Hundreds of contestants vied for a spot in Diddy's girl group on
MTV's smash reality series "Making the Band 3," and now the show';s
five victors - Dawn, Aubrey, D. Woods, Shannon and Aundrea - under
the name Danity Kane, are preparing to take their musical
partnership to the next level.The group;s eponymous debut album for
Diddys label, Bad Boy Records, is an intoxicating mix of sexy
R&B, hip-hop and pop that showcases the quintet';s flawless
vocal talent and passion. It also boasts contributions from such
top producers as Timbaland (Missy Elliott, Nelly Furtado, Aaliyah),
Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins (Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey), Mario
Winans (P. Diddy, Destiny's Child, The Notorious B.I.G.), Jim
Jonsin (Twista, Jamie Foxx, Trina), Bryan-Michael Cox (Usher,
Mariah Carey, Toni Braxton), Rami (*NSYNC, the Veronicas) and Ryan
Leslie (Britney Spears, Tha Dogg Pound).
Diddy is the album's Executive Producer, with Bad Boy Executive
VP Harve Pierre serving as Co-Executive Producer. The group's
sleek, Jonsin-produced lead single, "Show Stopper," featuring Yung
Joc, received tens of thousands of plays on MySpace.com (where
Danity Kane has cultivated throngs of admirers) long before being
delivered to radio. Other standout tracks on the disc include the
upbeat "One Shot," produced by Cox, and the smoldering,
Timbaland-helmed R&B cut "Right Now."
Collectively, the quintet possesses a notable breadth of talent
and experience in vocal performance, dance, songwriting, acting,
visual art and more. And though viewers of MTV's "Making the Band"
are well aware of the differences in their personalities, it's
clear that they've emerged as a unit - playing to their strengths
and encouraging one another to grow. Danity Kane takes its name
from a female anime superhero conceived by Dawn, whose skills as an
illustrator caught Diddy's eye. The impresario was so taken with
the character's beguiling handle that he selected it for the group,
deciding it captured their vibrant appeal - and would represent
them not merely as superstars but as a band of heroines.
Danity Kane's Dawn Richard talks to The Urban Daily about the future of Diddy's divas.
“I still don’t know how I’m going to feed my family,” says Danity Kane member Dawn Richard just moments after MTV’s “Making The Band” live season finale. “Isn’t that awful? Isn’t that just crazy? Like, what just happened? All of this joking and playing aside, this is not funny. This is our lives.”
