Shaynasteele

Shayna Steele is an American singer and songwriter and a Broadway stage actress. Her Broadway credits include Rent at The Nederlander Theater, the revival of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Ford Theatre and the Original Broadway Cast of Hairspray where she was part of the girl group The Dynamites.

Early Years

Born in Sacramento, California on September 23, 1975 to Bobby D. Steele and Lorraine DeGrasse-Steele. Shayna was a military "brat" and lived in many places. When she was only 1, the family (2 sisters, Janie and Judi) moved to Enid, OK for 2 years before moving to Ramstein, Germany. Shayna lived in Germany for 6 1/2 years before moving to and settling in Biloxi, Mississippi at Keesler Air Force Base.

Early Performing and Musical Theatre

When Shayna made the move to the U.S she entered local talent contests and pageants. She always had dreams of Broadway and living in New York City. At the age of 15, Shayna moved to New York City with her father for a summer and was chosen to perform on Ed McMahon's Star Search '92. She lost to singer Panzie Johnson from San Antonio, TX earning 3 1/4 stars. Devastated from the loss and wanting to finish high school like a normal teenager, Shayna returned to Biloxi to graduate. She graduated from Biloxi High School in 1993 and went on to do 1 year at The University of Southern Mississippi as a music major. Her plans were to always move back to NYC, but before then she worked at Fiesta Texas theme park, Norwegian Cruise Lines and several regional theatre jobs throughout the U.S. After a brief tour, Shayna moved to New York City permanently in May 1996. 4 months later, she was cast in her first Broadway show Rent, replacing Mimi/Joanne swing Simone (daughter of Nina Simone). Shayna was part of Rent for 4 years. She then joined a brief run of Jesus Christ Superstar for 6 months before joining the Tony Award winning and Grammy award winning Hairspray starring Harvey Fierstein in August of 2002. Shayna was in Hairspray for 3 years and left in March of 2005 to pursue music full time.

Music

In 2004, Shayna released her first self titled EP to rave reviews. This opened many doors for her as a session singer and recording artist. Shortly after leaving Broadway, Shayna was introduced to producer/songwriter Moby. She sang background vocals on his album Hotel and was soon called in to sing on the remake of "Extreme Ways" which was featured in the blockbuster movie "Bourne's Ultimatum" starring Matt Damon. This also led Shayna to sing the first single, "Disco Lies" on Moby's Grammy nominated album, Last Night which reached #1 on the U.S Dance Billboard charts.

Shayna's voice can also be heard on several movie soundtracks including Cloverfield, Legally Blonde 2 and the Hairspray movie soundtrack, collaborating once more with Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman.

Shayna has made several TV appearances as well including The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Sopranos Part 1 Final Season and HDNET with Moby during his Yahoo Session in Los Angeles.

Shayna is currently singing background for entertainer Bette Midler in Las Vegas and finishing the final touches on her second album to be released 2009. [1]

Shayna Steele

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