Karen Bernod
Encyclopedia
Karen Bernod is an American born R&B vocalist, songwriter, and producer.
Karen is best known for her unique vocal harmonies as a background singer for Chaka Khan
, Erykah Badu
, C&C Music Factory and D'Angelo
.
, Chaka Khan
, Roberta Flack
and Stephanie Mills
. The youngest of three, Karen is a native New Yorker. She attended Erasmus Hall High School
which has numerous famous music Alumni such as Will Downing
, Barbra Streisand
, Kedar Massenberg
, and Stephanie Mills. There Bernod was very active in Music, Theater and Student government. She served as Senior Class president and was a member of the female choir "Cantata". She majored in Music at the State University of New York at New Paltz
(SUNY) but took a leave of absence after one year to pursue her music career.
. She was a principal in the off Broadway play "Mama I Want To Sing." Her first jingle (Thanks to Bernie Drayton) was a Budweiser spot w/Tone Loc
.
Shortly after that Karen started singing Background Vocals for various HOUSE artists, which landed her an opportunity to co-write & perform the club classic "MOTHERLAND" produced by Winston Jones. Karen was the vocal (Doo-Wop) consultant and vocalist for Paul Simon's
production of "Cape Man" with the fabulous Marc Anthony
and Reuben Blades. She also recorded two of Paul Simon's CD projects as well as Ru Paul, Whitney Houston
, Luther Vandross
and Stephanie Mills
to name a few.
Karen traveled abroad, recording and touring with D'Angelo
and Erykah Badu
. Two ground breaking artists who both broadened the minds of those who might not have been exposed to the Old School sounds of Soul music otherwise. While on tour with Badu, Karen received an invite to add her vocals on UK's Jazz Funk band Incognito album. She is featured on three cuts on Incognito's
album "No Time Like The Future" Marrakech, More Of Myself, and Yesterday's Dream.
After touring Europe and America, Karen Bernod returned home to Brooklyn and started production on her solo project. Karen's solo endeavor was now in full effect and she was excited as well as eager to give y'all some "Othaness." Hence the title "Some Othaness 4 U". She chose this title because her music encompasses all of her influences from Marvin to Ella, Natalie to Chaka, Curtis to D'Angelo and Billie to Erykah. Karen believes we enter each others lives for a reason, Divine Intervention. She wrote and arranged along with Producers Greg Spooner and Norman Keyes Hurt. Her lyrical content is basically about Life-History, and Plain ol'fun.
Bernod's 2nd cd, Life @ 360 Degrees, was released on Dome Records which is the UK's hottest R&B & Soul label. Other artist on Dome includes US vocalist/songwriter Rahsaan Patterson
, Brenda Russell
, George Duke
, Rosie Gaines
, and UK's JazzFunk pioneers Incognito
. Life @ 360 Degrees brings forth Karen's earthy three octave tone, laid against an urban backdrop that possesses a sense of a family unity with strong soulful presence. Working with Greg Spooner on this project, again we get to experience her take on Life @ 360 Degrees.
Since the release of her second solo project Karen continues work as a background singer along with focusing on her solo career and has begun recording a third solo album. She has toured with artists such as Mary J Blige, Chaka Khan
, and Martha Redbone. Outside the stage her efforts in giving back to her community grows as she continues working as a volunteer with various youth organizations, human rights groups, and health organizations.
Tribal House
C&C Music Factory (1990–1995)
Paul Simon
Rupaul
Barbara Tucker
Pet Shop Boys
Bahamadia
Erykah Badu
D'Angelo
Incognito
(1999–2000)
Kloud 9
Geoff Matton
Mary J Blige
Willie Nelson
Elisabeth Withers
Karen is best known for her unique vocal harmonies as a background singer for Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...
, Erykah Badu
Erykah Badu
Erica Abi Wright , better known by her stage name Erykah Badu , is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Her work includes elements from R&B, hip hop and jazz. She is best known for her role in the rise of the neo soul sub-genre, and for her eccentric, cerebral musical...
, C&C Music Factory and D'Angelo
D'Angelo
Michael Eugene Archer , better known by his stage name D'Angelo, is an American R&B and neo soul singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is known for his production and songwriting talents as much as for his vocal abilities, and often draws comparisons to his influences,...
.
