Joi Cardwell

Born in New York City in the late-1960s and raised in various areas of Queens.

Cardwell appeared on stage at Carnegie Hall at the age of five in a dance recital, and was used to being on a stage by the time she was a teenager.

She worked as a back-up session singer for Melba Moore, Jermaine Jackson, LL Cool J, and The Pointer Sisters.

Joi Cardwell (born October 8, 1967) is an American singer and songwriter.

After graduating from New York University with degrees in English and Music in the mid-1980s, she studied voice for a year primarily to master control, as she had already developed and retained her own personal style.

After her studies, she wrote and published songs for major R&B acts such as Kashif, L.A. Posse, and Malika Thomas.

Since the market in the 1980s was already saturated with sweet-sounding, bubbly R&B groups, it was difficult for The Promise to stand.

As a result, Cardwell decided to answer an ad in the Village Voice that read, "Epic recording artist looking for a background singer for a live tour."

The recording artist turned out to be house-music innovator Lil Louis.

She recorded two songs; "Club Lonely" and "Saved My Life" for Lil Louis' album Journey with the Lonely, which both peaked at number 1 on Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart.

Cardwell's experience as a vocalist and songwriter turned out to be exactly what Lil Louis had been searching for in a singer.

He proved to be an early influence for Cardwell's sound, which melds a new dance beat with a thoughtful lyrical twist.

Cardwell creates material that sounds as though she's musing quietly about life while a dancing throng gyrates with joy nearby, and her lyrics are soulful, romantic, and thought-provoking.

Shortly after meeting Lil Louis, Cardwell conceived the single "Dancing in My Sleep", and within a week of penning it, she was in Chicago cutting demos and well on her way to a career as a dance-hall diva and R&B songstress.

When "Club Lonely" reached the number one mark, Cardwell distanced herself from the Lil Louis project.

Her close affiliation with Kashif led to an album deal with Arista Records in 1988 for her pop R&B girl-group, The Promise.

Born and raised in New York City, she performed in various singing competitions as a child and rose to fame in the early 1990s as a guest vocalist for Lil Louis on the number 1 Dance singles "Club Lonely" and "Saved My Life".

In 1993, she toured in Japan for eight months as a background singer for Japanese soul singer Toshinobu Kubota.

Cardwell gleaned experience from the large overseas tour returned to the U.S. significantly more focused and ready to tackle a solo singing career.

In 1994, Cardwell signed a recording contract with Eightball Records, an independent label based in New York.

In 1994, Cardwell released her first single "Trouble" on Eight Ball Records, which was a double-pack single including remixes from Junior Vasquez, Sotoshi Tomiie, and Deep Dish.

The song charted at number 11 on the Dance chart.

She also released a non-album single "Holdin' On" with Jay Mac.

The release of Cardwell's debut album, The World Is Full of Trouble (1995), established her as a solo artist worldwide and featured the Billboard Dance top-five singles number-one singles "Jump for Joi" and "Love & Devotion".

Her first solo album The World Is Full of Trouble was released on May 15, 1995.

The album spawned the top-charted singles "Jump for Joi" and "Love & Devotion".

In 1995, she recorded the single "Luv Connection" for Towa Tei's album Future Listening!.

Cardwell contributed guest vocals on the single "The Creator Has A Master Plan" for the Brooklyn Funk Essentials' album Cool & Steady & Easy.

She also toured with the group throughout the year.

In 1996, she toured as a backing vocalist for Toshinobu Kubota on the Oyeees!

Tour.

In July 1996, she released the single "You Got to Pray".

The single peaked at number 1 on Billboard's Dance Club Play chart.

Her second album, Joi Cardwell (1997), spawned the top-charting singles "Soul to Bare", "Run to You", and "Found Love".

Cardwell's eponymous second solo album Joi Cardwell was released on November 11, 1997, in the US.

In 1999, she released her third album, Deliverance, on her own record label, No-Mad Industries.

Her fourth album, The Plain Jane Project (2005), yielded the top-ten singles "Freedom" and "It's Over".

She continued to release albums on her recording label including Wanderlust (The Soundtrack) (2009) and Must Be the Music (2011).

In 2014, Cardwell resurfaced with her seventh album The Art of Being, which was released on her new recording label Curly Gurly Records.

In 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her at No. 43 amongst the Greatest of All Time Top Dance Club Artists.