By the year 2000, singer Shanice was on leading of her game. She was a Grammy-nominated artist along with several strike singles and her fourth chart-topping album under her belt, and she had worked along with everybody from Babyface to Jermaine Dupri.
So, as soon as Shanice got pregnant at the end of that year, she was thrilled, however had no strategies of slowing down her career.
“I was signed to a serious label. I was actually excited,” she says. “I was pregnant, however I had started functioning on my brand-new music.”
When Shanice was 5 months pregnant along with her very first child, she and her husband, actor Bend Alexander, flew to brand-new York from Los Angeles to comply with along with a tape label executive concerning her brand-new music. However, unbeknownst to Shanice, it would certainly be their last meeting.
“He said, ‘Oh, I’m so excited concerning your project,’” Shanice recalls. “By the moment I got spine to LA from brand-new York, I grab a phone call: ‘The label’s simply checking out allow you be a mom for a while. We’re checking out allow you go.’ They dropped me. While I was pregnant.”
Shanice was stunned ― and confused.
“I guess they believed that individuals wouldn’t adore me anymore or I would certainly be from shape? I don’t understand exactly what it was. I said, ‘No one’s checking out observe me! I’m in the studio recording. By the moment I complete the album, the baby will certainly be born and I could sustain it rolling,’” she says. “They didn’t observe it. So I lost my tape deal.”
From there, Shanice felt points go downhill.
“Every little thing simply sort of stopped for me, suddenly. After that I went in to a depression,” she says. “I was so proud of my brand-new baby, however I was so miserable due to the fact that I wanted to still sing.”
What earned points tougher, she adds, was the public perception of why her profession took a turn.
“individuals thought, ‘Oh, I simply believed you simply backed away due to the fact that you had youngsters and you simply wanted to be a mom for a while,’” Shanice says. “I’m like, ‘No! I wanted to be a mom and still be a successful singer.’ I felt adore it was every one of taken away from me.”
Today, Shanice is a proud mom of two, starring in the collection “Bend & Shanice” ― and she’s functioning on a brand brand-new album. She says she’s delighted to observe that attitudes concerning pregnancy and motherhood have actually shifted due to the fact that her own experience.
“Pregnancy is being celebrated now… That’s Exactly how it must be,” Shanice says. “however as soon as I got pregnant, it was like, ‘No. This is not checking out work.’ It was a various time.”
Another personal prove to from Shanice:
The 2 words of suggestions that Prince gave to Shanice several years prior to he died
