Shelly-Ann, otherwise known as Karamanti, is a reggae dancehall artist who hails from the beautiful island of Jamaica. Officially entered the music industry as a recording artist doing both house and dancehall. Using the name Lady Shelly when releasing house/techno/dance and the name Prophetess when releasing reggae/dancehall. Lady Shelly lived in Montreal, Quebec, Canada at the time.
In 1994 she migrated to Montreal, Quebec where immediately after high school she got signed to her first recording contract with house label, Numuzik. While with Numuzik she released a slew of hits such as, ‘sweet party’, ‘get it on’ and ‘macrena thats me’. Between 1995 and 2000, Karamanti approached music with an aggression rarely seen by any female artist. Among her many accomplishments, is the title of artist of the year for the island of Dominica Republic for both 1995 and 1996. She did two nationwide tours on the island in both years.
At the turn of the 21st century she signed a joint recording contract, which included Premiere Muzik International and ISBA records. While with both companies she released a full-length album, entitled ‘endurance’, which featured the hit single, ‘you know’. Karamanti was awarded a plaque for going gold (over 50,000 copies sold) in Canada for the aforementioned track.
Shortly after the release of Endurance, Premiere Muzik International underwent internal changes, which gave Karamanti the option to opt out of her agreement or renegotiate. She decided to opt out of the contract and relocated to Toronto, Ontario.
While in Ontario she stepped away from the microphone and began working at a reggae/dancehall record label. Intent on learning every aspect of the business, Karamanti started out as an A&R and worked her way up to sales and marketing coordinator while doing everything in between. Armed with a proper understanding of the music business and knowledge of how exactly to promote and market her music, Karamanti left the label and began recording again, this time, focusing entirely on the reggae/dancehall genre.
Soon after leaving the label Karamanti recorded two extremely controversial singles that caught the attention of disc jockeys in Jamaica. The singles are ‘welcome to Canada’ (which harshly criticize the stereotyping of Jamaicans in Canada) and ‘kum out’ (which deals with domestic abuse). The tracks earned her a nationwide media tour in her hometown, Jamaica.
After spending several years in Canada, Karamanti moved back to Jamaica in 2007 and really began to focus on her craft. Taking the advice of more experienced artists and musicians, Karamanti spent the next couple of years training her voice and working on her vocal delivery.
In the fall of 2009, Karamanti resurfaced with her promo CD entitled ‘karamanti mix- volume 1’. The CD was meant to create awareness, and it did just that! So much so that early 2010 karamanti was approached by two international DJs requesting to do exclusive Karamanti mix CDs. Eager to acquire the recognition of her peers and potential supporters, Karamanti hit the studio hard and recorded approximately 53 new tracks. In April 2010 Karamanti released the Transition mix CD, mixed by Triple Crown from the Blessed Coast Sound, which is based in Bellingham. One month later in May, she released Strictly Music No Politics, mixed by Massive G from Rock the Nation Sound, which is based in London, England.
Several singles from both mix CDs began to get heavy rotation on radio and in nightclubs in various parts of the world. Tracks such as ‘bulletproof’ and ‘thank you’ quickly stood out and began climbing numerous reggae/dancehall charts. Karamanti recently shot a video for the single ‘thank you’, which is due to be released to major television network later this year. The success of both mix CDs and individual tracks earned her a major tour to North West U.S.A in August of this year. The cities covered in the tour were Bellingham and Seattle in the U.S.A and Vancouver, Canada.
Karamanti is presently in the studio putting tracks together for an album she would like to have out by the end of the year, while simultaneously touring.
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yo this is my artist full time people start paying attentino to karamanti