Biography
Growing up in Brooklyn's Bed-Stuy, Karen Bernod always performed in neighborhood talent shows. Her favorite songs were usually by female artists such as Natalie ColeNatalie Cole
Natalie Maria Cole , is an American singer, songwriter and performer. The daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, Cole rode to musical success in the mid-1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be ", "Inseparable" and "Our Love"...
, Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...
, Roberta Flack
Roberta Flack
Roberta Flack is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who is notable for jazz, soul, R&B, and folk music...
and Stephanie Mills
Stephanie Mills
Stephanie Dorthea Mills is an American R&B and soul singer, and a former Broadway star.-Career:Mills began her career appearing in her first play at the age of nine. Two years later, Mills won Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater a record six times...
. The youngest of three, Karen is a native New Yorker. She attended Erasmus Hall High School
Erasmus Hall High School
Erasmus Hall Campus High School is a four-year public high school in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, United States operated by the New York City Department of Education....
which has numerous famous music Alumni such as Will Downing
Will Downing
Will Downing , is an American singer-songwriter and producer. Downing is known in the contemporary jazz and R&B music genres for his rich baritone vocals, and his interpretations of R&B and pop classics that stretch back to the early 1980s...
, Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
, Kedar Massenberg
Kedar Massenberg
Kedar Massenburg is an American record producer and record label executive, who was the president of Motown Records from 1997 to 2004. Massenburg is the current president and CEO of Kedar Entertainment...
, and Stephanie Mills. There Bernod was very active in Music, Theater and Student government. She served as Senior Class president and was a member of the female choir "Cantata". She majored in Music at the State University of New York at New Paltz
State University of New York at New Paltz
The State University of New York at New Paltz, known as SUNY New Paltz for short, is a public university in New Paltz, New York. It was founded in 1828 as the School for teaching of classics. In 1885, the New Paltz Normal and Training School was established as a school to prepare teachers for the...
(SUNY) but took a leave of absence after one year to pursue her music career.
Professional career
Karen became the warm up for the Bill Cosby ShowThe Bill Cosby Show
The Bill Cosby Show is an American situation comedy that aired for two seasons on NBC's Sunday night schedule from 1969 until 1971, under the sponsorship of Procter & Gamble. There were 52 episodes made in the series. It marked Cosby's first solo foray in television, after his co-starring role with...
. She was a principal in the off Broadway play "Mama I Want To Sing." Her first jingle (Thanks to Bernie Drayton) was a Budweiser spot w/Tone Loc
Tone Loc
Anthony Terrell Smith , better known by his stage name Tone Lōc, is an American rapper and actor.-Early life and career:...
.
Shortly after that Karen started singing Background Vocals for various HOUSE artists, which landed her an opportunity to co-write & perform the club classic "MOTHERLAND" produced by Winston Jones. Karen was the vocal (Doo-Wop) consultant and vocalist for Paul Simon's
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
production of "Cape Man" with the fabulous Marc Anthony
Marc Anthony
Marc Anthony is an American singer-songwriter, actor and producer. Anthony is the top selling tropical salsa artist of all time. The two-time Grammy and three-time Latin Grammy–winner has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. He is best known for his Latin salsa numbers and ballads...
and Reuben Blades. She also recorded two of Paul Simon's CD projects as well as Ru Paul, Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...
, Luther Vandross
Luther Vandross
Luther Ronzoni Vandross was an American singer-songwriter and record producer. During his career, Vandross sold over twenty-five million albums and won eight Grammy Awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four times...
and Stephanie Mills
Stephanie Mills
Stephanie Dorthea Mills is an American R&B and soul singer, and a former Broadway star.-Career:Mills began her career appearing in her first play at the age of nine. Two years later, Mills won Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater a record six times...
to name a few.
Karen traveled abroad, recording and touring with D'Angelo
D'Angelo
Michael Eugene Archer , better known by his stage name D'Angelo, is an American R&B and neo soul singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is known for his production and songwriting talents as much as for his vocal abilities, and often draws comparisons to his influences,...
and Erykah Badu
Erykah Badu
Erica Abi Wright , better known by her stage name Erykah Badu , is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Her work includes elements from R&B, hip hop and jazz. She is best known for her role in the rise of the neo soul sub-genre, and for her eccentric, cerebral musical...
