Keyshia Cole

Keyshia Cole earned recognition across her professional path thanks to a raspy soprano delivery paired with a deeply emotive stage presence, ranking among the foremost R&B figures who surfaced during the mid-2000s. Her initial full-length project, The Way It Is (2004), positioned the vocalist, composer, and beat-maker as a Bay Area counterpart to Mary J. Blige, conveying romantic struggles with raw street-level directness and honesty; she distinguished her output further through the follow-up platinum releases Just Like You (2007) and A Different Me (2008), adventurous collections that yielded seven Top Ten R&B/hip-hop singles altogether and four Grammy nominations for the earlier of those two sets. Extending her run of Top Ten albums via Calling All Hearts (2010), Woman to Woman (2012), and Point of No Return (2014), Cole watched the circle of vocalists shaped by her approach—among them K. Michelle and Teyana Taylor—expand steadily. She later delivered her seventh album, 11:11 Reset (2017), then entered the 2020s as an independent act via the 2021 single “I Don’t Wanna Be in Love,” several television ventures, a featured role on a Nicki Minaj recording, and ongoing preparations for an eighth studio album.

Born Keyshia Myeshia Johnson, Cole aimed from childhood to build a life centered on music. The Oakland native began pursuing opportunities while still a preteen, among them a recording session with fellow Bay Area artist MC Hammer. Toward the close of the ’90s her vocal ambitions gained traction under the guidance of mentor D’wayne Wiggins (of Tony! Toni! Toné!). She soon featured on the remix of Messy Marv’s “Nubian Queen” and on the Wiggins-produced soundtrack to the independent film Me & Mrs. Jones. After weighing a relocation to Los Angeles following those initial Bay Area breaks, Cole departed for Southern California upon learning of her then-boyfriend’s infidelity and resolved never to return.

In Los Angeles she swiftly caught the attention of A&M president Ron Fair, who offered her a solo contract. Cole introduced herself with the Eve collaboration “Never,” crafted by Fair and Erroll “Poppi” McCalla, Jr. for the Barbershop 2: Back in Business soundtrack. Drawing from Luther Vandross’ “Never Too Much”—a hit released the same year Cole entered the world, 1981—the song appeared on Billboard’s R&B/hip-hop chart in February 2004 and reached number 71. Nine months afterward she returned with the lead single from her debut album. “I Changed My Mind,” co-written with John Legend and co-produced by Kanye West, marked her breakthrough, climbing to number 23 on the R&B/hip-hop chart and crossing into the Hot 100. She registered another entry with the next preview, “(I Just Want It) To Be Over,” before unveiling her first LP, The Way It Is, in June 2005. The project underscored her streetwise perspective relative to most contemporary R&B peers, aligning her more closely with Mary J. Blige, Monica, and Jaheim than with Ciara, Beyoncé, and Mario. The Way It Is fell one spot shy of the R&B/hip-hop summit, reached number six on the Billboard 200, and generated two additional major singles, “I Should Have Cheated” and “Love,” both of which attained Top Ten R&B/hip-hop status and became Top 40 pop hits. The Way It Is and “Love” ultimately received platinum certifications from the RIAA.

Cole delivered notable guest turns on Diddy’s Press Play (“Last Night”) and R. Kelly’s Double Up (“Best Friend”) before presenting her sophomore effort, Just Like You, in September 2007. Issued on Geffen, where she reunited with Ron Fair, Just Like You achieved another commercial triumph, topping the R&B/hip-hop chart and debuting at number two on the Billboard 200. Its arrival overlapped with the premiere of a BET reality series bearing the same title. The album together with two of its four prominent singles—the early-’80s-inspired Missy Elliott and Cainon Lamb collaboration “Let It Go” (number one R&B/hip-hop, number seven pop) and the ballad “Heaven Sent” (number one R&B/hip-hop, number 28 pop)—earned a combined four Grammy nominations, all within the R&B categories.

In December 2008, shortly after the second season of Cole’s BET program commenced, she released her third album, the comparatively buoyant and pop-leaning A Different Me. Like its predecessor, it came within one position of the Billboard 200 summit. It likewise achieved platinum status, propelled by the Top Ten R&B/hip-hop singles “Playa Cardz Right” (featuring 2Pac), “You Complete Me,” and “Trust” (featuring Monica). In 2010, the year she welcomed a son with professional basketball player Daniel Gibson, Cole issued her fourth collection, Calling All Hearts, which arrived in December and entered the Billboard 200 at number nine despite lacking major advance singles. After parting ways with Ron Fair, who had departed Geffen, she proceeded with Woman to Woman. The November 2012 release paid tribute to her supporters, who ensured it became Cole’s fifth consecutive Top Ten album on both the R&B/hip-hop and pop charts.

Cole subsequently shifted to another major imprint, the Sony-distributed Epic, for the comparably successful Point of No Return. Her third number one R&B/hip-hop album (and sixth Top Ten pop LP), it appeared in October 2014. Leading producers DJ Mustard and Mike WiLL Made-It contributed, along with Cole’s acknowledged influence Faith Evans. Free of Interscope, Cole moved to Epic for the 2017 album 11:11 Reset, introduced by several ballads including “You.” Although none of its singles charted prominently, “You” and additional tracks accumulated millions of streams. She resurfaced in early 2021 with the independently released “I Don’t Wanna Be in Love,” which brought her back together with Ron Fair as co-producer. In 2023, alongside competing on the tenth season of the reality television gameshow The Masked Singer, Cole joined Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday 2 Deluxe Version track “Love Me Enough” with Monica, issued the new solo single “Forever Is a Thing,” and supplied the song “No Love Lost” to the soundtrack of the 2023 remake of the 1985 film The Color Purple. This burst of activity surrounded Cole’s continued work on her eighth studio album.