Biography

Steele is originally from Gary, Indiana

Gary, Indiana

Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city is in the southeastern portion of the Chicago metropolitan area and is 25 miles from downtown Chicago. The population is 80,294 at the 2010 census, making it the seventh-largest city in the state. It borders Lake Michigan and is known...

, though she has lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

, for many years. She originally migrated to the Twin Cities to become a criminal lawyer, although music and stage would eventually became her destined paths. In addition to her successful solo career, Steele is a member of the acclaimed gospel group The Steeles. Jevetta Steele is married and is a mother to three children.

Musical career

In 1985, Steele landed the lead role of Ismene

Ismene

Ismene is the name of two women of Greek mythology. The more famous is a daughter and half-sister of Oedipus, daughter and granddaughter of Jocasta, and sister of Antigone, Eteocles, and Polynices. She appears in several plays of Sophocles: at the end of Oedipus the King, in Oedipus at Colonus and...

 in the touring show, The Gospel at Colonus

The Gospel at Colonus

The Gospel at Colonus is a gospel version of Sophocles's tragedy, Oedipus at Colonus. The show was created in New York City in 1985 by the experimental-theatre director Lee Breuer, one of the founders of the seminal American avant-garde theatre company Mabou Mines, and composer Bob Telson. The...

. She went on to appear in productions of Smokey Joe's Cafe

Smokey Joe's Cafe

Smokey Joe's Cafe is a musical revue showcasing 39 pop standards, including rock and roll, rhythm and blues songs written by songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller...

, Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope

Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope

Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope is a musical revue with music and lyrics by Micki Grant. It was originally produced by Edward Padula.The all-singing, all-dancing show focuses on the African American experience with songs on such topics as tenements, slumlords, ghetto life, student protests, black...

, Ain't Misbehavin', Crowns, and Double Infidelities. She recently composed the musical Two Queens, One Castle, which opened to rave reviews.

Jevetta Steele has also been featured on several soundtracks. Her most famous song is "Calling You

Calling You

"Calling You" is an Academy Award nominated song from the Bagdad Café movie. Originally, it was recorded by Jevetta Steele. Bob Telson who wrote the song also recorded his version. Both appeared on the movie soundtrack in 1987.- Céline Dion version :...

" from the movie Bagdad Café

Bagdad Café

Bagdad Café is a 1987 German film directed by Percy Adlon.The film is a comedy set in a remote truck-stop café and motel in the Mojave Desert. The plot is centered around two women who have recently separated from their husbands, and the blossoming friendship which ensues. It ran 95 minutes in...

; the song was nominated for an Academy Award. Steele can also be heard on the Corrina, Corrina

Corrina, Corrina (film)

Corrina, Corrina is a 1994 feature film set in 1959 about a widower who hires a housekeeper/nanny to care for his daughter . It was written and directed by Jessie Nelson...

soundtrack.

She has recorded and toured with Prince

Prince (musician)

Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...

, George Clinton

George Clinton (funk musician)

George Clinton is an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and launched a solo career in 1981. He has been cited as one of the foremost...

, 10,000 Maniacs

10,000 Maniacs

10,000 Maniacs is a United States-based alternative rock band, which formed in 1981 and continues to be active with various line-ups.-1981–1993:...

, and Mavis Staples

Mavis Staples

Mavis Staples is an American rhythm and blues and gospel singer, actress and civil rights activist who recorded with The Staple Singers, her family's band.-Biography:...

. She appeared on the album Memorial Beach

Memorial Beach

Memorial Beach is the fifth album by Norwegian band A-ha, released in 1993.The album was recorded primarily at Prince’s Paisley Park studios outside Minneapolis in the U.S. Featured among the tracks is “Angel in the Snow,” a song Paul wrote for his bride, Lauren Savoy, as a wedding gift, and the...

, recorded by the Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 group a-ha

A-ha

A-ha were a Norwegian pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. The band was founded by Morten Harket , Magne Furuholmen , and Pål Waaktaar...

, performing backing vocals on the songs "Lie Down in Darkness" and "Move to Memphis". Her most recent album is a 2006 collection of original and classic jazz selections called My Heart.

Albums

• Jevetta Steele (1988)
• Hold Me (EP) (1992)
• Here It Is (1993)
• My Heart (2006)

External links

• Official website
• Two Queens One Castle Review (Theater News)