An Artist You Should Know... Dawn Richard

Even if you have never heard her name before, there is a chance that you have heard Dawn Richard sing at some point.  She became famous as a member of the Diddy formed Danity Kane.  Their formation was documented on the MTV reality series, Making the Band.  The girl group disbanded, or more accurately imploded, after two albums, their self-titled debut and their sophomore and final album, "Welcome to the Dollhouse."  They also had a moderate hit with the first single off of the latter, "Damaged."  After Danity Kane went their separate ways, you expected not to hear too much from them, until they eventually got back together to try to rekindle the "magic" or cash in on others nostalgia.  That is not what happened.  A few of the ladies faded away, see ya D. Woods!  Good luck with the country thing, Shannon!  Two of the ladies refused to go back to obscurity though.

First, there was Aubrey O'Day.  She worked hard to extend her fifteen minutes of fame.  She posed for Playboy, got a reality show, and went on Celebrity Apprentice, all in pretty quick succession.  I think she maybe released an EP or something.

Then, there was Dawn Richard.  Diddy seemed really invested in her throughout the run of the show and you could tell watching that she had the most talent.  Her voice reminded you of Brandy, if Brandy had a stronger voice.  Don't hate, I love Brandy.  After Danity Kane was no more, Diddy drafted her to be part of his new vanity project, Diddy Dirty Money.  This resulted in one album, "Last Train to Paris."  After Diddy Dirty Money disbanded, Dawn parted ways with Bad Boy Records, which was probably the best thing for her.

Rather than become some reality tv fame monger, Dawn has chosen to focus on her music and we are all the better for it.  Dawn may be the hardest working woman in R&B right now.  Since 2011, she has released a mixtape, two EPs, and her debut album.  You should find all of these immediately.  The mixtape is called, "The Prelude to a Tell Tale Heart," the EPs, "Armor On" and "Whiteout" and her debut album is called, "GoldenHeart."  I'm going to give you some time to buy those, listen to them and come back.  You did all that?  Good.

Dawn is amazing.  She does a great job of utilizing old school R&B, while at the same time modernizing it, with chilly synth beats and electro grooves that come off as a really cool amalgamation of Grace Jones and Sade.  She deserves to be in the upper echelon of today's R&B singers.  She should be mentioned in the same breath as Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, Brandy, Ledisi, Jennifer Hudson.  Instead, people just think that she is some girl group reject.  Well, now you know differently.  Tell your friends.  Also, if for some reason you didn't go get her albums when I told you too, here are a few of her videos to convince you.