Veronica

Artist bio

Veronica refers to at least five different recording artists:

1. An emo band from the year 2000. They released the CD "Hope For A Brighter Future."

2. Ronnie Spector (born Veronica Yvette Bennett, 10 August 1943, in New York City) was the lead singer of the girl group The Ronettes, and is known as the "original bad girl of rock and roll".

3. Veronica (born Veronica Vazquez circa 1974 in the Bronx, New York) is a House, R&B & Soul music singer and theatrical actress. Along with singers Ultra Nate, Deborah Cox, she is considered to be one of the divas of the 1990s club music scene. She also is one of the few Latinas to become a successful artist in the English-language dance music genre.

4. Veronica (born Veronica Mehta) is an Indian R&B singer based in London, UK, who sings in Hindi, Urdu, English and Punjabi.

5. Veronica is a 16 year-old from Toronto, Canada singing pop music under the Universal Canada record label. http://www.beingveronica.com

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1. From a very young age, Ronnie took to singing, and her large, close family encouraged her to do so, along with the other members of the Ronettes, her sister Estelle Bennett and cousin Nedra Talley. The Ronettes were a multiracial group, which was a bit unusual during the 1960s. The Bennetts' mother was black and Native American; their father was white. In her autobiography, Ronnie Spector said that at one point in her childhood, she was not sure if she was black or white.

The Ronettes, who were produced and managed by Phil Spector, had huge hits with "Be My Baby", "Baby I Love You", and "Walking in the Rain" in the early 60's, but they disbanded in 1966 after the public apparently lost their taste for the girl group sound. From 1968 to 1973, Ronnie was married to Spector, and took his name professionally. However, by her own account he kept her a near-prisoner and limited her opportunities to pursue her musical ambitions.

In early 1971, during Phil Spector's tenure as head of A&R at Apple Records, Ronnie recorded the single "Try Some, Buy Some"/"Tandoori Chicken"; released as Apple 33 in the UK, Apple 1832 in the U.S. The A side of the single was written by George Harrison, and produced by Harrison and Spector. Although the single was not a big hit, it had one lasting influence: when John Lennon recorded "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" later the same year, he asked Spector to reproduce the same mandolin-laden 'Wall of Sound' that he had created for "Try Some Buy Some". (Lennon liked the rockabilly B-side too, and is reported to have sung it at his birthday party in New York in October 1971.)

In 1986 Eddie Money had a big hit with "Take Me Home Tonight," on which Spector was featured prominently as a guest vocalist, singing part of the chorus (where she is introduced by Money singing "just like Ronnie says...") of "Be My Baby." She also sang a duet with Southside Johnny on "You Mean So Much To Me Baby". Billy Joel's 1976 hit "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" is a tribute to Spector; Spector herself covered it, as did Bette Midler and other artists.

Her autobiography, Be My Baby, How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness, co-authored by Vince Waldron, was published in 1989 and became an international bestseller. In 2004, Onyx books republished the book in a revised and updated mass market paperback edition.

In 1999 she released the critically acclaimed album She Talks to Rainbows which featured a few cover versions of older songs. Joey Ramone acted as producer, and appeared on stage with her to promote the record.

She now lives in Connecticut with her second husband Jonathan Greenfield and their two sons, Austin Drew and Jason Charles. She also hosts an annual Christmas party at BB King's bar and grill in New York.

Spector's most recent album Last of the Rock Stars (High Coin Records) has been released. A new single, "All I Want," accompanies the album. Keith Richards and Patti Smith are among Spector's collaborators on the album. Spector herself has co-produced two of the songs.

In 2005 Spector sang "Ode to L.A." with the Danish rock group, The Raveonettes, on their album "Pretty in Black."

The Ronettes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.

2. Born in the New York City borough of the Bronx, her parents who were originally from Puerto Rico encouraged her to pursue her artistic inclinations. Veronica began her career in 1995 when she was 21 years old with the release of her debut album V...As in Veronica which was released on October 24, 1995. The album was a mixture of R&B and Hip hop. The album featured production from Rodney Jerkins and Dallas Austin. On October 28, 1997, when Veronica was 23 years old she released her second album Rise. This album was again R&B and Hip Hop influenced. She released two singles/videos off of this album. The first single was No One But You and it featured Craig Mack. The second single and album title track Rise was released and that featured guest vocals by Big Pun & Cuban Link. As one of the first artists to signed to Jellybean Recordings, a label founded by music producer Jellybean Benitez, Veronica had a string of hits on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, including three reached the top ten. Let Me Go... Release Me landed the number one spot in 1998, and soon afterwards it was followed by the club anthem Someone To Hold (which peaked at the number two slot) which was remixed by producer Johnny Vicious and played heavily in the club circuit scene. The song still remains a classic among club goers today and it was featured on the soundtrack to the independent film Trick released in 1999 and starred Christian Campbell and Tori Spelling. She scored a second number one dance hit in 2000 with her cover of Evelyn "Champagne" King's classic R&B song I'm In Love, which was rerecorded for a club setting. She remains a very popular singer to this very day among gay audiences and especially in the club circuit scene.

She moved away from New York and the club music scene for a few years. During these years, she pursued her love for musical theater and was given the opportunity to portray slain Tejano singer Selena in a traveling production about her life and times. The production, titled Selena Forever traveled to numerous cities with a large Mexican-American population for over a year. Shortly after the successful run of the production, she decided to return to New York and start a family and return to her love of music. In 2004, Veronica recorded a song with rapper Triple Seis titled "Krazy". The song was featured on Triple Seis' debut album Time'll Tell. After a brief hiatus, Veronica returned in 2006, with music producer Tim Rex on her first dance single in over five years, Relentless...Just a Game. She can be seen in the 2007 film "El Cantante" where she plays Héctor Lavoe's mother in his younger years.


3. Aged 16, Mehta successfully auditioned for the part of female vocalist for the 2Kool album 2Kool Flavor. She was featured on the track "Sambhala Hai Meine" and has since gone from strength to strength.
Mehta gave up her art studies course to pursue her dream of a singing career and teamed up with Rishi Rich to forum VR1, a band and production unit applauded for experimenting with traditional Asian music, remixing, and giving vocals an R'n'B twist. VR1 sold more than 50,000 records in the UK and Europe and earned two Asian Pop Media Awards.

After VR1, Mehta joined ePark / Urbanstar and released the single "Girls Gotta Have Fun", with both CDs having various mixes of the title track, as well as the song "Show me Love".
Mehta has recorded a few tracks with her new management record company 2Point9, "Indian Girl" featuring Hard Kaur, and the popular "U 'n' I (Mere Dil Vich Hai)", from the Yash Chopra film Hum Tum, a track that Veronica composed herself.

Mehta's first album, Theen, was released in 2005. 'Hey Ya' (featuring Juggy D.) was the only single released from the album.

In 2006, Veronica won "Best Female Act" at the UK Asian Music Awards.[1]

Veronica released the album "Rush" in 2010
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Also the Dutch (illegal) Radio-organisation made a single in 1971 to gather support to keep Veronica in the air. The single was called (U moet wat doen het is voor) Veronica. Translated: (do something, it's for) Veronica.

Due to the succes of their action, Veronica could stay in business and is now one of the commercial Radio and TV - organisations from The Netherlands. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.