Bria Valente

Brenda Fuentes, better known by her stage name Bria Valente[1] is an American singer. A protégée of Prince, Valente released her debut album, Elixer, as part of a three-album set with Prince's Lotusflow3r and MPLSound on March 29, 2009.[1] The collection debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 albums chart.[2]

Bria Valente
Bria Valente in December 2006
Background information
Birth nameBrenda Fuentes
BornMinneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
GenresR&B
Occupation(s)Singer
Instrument(s)Vocals
Years active2001–present
LabelsNPG

Valente was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She stated in an interview with Tavis Smiley that she first met Prince at the age of 17 at Paisley Park Studios while working with keyboardist Morris Hayes.[3] She later moved to Los Angeles, California, and worked as a model and background dancer for Usher.[1] She is credited with backing vocals on Usher's 2001 album 8701.

Valente returned to Minneapolis, where she began her association with Prince, contributing vocals to his 2007 album, Planet Earth.[1] Valente recorded Elixer in 2009; she sang lead vocals, with Prince on guitar, and Morris Hayes providing beats.[1][4] Prince described it as a quiet storm-style album.[5] The music review website Metacritic rated the album 49 out of 100, labeling it as having "mixed or average" reception, based on 12 reviews.[6] The album was released through the website lotusflow3r.com, as well as exclusively through U.S. retailer Target.[7]

As of 2010, Valente was Prince's girlfriend. She also became a Jehovah's Witness during this period.[8] Purple Music, a Swiss-based record label released Bria Valente CD single "2 Nite" on February 23, 2012 as part of a Prince club remixes package including the single "Dance 4 Me" by Prince, which was released February 23, 2012.[9]

Discography

Albums

Singles

References
  1. Bria Valente. AllMusic.
  2. "Keith Urban Scores First No. 1 Album". April 8, 2009. Access Hollywood. Retrieved on June 26, 2009.
  3. Bria Valente interview. Tavis Smiley. April 28, 2009. Retrieved June 26, 2009.
  4. Michaels, Sean (January 2, 2009) "Prince to release three albums in 2009". The Guardian. Retrieved on June 26, 2009.
  5. Edwards, Gavin (April 6, 2009). "Bria Valente: Elixer". Rolling Stone. Retrieved on June 26, 2009.
  6. "Bria Valente: Elixer (2009)". Metacritic. Retrieved on June 26, 2009.
  7. du Lac, J. Freedom (April 3, 2009). "Prince's new three-album set includes some winners". The San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved on June 26, 2009.
  8. Willis, Peter (July 5, 2010). "Prince - world exclusive interview: Peter Willis goes inside the star's secret world". Daily Mirror. Retrieved on July 6, 2010.
  9. Jamie Lewis, Purple Music Label (Feb 23rd, 2012)."".
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