Stephanie Biddle

Stephanie Biddle
Background information
Birth name Stephanie Andrea Biddle
Origin Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec, Canada
Genres Jazz
Instruments Voice
Years active 1987–present
Labels Elan
Website www.stephaniebiddle.com

Stephanie Biddle is a Canadian jazz musician.

Early life

She spent her early childhood in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec. Her father was Charlie Biddle, a Montreal-based jazz musician. Her father is African-American and her mother is French-Canadian.

Career

She began modeling when she moved to Montreal at the age of 15, and began her music career fronting the cover band Living Proof, which performed at weddings and local clubs between 1987 and 1989, mostly pop and jazz standards.[1] Her career took off after she gained the support of a record producer in Paris. Her single "Dis-moi" (1991) reached number 11 on the French pop charts. Still, she did not obtain a record deal in Montreal, and for several years spent the winters singing in Le Gosier, Guadeloupe.[2]

Biddle has also worked as a model and actor, with engagements on the European and North American "catwalks", along with some 30 film roles and television appearances. Her film debut was in 1979 in a Montreal teen film, Crunch, and she appeared along with her father in the 1988 film The Moderns.[1]

She starred as the lead female role of the Opera of Normandy’s La Haut in Rouen, France, and was featured in the movies and soundtracks of Hollywood film productions such as The Whole Nine Yards[3][4] alongside Bruce Willis, and VH1's A Diva's Christmas Carol where she performs with Vanessa L. Williams.[5] Biddle also performed in One Eyed King, a film directed by Crash producer Robert Moresco and starring Armand Assante.[6] She also had a major role in the 2001 French-language film Karmen Gei, "a re-make of the classic movie Carmen the definitive femme fatale of Bizet's classic opera".[7][8]

She has performed at jazz venues and festivals throughout North America (Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Las Vegas, Montreal and Toronto), and the world (Paris, Antigua, Cancun, Guadeloupe, Cuba, the Bahamas, Japan, Brazil, China and Africa).[6][9][10]

She has also hosted a popular television entertainment series, Cool Concerts, on Cool Jazz Network and Jazz Clubs of New York City.

Debut album

In 1991, her debut album, Dis-moi, was released,[11] whose title track achieved "top ten" status in Paris and in her hometown, Montreal.

She has performed in Hong Kong (at the Lobster Bar at the Island Shangri-La Hotel),[5] China and Brazil, and has relocated to Manhattan. The Miami Herald remarked, "On the cusp between jazz’s old vanguard and its new, “Stephanie Biddle possesses the warmth of Sarah Vaughn, the clarity, the bite and the rhythmic sense of Ella Fitzgerald and the sly and elegant style of Nancy Wilson".

Personal life

Her brother Charles Jr. is also a performer. Her older sister Sonya Biddle is a former Montreal city councillor, and her younger sister Tracy is a bartender and occasional singer.[12] Tracy is also a freelance writer and hosted radio shows on CBC radio network .[13]

References

  1. 1 2 Brownstein, Bill. "Biddles springing up all over Montreal entertainment scene", Montreal Gazette, 1988-03-05, p. D4.
  2. ↑ Perusse, B. "Stephanie Biddle carries the torch", Montreal Gazette, 2003-03-30, p. B1.
  3. ↑ played role of jazz vocalist
  4. ↑ "The Whole Nine Yards" (2000). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008-05-16.
  5. 1 2 "Biddle bit of... a superstar", South China Morning Post, 2005-10-12, p. 2.
  6. 1 2 (Sylvain Cossette Quartet): "...he started a partnership with Stéphanie Biddle (daughter of the late Charles Biddle) to start the Liquid Blues Band. For two years (1999-2000), the group gave several performances in many concert halls and festivals in Quebec and also took part in recording the score of the American movie One eyed king."
  7. ↑ Published on August 2, 2002, San Jose Mercury News (CA): "ITS EARTHY STAR SIZZLES IN LUSTY 'KARMEN GEI': Carmen... gets a glorious makeover in the French-Senegalese import Karmen Gei. Well, makeover may be too polite a term. This Carmen, or Karmen, as played by an ever-spinning, ever-undulating force of nature named Djeinaba Diop Gai, is the earthiest, lustiest Carmen yet."
  8. ↑ The Africa Channel Presents: Karmen Gei: "The film stars two charismatic, statuesque beauties: Djeinaba Diop Gai as Karmen and Stephanie Biddle as Angelique, the warden of a women's prison where Karmen is initially held..."
  9. ↑ 30 June 2003 7:00 PM Charles Biddle JR & Stephanie Biddle, On the Saint-Lawrence Bateau Cavalier Maxim.
  10. ↑ jazzbrat.com - Montreal Jazz Festival 2003 - Indoor Schedule
  11. ↑ Recording Title (CD or Album): DIS-MOI/BIDDLE, STEPHANIE Spine: ELAC-5001 Disk: 1 Side: 0 Cut Number: 1 Release Year: 1991 Label Name: ELAN
  12. ↑ Lalonde, Michelle. "Biddle's widow", The Gazette, 2005-02-04, p. A7.
  13. ↑ CBC Radio 88.5 > The Flip Side: "With The Flip Side, I wanted to bring to light the views of different people from all walks of life..."
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