Yvette Michele established herself in the mid ‘90s by getting the chance to combine her subtle R&B lyrics with the hip-hop production of Funkmaster Flex for his debut mixtape. Musically similar to Mary J. Blige and Faith Evans, she would unfortunately be cut by her label before the turn of the millennium, leading her to focus on other personal interests and priorities in the years since.

Born Michele Yvette Bryant in Brooklyn, New York on December 17, 1968, she grew up in the Manhattan and Bronx boroughs, singing at home as a four year old before later on joining her church choir on top of taking dance classes and music lessons. Although she fancied the idea of becoming a singer, Yvette first tried her hand at a more solid career path through studying speech therapy and working at NYNEX for a while. However, the desire to do music continued to follow her until she eventually decided to try and turn it into reality.

While performing and shopping her demo around New York City’s underground music scene, Yvette had a chance encounter with Funkmaster Flex, whom she had previously went to high school with. Upon hearing her demo, Flex gave her a shot by having her write a song to a beat he made to include on his debut mixtape, the final result of which became “Everyday & Everynight.” The success of that song and Flex’s The Mix Tape Volume 1: 60 Minutes of Funk led to her receiving a deal to become the first lady of Loud Records, with “Everyday & Everynight” being released as her debut single soon after in early 1996.

Yvette next appeared on Flex’s second mixtape with the song “I’m Not Feeling You” in February 1997, and one month later it was issued as her second single in addition to receiving a Billboard Greatest Gainer/Sales award. An opportunity to be on rapper O.C.’s single “Far from Yours” would follow before her debut album My Dream arrived on August 26, 1997, supported by her previous singles along with three more: “DJ Keep Playin' (Get Your Music On),” “Crazy” and “All I Really Want.” Despite mostly positive reviews and performing decently on the music charts, it failed to sell a lot of units, causing Loud Records to let her go.

Yvette attempted to secure another record deal for a time afterwards, even going as far as relocating from NYC to Atlanta. When her efforts ended up being unsuccessful, she took a break to focus on raising her kids and complete her college education. She started her own consulting business and after some more time, returned to the industry to perform in smaller scale shows.

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