Ultra Naté

Ultra Naté emerged during the 1990s as one of house music’s most colorful and gifted vocalists, maintaining a firm grip on dance-floor audiences even when major-label pressures threatened to pull her in other directions. After starting out under contract to Warner Brothers she shifted by the close of the decade to the independent powerhouse Strictly Rhythm, where her profile and commercial reach grew markedly stronger than before. Raised near Baltimore, she was still enrolled in pre-medical studies toward the end of the 1980s when she first immersed herself in the city’s club circuit. There she met a pair of DJs who performed collectively as the Basement Boys; together the three cut the track “It’s Over Now,” which secured a deal with Britain’s WEA Records. The single quickly turned into a major international dance success, elevating her reputation abroad long before it registered at home, though Warner Brothers still issued her debut album Blue Notes in the Basement on American shores. Subsequent releases “Scandal,” “Is It Love,” and “Deeper Love” all registered strongly on the charts. Nevertheless the label persisted in presenting her domestically as an R&B artist, an approach that left the follow-up album One Woman’s Insanity unable to cross over despite the fact that “Show Me” topped the U.S. dance listings. She then signed with Strictly Rhythm and, in 1997, delivered the Mood II Swing–produced single “Free,” which became her most successful release to date, reaching the Top Ten across much of Europe and hitting number one in both France and Switzerland. The album Situation: Critical arrived in April 1998, featuring production contributions from Mood II Swing, Al Mack, Masters at Work, and D-Influence. Later projects included Stranger Than Fiction in 2001 and Silk, Grime & Thunder, issued on Tommy Boy in 2007.