"Candice Anitra has a pure and beautiful instrument.
Producer aside, players aside, Candice's voice wins every time."
- Meshell Ndegeocello
"It is all too rare for me to hear a new artist and think 'now this is something truly fresh...and good!' That is the reaction I had when I first heard Ledisi. And . . . Amy Winehouse. I'm having that reaction now . . . Candice Anitra. She has a resonant voice and can sing. And she can write melodies. That makes her dangerous! . . . her expression has many levels -- intellectual, yes, but also emotional, and spiritual." - Randall Grass, VP/GM, Shenachie Entertainment
"Armed with a voice that won't quit and endless stage presence." - CentricTV.com
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Quick Bio
Soul music is urgent and pleading. It calls your name and calls you out; it wants to be whatever you need in that moment . . .
In recent moment, Candice Anitra has been bearing witness to alchemy at work: Bark then Bite, Candice's debut LP (spring/summer 2010 release), is the product of progressive chemistry coming together: 15 days at Studio G in Williamsburg with magical producer|engineer|artist Joel Hamilton, the same month he was wrapping Blakroc; Dub Trio's return from Matisyahu tour to lay the musical foundations of the album; Marika Hughes's rolling through with her cello one Saturday morning after playing for Whitney Houston's release; Soulive's Neal Evans's recording his organ in a hotel room overseas; and lastly, Scotty Hard's remixing "Objectify" to close out the album - a confluence of fortuitous forces for an album of "righteously raspy" and sultry rock-infused/edgy R&B.
Full Bio
"Soul music is urgent & pleading. It calls your name & calls you out; it wants to be whatever you need in that moment..."
In recent moments, Candice Anitra has been bearing witness to alchemy at work. Bark then Bite, her debut LP, is the product of progressive chemistry coming together: 15 days at Studio G in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with magical producer|engineer|artist Joel Hamilton, the same month he was wrapping Blakroc; Dub Trio's return from Matisyahu's tour to lay the musical foundations of the album; Marika Hughes's rolling through with her cello one Saturday morning after playing for Whitney Houston's release; Soulive's Neal Evans's recording his organ in a hotel room overseas; and lastly, Scotty Hard's remixing "Objectify" to close out the album - a confluence of fortuitous forces.
Bark then Bite is an album that demands to be heard. Not only do all the collaborators lend their artistic genius & decades of experience across musical genres, but Candice proves herself a force who could make a definitive mark on a new decade of music, art & politics. Candice's songwriting, with Joel Hamilton & Dub Trio's embellishment, pushes the envelope with its infusion of funked up rock n' roll and with her sexually-seductive politically-progressive lyrical content.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Candice's home as a young girl was infused with Motown, the Philly Sound, and Stax Records, as well as institutionalized oppression. She comes from a lineage of singers, whose powerful voices were limited to church and domestic lives.
As Candice realized her own passion for performing arts, she was at first stifled; at age 12, Candice asked her dad to teach her to sing, but he told her she "wasn't ready." Excited to attend Philadelphia's Creative and Performing Arts School for high school - and join the school's legendary performers Boyz II Men, Bilal Oliver, Black Thought, ?uestlove, Christian McBride and Jazmin Sullivan - Candice's parents told her she could focus on the arts later.
From Philly, she moved to the center of the arts world to earn her BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. There she received top tier training as an actor and vocalist. The move to New York City afforded her the opportunity to push the edges of artistic expression alongside gifted peers - as a featured vocalist in Kamal Sinclair's The Beat, as the lead singer of True Story featuring Nemiss, as a songwriter for the play Selling Splitsville, and as a singer and performer in numerous other performance art happenings. In 2008, Candice released her EP Easier, produced by Force Theory and engineered by Joel Hamilton at Studio G, music that propelled her demand by music venues throughout NYC and producers worldwide.
Growing up to the classic soul music her parents listened to, the 1980's R&B scene, and Black Lily shows with The Roots, Jill Scott, and India.Arie, Candice has recently been most inspired as an artist by Bill Withers, Ella Fitzgerald, Sam Cooke, childhood friend-saxophonist extraordinaire Jaleel Shaw, and her father William C. Manson.
Candice presently lives in Brooklyn, NY with her partner and two young daughters. Along with releasing Bark then Bite and several music videos, she is adapting a play for the screen and developing her first serial comic. Candice looks forward to being a songwriter and producer who harnesses her success to create and direct a community arts and youth development center.
She is transforming her family legacy from that of dreams deferred to one of dreams realized.