. Two ground breaking artists who both broadened the minds of those who might not have been exposed to the Old School sounds of Soul music otherwise. While on tour with Badu, Karen received an invite to add her vocals on UK's Jazz Funk band Incognito album. She is featured on three cuts on Incognito's
Incognito (band)
Incognito is a British band, as well as one of the members of the United Kingdom's acid jazz movement. Their debut album, Jazz Funk, was released in 1981, with thirteen more albums following, the last of which, Transatlantic RPM, was released in 2010....
album "No Time Like The Future" Marrakech, More Of Myself, and Yesterday's Dream.
After touring Europe and America, Karen Bernod returned home to Brooklyn and started production on her solo project. Karen's solo endeavor was now in full effect and she was excited as well as eager to give y'all some "Othaness." Hence the title "Some Othaness 4 U". She chose this title because her music encompasses all of her influences from Marvin to Ella, Natalie to Chaka, Curtis to D'Angelo and Billie to Erykah. Karen believes we enter each others lives for a reason, Divine Intervention. She wrote and arranged along with Producers Greg Spooner and Norman Keyes Hurt. Her lyrical content is basically about Life-History, and Plain ol'fun.
Bernod's 2nd cd, Life @ 360 Degrees, was released on Dome Records which is the UK's hottest R&B & Soul label. Other artist on Dome includes US vocalist/songwriter Rahsaan Patterson
Rahsaan Patterson
Rahsaan Patterson is an American singer and actor, best known for portraying "The Kid" on the popular 1980s television show Kids Incorporated. He is a native of The Bronx, New York. He was named after '60s jazz saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk...
, Brenda Russell
Brenda Russell
Brenda Russell is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter and keyboardist. Known for her eclectic musical style, her recordings have encompassed several different genres, including pop, soul, dance, jazz and adult contemporary...
, George Duke
George Duke
George Duke is a multi-faceted American musician, known as a keyboard pioneer, composer, singer and producer in both jazz and popular mainstream musical genres. He has worked with numerous acclaimed artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and professor of music...
, Rosie Gaines
Rosie Gaines
Rosie Gaines is an American vocalist, musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer from Pittsburg, California. She released a number of dance hits, the most notable being "Closer Than Close".-Ensemble career:...
, and UK's JazzFunk pioneers Incognito
Incognito (band)
Incognito is a British band, as well as one of the members of the United Kingdom's acid jazz movement. Their debut album, Jazz Funk, was released in 1981, with thirteen more albums following, the last of which, Transatlantic RPM, was released in 2010....
. Life @ 360 Degrees brings forth Karen's earthy three octave tone, laid against an urban backdrop that possesses a sense of a family unity with strong soulful presence. Working with Greg Spooner on this project, again we get to experience her take on Life @ 360 Degrees.
Since the release of her second solo project Karen continues work as a background singer along with focusing on her solo career and has begun recording a third solo album. She has toured with artists such as Mary J Blige, Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...
, and Martha Redbone. Outside the stage her efforts in giving back to her community grows as she continues working as a volunteer with various youth organizations, human rights groups, and health organizations.
Discography
Solo Projects- 2000: Some Othaness 4 U album
- 2006: Life @ 360 Degrees album
- 2010: New Release Planting Seeds
Tribal House
- 1990: Motherland
C&C Music Factory (1990–1995)
- 1990: Everybody Dance Japan release written by Karen Bernod & Robert ClivillésRobert ClivillésRobert Clivillés is a record producer, songwriter, arranger, music video director most noted for his work with C+C Music Factory, a group he founded with musical partner David Cole...
- 1991: Pride (In the Name of Love) remix
- 1991: Just a Lil Bit of Love written by Karen Bernod & Robert ClivillésRobert ClivillésRobert Clivillés is a record producer, songwriter, arranger, music video director most noted for his work with C+C Music Factory, a group he founded with musical partner David Cole...
- 1996: Love and Happiness written by Karen Bernod & Robert ClivillésRobert ClivillésRobert Clivillés is a record producer, songwriter, arranger, music video director most noted for his work with C+C Music Factory, a group he founded with musical partner David Cole...
- 1996: I Live written by Karen Bernod, H. Hector & Robert ClivillésRobert ClivillésRobert Clivillés is a record producer, songwriter, arranger, music video director most noted for his work with C+C Music Factory, a group he founded with musical partner David Cole...
Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
- 1990: The Rhythm of the SaintsThe Rhythm of the SaintsThe Rhythm of the Saints is the eighth studio album by Paul Simon, released in 1990. Like its predecessor Graceland, the album gained commercial success and received mostly favorable reviews from critics...
- 1997: Songs from the CapemanSongs From the CapemanSongs From The Capeman is the ninth studio album by Paul Simon, released in 1997. It contains Simon's own performances of songs from the Broadway musical he wrote and produced called The Capeman augmented by members of the original cast. A departure musically from his earlier work, the album...
Rupaul
RuPaul
RuPaul Andre Charles , best known as simply RuPaul, is an American actor, drag queen, model, author, and singer-songwriter, who first became widely known in the 1990s when he appeared in a wide variety of television programs, films, and musical albums. Previously, he was a fixture on the Atlanta...
- 1993 Supermodel of the WorldSupermodel of the WorldSupermodel of the World is the debut studio album by American drag queen RuPaul, released on June 8, 1993 by Tommy Boy Records.-Album information:...
Barbara Tucker
Barbara Tucker
Barbara Tucker , is an African American house, R&B and soul singer, songwriter and choreographer. Her impact on the mainstream music scene has been felt more in Europe, than in her home country....
- 1994: Beautiful People
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....
- 1996: BilingualBilingual (album)Bilingual is the tenth album by the English dance music group Pet Shop Boys. It has sold about 1,000,000 albums world-wide.-Overview:...
Bahamadia
Bahamadia
Bahamadia is a Philadelphia-born hip hop artist born in 1970, and a DJ who later became an MC. As a member of Gang Starr Foundation, she released her critically acclaimed debut album entitled Kollage in 1996. The album featured production by Guru and DJ Premier of Gang Starr...
- 1996: KollageKollageKollage is a Hindi Rock/Pop Band from Kolkata, India, which has performed all over India and has helped popularize different genres of music likes soul, blues, jazz in Hindi music through their original work. They are most popular for their live acts in the corporate and club circuit and have...
Erykah Badu
Erykah Badu
Erica Abi Wright , better known by her stage name Erykah Badu , is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Her work includes elements from R&B, hip hop and jazz. She is best known for her role in the rise of the neo soul sub-genre, and for her eccentric, cerebral musical...
- 1997: LiveLive (Erykah Badu album)Live is a live concert album by American R&B singer Erykah Badu, released in 1997 . Apparent throughout Live is the raw emotion that Badu shows when performing...
- 1998: Tyrone video
D'Angelo
D'Angelo
Michael Eugene Archer , better known by his stage name D'Angelo, is an American R&B and neo soul singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is known for his production and songwriting talents as much as for his vocal abilities, and often draws comparisons to his influences,...
- 1998: Live at the Jazz CafeLive at the Jazz CafeLive at the Jazz Cafe is a live album by American R&B and neo soul musician D'Angelo, released June 30, 1998 on EMI Records. It also featured release in Japan on December 7, 1999 with a bonus track. Recording sessions for the album took place live at the Jazz Café in London, England on September...
Incognito
Incognito (band)
Incognito is a British band, as well as one of the members of the United Kingdom's acid jazz movement. Their debut album, Jazz Funk, was released in 1981, with thirteen more albums following, the last of which, Transatlantic RPM, was released in 2010....
(1999–2000)
- 1999: No Time Like The Future
- 2000: The Best of Incognito
Kloud 9
- 2002: On Kloud 9
- 2007: Yearning 2 Love
Geoff Matton
- 2003: Unity
Mary J Blige
- 2003: Love and Life limited ed. CD & DVD
- 2004: Live in Los Angeles DVD
Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
- 2006: SongbirdSongbird (Willie Nelson album)Songbird is an album by Willie Nelson released by Lost Highway Records on October 31, 2006. It was produced by contemporary country rock musician Ryan Adams. Adams, along with his band The Cardinals, performed on the album’s eleven tracks...
Elisabeth Withers
- 2007: It Can Happen to Anyone
Jingles
Pantene, Denny's, Dentyne, Fresca, Budweiser, Seagram's Gin, AT&T, Bacardi, Kenya Dolls, Kool-Aid, Mercedes Benz, Sears, Oil of Olay, Burger KingExternal links
- http://nativelycreative.com
- http://www.myspace.com/karenbernod