Diana King is a well-known Jamaican-American singer who became famous for her reggae and dancehall songs. Her most famous song is the track Shy Guy, as well as the I Say a Little Prayer remix, which became the soundtrack for the movie Best Friend's Wedding.
Diana King: first steps
Diana was born on November 8, 1970 in Jamaica. Her father is also a native of Jamaica, but has African roots, and her mother is of Indo-Jamaican origin. This greatly influenced the upbringing of their daughter, including musical preferences.
The singer's career began in 1994. It was then that she appeared on the hit album Ready to Die - one of the most famous rappers in the world - The Notorious BIG. The girl performed the part in the track Respect. This appearance was enough to get interested in the singer. Almost immediately, a contract was signed with the giant of the music industry - Sony Music. After that, studio trials began.
The first track was a cover of Bob Marley's Stir It Up. This song was featured on the soundtrack to the movie Cool Runnings. The song attracted the attention of the public and hit a number of charts.
Shy Guy song
The second single Shy Guy was released immediately. The song, produced by Andy Marvel, remains Diana's most famous song to this day. She was released in 1995 and in a few days led many charts. It was written in just 10 minutes (according to the creators of the composition). The song hit the Billboard Hot 100 chart and took 13th position there - a good result for an aspiring singer.
The single also went gold in sales and was certified accordingly. In Europe, the song was very popular - here it took 2nd position for a long time in the national British chart. In total, more than 5 million copies of the single were sold in the world at that time.
She has been at the top of the charts in Japan and African countries for a long time. The song definitely became the main hit of the debut album Tougher Than Love, released in the same year. The track also became one of the main soundtracks for the movie Bad Boys. Against the background of the popularity of the film, he became even more recognizable.
The album was released in April 1995 and performed well in terms of sales and critical reviews. Reggae, mixed with elements of pop music, has become close to listeners on different continents. At the same time, reggae fans did not consider the album too pop.
The creative path of the singer Diana King
King limited herself to releasing a few singles in 1996. Love Triangle and Ain't Nobody hit the top of the R&B charts. The audience of the singer practically did not expand thanks to the release of these songs, but her popularity remained at a high level.
In 1997, Diana recorded a cover version of Dionne Warwick's famous late 1960s hit I Say a Little Prayer. The song became the soundtrack to the popular film "Best Friend's Wedding" and topped the charts in the US and Europe. This single allowed the singer to loudly remind herself of herself - a great moment for the release of a new release.
King did just that, releasing her second album, Think Like a Girl, in the fall of 1997. By this time, the Billboard chart already had a special top reggae albums. It was in it that the release debuted immediately at the 1st position. Two singles from the release became hits in the US. These are the songs LL-Lies and Find My Way Back, which for a long time topped the charts. Interestingly, one of the singles was only released in Japan (Supa-Lova-Bwoy).
The girl's songs continued to become soundtracks for various feature films and documentaries. Among them is the film When We Were Kings (1997). Especially for the film, King performed the song together with Brian McKnight.
The creative period of Diana King after the 1990s
The end of the 1990s was also successful for the performer. She released a number of successful songs, appeared on stage with such stars as Celine Dion and Brandon Stone. The singer was invited to various ceremonies and awards. All this contributed to the spread of the Think Like a Girl album around the world, and the performer was very popular.
The singer regularly had tours in different countries, among them was even India. The singer admitted in an interview that she never thought about her return to this country (Diana had Indian roots on her mother's side).
In 2000, negotiations took place with Madonna to move to her label Maverick Records. However, the plans were not successful. The singer took a short creative break, but, as it turned out later, she was busy recording her third album.
Respect was released in the summer of 2002 and at first only in Japan. In the future, they planned to distribute the album in other countries, but these plans were violated. As a result, the album entered the American market only in 2008, and the official release in the UK took place in 2006. This led to a decrease in the popularity of the singer in the world. And the next album was released in 2010 and only in Japan.
Today, the singer is experimenting with the EDM (dance music) genre. She presented several songs in a new style for herself.
