More than the most promising act to have come down the road in years …
More than four sisters with a rare combination of beauty, energy, and talent …
More even than a family that has fought through long, hard times, never once losing sight of their dreams…
The Beu Sisters are, in fact, a phenomenon in the making and are well on their way to singing, writing and charming their way into music history.
Their debut album, Decisions, has the sound and diversity of natural harmonies and savvy melodies that stand out above today's mainstream music. Cleverly capturing the imagination, creating a signature sound and establishing them as a musical force to be reckoned with, The Beu Sisters make a statement that is both refreshing and unrivaled.
But, there's much more. The stories woven into the lyrics speak directly to their listeners. The Beu Sisters share their lives in song -- in a way that listeners can relate and respond to. Writing nine of the thirteen tracks on the album and shared vocal arranging, The Beu Sisters carefully created their vision hands on.
Candice, Christie, Jilaine, and Danielle Beu sing with soul and true energy. Their sound is confident and strong; innocent yet sassy; humorous and heartbreaking. This is the soundtrack of their lives…
Simply put, there is nobody like The Beu Sisters in music today.
For these gifted sisters and their four other siblings, the story began in New York City. Their parents were both in show business; each performed on Broadway in A Chorus Line, and on the road with a production of Sugar.
But, childhood memories of backstage glamour gave way to a new reality in 1991 when the family moved to New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Though they weren't living lavishly, life at the Beu household seemed stable.
That is, until 1994, when their parents divorced and uncertainty became a daily companion. Inevitably the family drew closer -- and music, which had always been their bond, took on an even greater importance. "Danielle was only six years old when we first sang together," recalls Christie, "but even then we knew there was magic there. That gave us something to work for: a time when we wouldn't have to worry about what tomorrow would bring."
And so they began to sing together -- not just for the joy that it brought them, but also with a determination to overcome the affecting and practical hurdles that had fallen in their way.
They cut a demo in 1997, containing four original songs that provided the cornerstone on which they began to build their act. They learned songs in their living room and developed dance steps. Their costumes were assembled from dresses found at second-hand stores, which they would tailor to resemble each other as much as possible. "If we needed red shoes to match them, we'd find white shoes and paint them with nail polish," laughs Jilaine.
During this period, each of the sisters was now developing her own interests outside of music as well: Candice, drawing and painting; Christie, surfing (a passion that would lead her to take first place at the Women's East Coast Surfing Championships at Cape Hatteras in 2000); Jilaine was showing interest in sewing and costume design; Danielle, a growing teenager that liked the beach, drawing, music and spending time with her big sisters.
But, music remained their consuming passion. The Beu Sisters began learning their songs a cappella, creating each part by singing ideas back and forth. As a result, through this combination of improvisation and intuition, their harmonies developed a synchronicity.
For all the adversities, The Beu Sisters would not be stopped. Hard work and a refusal to give up, began to pay off. They opened for the likes of Billy Ray Cyrus, Bad Company, Daryl Singletary, Ricochet, David Lee Murphy and John Anderson.
The family then decided that their next step would be to do a promotional mailing of a video taped performance. After months of mailings to everyone they could think of, the girls with little hope left decided to send their last tape to Desmond Child (famed for co-writing hits for KISS, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Cher and Ricky Martin). Three days later, the invitation arrived to audition at Child's Miami home…in two days.
An exciting, but nervous drive to Miami, gave way to a warm welcome from their host and after performing their best material in his living room, the champagne was popped and eventually a second audition was set up at Child's home for Steve Greenberg, President of the newly formed S-Curve Records (recognized as a Grammy Award winning producer and for discovering the 10x platinum Hanson and the 4x platinum Baha Men).
The result of that meeting was a recording contract with S-Curve Records.
Over the next twelve months emerged a body of songs, most written by the sisters and/or in collaboration with writers like Pop Rox, Mark Hudson (Aerosmith, Bon Jovi), Steve Greenberg, and Mike Mangini (Digable Planets, Imani Coppola), to name a few. Several outside songs also made the grade written by such varied composers as Victoria Shaw (Ricky Martin/Christine Aguilera, Garth Brooks), Brett James (Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Lori Morgan, Martina McBride and Jessica Andrews) and unlikely as it seems, Redd Kross members Steve and Jeff McDonald and That Dog founder Anna Waronker who contributed the loopy but touching "My Christmas Was In June".
The best of this material was produced for the album by Mangini, Greenberg, Hudson, David Kahn (Sugar Ray) and Stephen Lironi (Hanson, Jon Bon Jovi), with Christie Beu taking charge of most of the vocal arranging.
It takes an amazing history to produce an album like Decisions -- a history of dreams coming true, and new adventures about to begin.
Welcome The Beu Sisters. They've earned their right to the spotlight -- and they'll be there for quite some time to come.
