Zhané

Biography

Norris and Neufville first appeared on record as background singers for "Ring My Bell," the second single off DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince's 1991 album Homebase. Jean Norris later explained that the duo's name came from adding a "Z" for extra flair. Their big break came when they landed a spot on the all-star compilation Roll wit tha Flava, where they recorded the enduring hip-hop party track "Hey, Mr. D.J." At the time, they were credited as Jhané.

After meeting Naughty by Nature's Kay Gee, they impressed him enough to head straight into the studio to cut the song for the compilation. When "Hey, Mr. D.J." was released as its own single, it climbed to number six on the pop charts and landed them a contract with Motown in 1994. Their debut album, Pronounced Jah-Nay, spawned two more Top 40 hits—"Groove Thang" and "Sending My Love"—and went gold by year's end, eventually reaching platinum two years later.

Between 1995 and 1996, Zhané kept busy with guest spots on tracks by Busta Rhymes and De La Soul, contributed new songs to the NFL Jams and NBA 50th Anniversary compilations, and recorded for the soundtracks to Higher Learning and A Low Down Dirty Shame. The latter track, "Shame," became their fourth Top 40 hit. They also joined TLC, SWV, Jade, En Vogue, and others on the single "Freedom (Theme from Panther)" from the 1995 film Panther. In 1997, Norris and Neufville released their second album, Saturday Night, co-produced by Kay Gee, Eddie F., and themselves.

It featured the hit "Request Line," and a remix with new lyrics and raps from Queen Latifah followed, though it peaked just outside the Top 40. After the group disbanded, Jean Norris married drummer Marcus Baylor, who played with the jazz fusion group the Yellowjackets from 2000 to 2010. She released a solo album, Testimony: My Life, in 2007, and a contemporary Christmas album, Light Up the World, in November 2011. She later formed an R&B/jazz duo with her husband called The Baylor Project, and their debut album, The Baylor Project (The Journey), came out in February 2017.

In November 2017, the duo received two nominations at the 60th Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best Traditional R&B Performance.