Jennifer Paige

Jennifer Paige (born September 3rd 1973) is an American singer-songwriter, who rose to stardom in the early years of teen-pop spree. She is probably best remembered for her 1998 smash pop-hit "Crush".

Paige was born into a musical family in Marietta, Georgia, just outside Atlanta. She began singing at the age of five by singing at local coffeehouses and restaurants with her older brother Chance Scoggins. She continued to Pebblebrook Highschool to study dance, voice and performing arts.

At the age 17 she relocated to Los Angeles and toured the country with a top 40 covers act "Joe's Band". In August of 1996 she performed in front of 50,000 people at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, her hometown. The same year Paige teamed up with producer Andy Goldmark, known for his ability to create hits and develop new, rising stars. For starters they gave a rebirth to Aretha Franklin's classic "Chain of Fools" by making a dance version out of it. The record instantly came to the attention of the German indie label Edel Records. The Edel President Jonathan First was in a search for a new fresh-faced pop act to establish their existence overseas and was so impressed by Paige's effort that he flew to Los Angeles and signed her a record contract.

In 1998 Goldmark and Paige finished a song named "Crush", inspired by Jennifer's personal experiments in lovelife. It became a local hit in the Los Angeles area and another record deal with Hollywood Records was followed by a worldwide success. "Crush" climbed to #3 at the Billboard Singles Chart and #2 in United Kingdom. In August of 1998 "Crush" was certified gold for sales of 500.000 copies.

Her debut album Jennifer Paige was released in August of 1998 and consisted of guitar-driven mid-tempo songs such as "Questions", "Between You and Me", "Get to Me" and "Just to Have You". The critics took notice of her voice and Billborad declared that "Paige succeeds in the nearly impossible task of oozing smouldering sensuality without resorting to typical groans and moans, instead, she uses her notably flexible vocal range to convey the emotion of the tune. ... As a result, she breathes a refreshing intensity into the song". Jennifer Paige was less of a commercial success, but reached good entries in some countries and indicated a burgeoning talent.

The album was followed by two other singles, "Sober" and "Always You". "Always You" reached #6 at the Billboard Dance Chart, but overall these singles didn't make any impact on radio, neither did they on the big pop-charts.

In summer of 2000 Jennifer Paige recorded a new tune "Beautiful" on the soundtrack to the Richard Gere/Winona Ryder movie "Autumn in New York".

During her few years off from the studio Jennifer Paige toured, sang for the pope at the Vatican, did a gig in the World Music Awards and promoted her music. It took over three years from Jennifer Paige to come back with a new record, which in a world of pop, is a very long time. Her second album Positively Somewhere was premiered by the excellent single "These Days" and the album was released in September of 2001 in United States. It wasn't noticed until its European and Asian release in Summer of 2002 due to a lack of promotion by her American label.

The European release launched a modest hit "Stranded". Although the single Edel dropped never topped the sales-charts, it made an instant impact to the radios in countries such as Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Scandinavia. Positively Somewhere cracked Top 10 in Japan and both singles became solid radiohits all over Asia.

Due to the poor sales the labels refused to release further singles, although the material included a lot of potential. Positively Somewhere altered Jennifer Paige's image into an even more sophisticated direction. This record also reflected her more mature approach as an adult contemporary songstress. In a world of pop, where it seems everybody needs to show off, Jennifer Paige still stands as a "girlnextdoor", who have never had a need to take her clothes off.

In 2003 Edel released Flowers: The Jennifer Paige Hits Collection. A Hits Collection after only two records made it obvious that she had parted ways with her record labels and in October Paige admitted she was no longer with either Hollywood Records or Edel Records.

The past few years Paige has been working on her next record. She is still without a publisher, but is hoping to land with a new record deal and an album in 2005.

Albums

 * Jennifer Paige (1998)
 * Positively Somewhere (2001)

Singles

 * "Crush" (1998)
 * "Sober" (1999)
 * "Always You" (1999)
 * "These Days" (2001)
 * "Stranded" (2002)

Music videos

 * Crush
 * Sober
 * Always You
 * Stranded