Sunshine Anderson

Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Sunshine Anderson appeared in musicals and talent shows from an early age. While enrolled at North Carolina Central University, where she earned a B.S. in criminal justice, she was noticed in the campus cafeteria when a friend of producer and Soulife A&R Vice President Mike City overheard her humming and arranged an introduction. After graduation she relocated to Washington, D.C., accepting a government post in human resources, before moving on to Los Angeles. There she began recording sessions with City and gained management from the widely praised vocalist Macy Gray.

Her debut album, Your Woman, appeared in 2001. Powered by the single “Heard It All Before,” it rose to number two on Billboard’s R&B albums chart, earned gold certification, and surpassed 800,000 copies sold. Nearly six years later she released Sunshine at Midnight on Mathew Knowles’ Music World label, with Raphael Saadiq and City among the contributors; the project achieved far less commercial traction. In 2010 Anderson returned with her third album, The Sun Shines Again, which City produced entirely except for one track.