she was content to play her position in the background and never thought she would ever get
the chance to be front and center eventually she did with much encouragement from her supporters
and experienced great success however at one point she wouldn't be heard from for many years
leaving fans wondering if she would ever make it back to the center stage again
let's find out what happened to american 90s pop r b singer i know j born in madison wisconsin
and raised in the suburbs of milwaukee ayanna porter better known by her stage name i know
jay started on her musical journey long before she could even read and write as a toddler she learned
to play the piano with her grandmother she then got the idea to stand on top of the piano bench
microphone in hand to sing and put on an official show she would begin to write music at the age of
seven some of her early musical influences were minnie riperton stevie wonder chicago
and michael jackson starting out so early in life with such a strong passion for music she naturally
wanted to pursue the art for a living however her parents encouraged her to pursue a career in
civil engineering instead while attending morgan state university in baltimore ayana joined a girl
group called spellbound there was a lot of coming and going of different members as well as name
changes but she was always a staple they signed with arista records and recorded a full album
under the guidance of super producer dallas austin unfortunately that album never saw the light of
day and after that ayanna decided to forget about becoming a recording artist altogether and focused
solely on songwriting she got connected and started writing with a producer and dj by the
name of charles the mixologist at the time charles was in atlanta and also happened to be working
with rapper lil john the miami-based r b track my boo by ghost town djs was climbing the charts
and charles asked ayanna if she thought she could write something similar she did and he loved it
since she did so well on that assignment lil jon wanted her to sing on a demo of a cover of a
classic 80s song for an upcoming compilation album that song would blow everyone away and end up
getting her a record deal on so-so deaf recordings i know j made her solo debut into the music world
in 1997 with that song love you down a cover of r b soul band ready for the world's 1986 head
it peaked at number 25 on the billboard hot 100 and number three on the r b chart her stage name
ano j is actually the name yanni j-o-n-i which is her nickname spell backwards she went with the
alternative spelling in an effort to hide from the public since at the time she really didn't want
to be a known recording artist her debut album titled ready for the world was released in 1999.
a couple more covers were in her future including the cindy lopper hit time after time which was
even more successful than her debut single peaking at number 6 on the hot 100 it also
became a top 10 hit in canada and new zealand she also tackled anita ward's ring my bell
however it didn't receive much exposure as her previous singles after the 90s came to an end
i know jay wasn't heard from for many years on the radio at least she's always continued
to write and record music even if fans didn't hear any new material from her on the airwaves
over the last 15 years she's released the occasional single here and there when she
feels the time is right she's also continued doing what she did from the start writing and
working with other artists in 2004 she got the amazing opportunity to co-write the track my
baby for janet jackson's demeta joe album she can even be heard on the song on the backing vocals
in 2017 she commemorated the 20-year anniversary of love you down by releasing a new mix called lyd
a little-known fact about anna jay is that she has a vault of nearly 100 songs that have never
been released she doesn't know if they ever will be because she is so critical of her own work
and wants everything to be perfect during the 2020 pandemic she's used her down time to educate
herself in various healing modalities such as reiki and homeopathic medicine she's very much
into health wellness and self-improvement and when it's all said and done she plans to come
out of everything looking and feeling better than ever as far as music goes her latest work
a single called over you dropped in february 2021 and can be found on all digital download platforms
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