalist, highlighted by the number-one R&B/hip-hop single she co-wrote for Monica (“Everything to Me”) and the Grammy-nominated duet with PJ Morton (“Built for Love”). An outsider who has never strictly followed current fashions or strictly conventional R&B, she has nevertheless remained current, extending through the Grammy-nominated Heaux Tales (2021), her first project of the 2020s.

Raised in North Philadelphia, Sullivan lived for a time inside Fairmount Park’s Historic Strawberry Mansion, where her father served as curator. Her mother and eventual co-manager, Pamela Sullivan, sang background vocals and, in 1984 under the name Pamela Joy, issued the single “Think Fast,” still prized by crate-digging club DJs. As a child Sullivan sang in gospel choirs; at age eleven she appeared on Showtime at the Apollo, delivering Rev. Richard White’s “Accept What God Allows” with her own interpretive stamp. While attending the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts she signed with Jive Records; the album she recorded was shelved and she was released from the roster shortly after graduation. She pressed ahead regardless, securing a featured spot on Kindred the Family Soul’s “I Am” and opening the 2004 compilation Soul in the City with her own “Season to Love.” That same year she supplied background vocals on Fantasia’s Free Yourself, an album that appeared only days after BBC airings of four tracks Sullivan had cut for Gilles Peterson; one of those performances, “Braid Your Hair,” surfaced commercially at the close of 2005 on The BBC Sessions, Vol. 1, alongside sets by fellow Philadelphians the Roots and Bilal.

Sullivan achieved her first songwriting hit in 2006 when Christina Milian’s “Say I” reached the U.S. Top 40 and peaked at number four in the U.K. J Records promptly offered her a recording contract. Her major-label debut arrived in May 2008 with “Need U Bad,” a yearning, reggae-tinged ballad produced by Missy Elliott and Cainon Lamb that topped Billboard’s R&B/hip-hop chart, crossed into the pop Top 40, and propelled Fearless to number six on the Billboard 200 upon its September release—one week before Jennifer Hudson’s self-titled album arrived bearing another Sullivan-Elliott collaboration, “I’m His Only Woman,” featuring Fantasia. Fearless spawned two further Top Ten R&B/hip-hop singles, both dramatic pairings with Salaam Remi: “Bust Your Windows” and “Lions, Tigers & Bears.” Together with “Need U Bad” and the gospel-rooted “In Love with Another Man,” written and produced with Anthony Bell, these tracks collected Grammy nominations across Best R&B Song, Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance, and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance; the album itself was nominated for Best R&B Album, while Sullivan contended for Best New Artist, ultimately won that year by Adele.

Her songwriting and guest credits multiplied rapidly before her sophomore release. She resurfaced on the R&B/hip-hop chart via Ace Hood’s “Champion” and later reached its summit by co-writing Monica’s “Everything to Me,” again with Elliott and Lamb. Additional contributions appeared on projects by Snoop Dogg, Wale, Jadakiss, Robin Thicke, and Mary J. Blige. In July 2010, weeks after “Everything to Me” completed its run, Sullivan, Elliott, and Lamb repeated the feat with “Holding You Down (Goin’ in Circles),” the lead single from Love Me Back, which became her fourth Top Ten R&B/hip-hop entry as lead artist. The album followed in November and reached number 17 on the Billboard 200. More stylistically varied than its predecessor, Love Me Back included the raw-soul throwback “10 Seconds,” a Top 20 R&B/hip-hop single produced with Salaam Remi, plus the stark narrative “Redemption,” the tense ballad “Stuttering,” and the glossy pop-funk cut “Don’t Make Me Wait.” “Holding You Down (Goin’ in Circles)” earned Sullivan another Grammy nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

Early in 2011 Sullivan announced an indefinite hiatus. Four years elapsed before Reality Show appeared, yet during the interim she placed material with Monica, Tamia, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, and Faith Evans, among others, and joined Bilal on Robert Glasper Experiment’s “You’re My Everything.” As before, she previewed the RCA debut with several singles, charting with “Dumb” featuring Meek Mill and the acoustic “Forever Don’t Last” produced by Chuck Harmony; both 2014 releases paved the way for Reality Show’s January 2015 arrival. Unpredictable in range, the album debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200 and, like the gold-certified Fearless, topped the R&B/hip-hop chart. “Let It Burn,” a stark slow jam produced by Key Wane, surpassed the earlier singles by reaching number four on Adult R&B Songs and collected two Grammy nominations for Best R&B Song and Best Traditional R&B Performance, while Reality Show itself was nominated for Best R&B Album.

Continuing her role as sought-after collaborator, Sullivan worked in subsequent years with Frank Ocean, GoldLink, Mali Music, and Blige, co-writing four tracks including two singles for the latter’s 2017 album Strength of a Woman. Months after that project’s release she teamed with Bryson Tiller on the title song for the second-season soundtrack of Issa Rae’s Insecure. In 2019 she co-wrote and performed on PJ Morton’s “Built for Love,” another Grammy-nominated entry for Best Traditional R&B Performance, and appeared on Kindness’ “Hard to Believe” and Anderson .Paak’s “Good Heels.” She resumed fronting with “Lost One” and the Grammy-nominated “Pick Up Your Feelings” the following year, then added the H.E.R. collaboration “Girl Like Me” and Heaux Tales in early 2021. The Grammy-nominated EP, which housed those three singles, drew widespread acclaim and Album of the Year recognition from numerous outlets; a deluxe edition, Heaux Tales, Mo’ Tales, followed in 2022 along with the single “Stand Up” from the film Till.