Marsha Ambrosius

All Music Guide:

Shortly after the end of her gold-selling R&B act Floetry, singer, songwriter, and producer Marsha Ambrosius -- whose biggest claim to fame as a writer is Michael Jackson's Top 20 hit “Butterflies” -- signed with Dr. Dre's Aftermath label. Nothing came from the short-lived alliance. However, Ambrosius eventually signed with J Records, where she finally released her first official solo album -- Late Nights & Early Mornings -- in 2011. While in creative limbo, she was nonetheless active, issuing a handful of mixtapes and collaborating with Alicia Keys (“Go Ahead”), Mario (“Why"), Jazmine Sullivan (“Music [All I Need]”), Jamie Foxx (“Freak’in Me”), and Wale (“Diary”).

Wikipedia:

Marsha Ambrosius or Marsha is an English singer/songwriter. A former member of the English Soul/R&B duo Floetry, she released her first solo album Late Nights & Early Mornings on March 1, 2011.

Early career with Floetry

Original Floetry members Marsha Ambrosius and Natalie Stewart met through their love of basketball and formed a friendship. Both Natalie and Marsha attended the Brit School for Performing Arts & Technology where Marsha studied business and finance and Natalie majored in Performing Arts, Media and Art. For college Ambrosius planned to attend the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia but could not due to an injury. Stewart attended Middlesex University in London and later transferred to North London University. During these years, both women continued to keep in touch. Stewart was a founding member of the performance poetry group 3 Plus 1 which was rising to critical acclaim throughout London, Birmingham, and Manchester. After inviting Ambrosius to join her on stage to perform at a spoken word night, where they debuted a piece that they had written together called "Fantasize", combining spoken word and singing, it seemed to make sense to combine the two and Floetry was born.

Group success

In 2000, the duo travelled to the United States to perform on the poetry circuit. After frequenting spoken word/poetry spots in Atlanta, GA such as Yin Yang Poets' Cafe (to rave reviews), they moved on to Philadelphia. There they met Darren 'Limitless' Henson and Keith 'Keshon' Pelzer of DJ Jazzy Jeff's Touch Of Jazz studio and began recording. In 2002, they signed with DreamWorks Records and released their debut album Floetic, which featured the singles "Floetic", "Say Yes", and "Getting Late". The album was also released in the UK with additional tracks, one of which features British singer/songwriter and producer Sebastian Rogers.

Solo career

Ambrosius has been featured on many songs including Styles P's "I'm Black"; The Game's "Start from Scratch" and "Why You Hate The Game" (also featuring Nas); Busta Rhymes' "Get You Some" and "Cocaina"; Nas' "Hustlers" (also featuring The Game); and Hi-Tek's "Music for Life" and Jamie Foxx's "Freak'in Me". The group has also collaborated with Earth, Wind & Fire on their most recent album, Illumination, on the track "Elevated". She collaborated once again with Nas on his song "If I Ruled The World '09" & has also done a track with Slum Village called "Cloud 9". In 2009, she guested on Wale's "Diary".

Ambrosius was signed to Dr. Dre's record label, Aftermath Entertainment, as a solo musician/song-writer/producer. Parting ways with the label in early 2009, Ambrosius pursued her song-writing/production career landing her placements with R&B and hip hop artists ranging from Alicia Keys, Raven-Symoné, Jamie Foxx and Mario to Fabolous, Slum Village and Wale. In summer 2009, Ambrosius was approached by numerous record labels offering her a solo deal after a long awaited performance at NYC's SOB's where a sold out crowd gathered to a show accompanied by The Roots and DJ Aktive. In December 2009, Ambrosius signed to J Records and her solo debut Late Nights & Early Mornings was released on March 1, 2011. "Hope She Cheats On You (With A Basketball Player)" was released as the album's first single on August 13, 2010. The song charted on the U.S. BillboardHot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and peaked at number twenty-two. "Far Away" was released as the album's second single on December 7, 2010.

In an interview with XXL magazine Tech N9ne mentions a possible collaboration with Ambrosius, Lil Wayne, and Eminem on a track titled "This is Hip-hop" for his upcoming solo album All 6's And 7's.

She won the Centric Award at the BET Awards of 2011. She is also being nominated for Best Female R&B Artist.

On October 7, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding J Records along with Arista Records and Jive Records. With the shutdown, Ambrosius (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) will release her future material on the RCA Records brand.

Singles

Appearances

All the above written or co-written by Marsha Ambrosius.

Writing credits