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Biography
Shani Rigsbee (Shani), is
currently at the red-hot epicenter of a rising power
pack of new young American stars that are equally
fluent on stage and screen, in acting and music. Her
song, "El Llamar de Pasión - Call of the
Wild" is featured in the Paul Haggis ACADEMY AWARD
WINNER for Best Picture, Crash, starring
Sandra Bullock and Don Cheadle, and she is the
Featured Vocalist in the 20th Century Fox
epic One Night With the King, starring
Omar Sharriff and Peter O’Toole. Her song, "Call of
the Wild" was featured as the trailer music on HBO
promoting Oliver Stone’s Persona Non Grata.
Shani was featured in, and wrote the theme song and
Executive Produced the soundtrack for The Keeper
- The Legend of Omar Khayyam (Guide Company
Films) with Academy Award Winner Vanessa Redgrave,
in which she plays the exotic Court Entertainer. And
in the highly acclaimed film, The House of Sand
and Fog (Dreamworks), which stars Sir Ben
Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly, Shani is both a
featured singer and contributed to the film score.
Her music is prominently featured in National
Lampoon’s Pledge This! as well as G.I.
Jesus. Shani recently participated as one of the
Recording Artists for the prestigious World Peace
One Recording which unites Artists from around the
globe promoting peace. With her cemented status as
an Artist who fuses art and cultures on an
International scale, she has now parlayed her
success into the role of Producer of feature films.
* Silver Chord - A
supernatural thriller set for production in 2008.
* Matter of Honor – A crime drama that is in
development for 2008. * The Quest of Sheherzade –
a historical epic that is slated for late
2008.
On screen, Shani plays a
variety of roles from a sultry femme fatale to a
seductive ancient temptress. Previous roles included
the feature film Crossworlds with Rutger
Hauer, Josh Charles and Jack Black and she has also
episodic television to her credit. But whatever
creative challenges come her way, she will continue
to be inspired and rise to the occasion. This
All-American girl has become an artist of the world.
Equal parts actress, singer,
songwriter, and producer, Shani is a skilled juggler
keeping each of her talents in a neat and perfect
balance. From an early age, Shani Rigsbee felt
The Call of the Wild to travel and expand her
sphere from beyond her birthplace of Hot Springs,
Arkansas. Who would have guessed that this
International talent actually stems from Bill
Clinton’s hometown? As a young girl, Shani would
spend hours singing to the artists of the day while
her father played drums and would produce plays in
her family’s garage for the neighbors. Encouraging
her passion for the arts, her family threw caution
to the winds taking the Southern cheerleader and
choirgirl to the City of Angels, Los Angeles, to
help her launch her career.
While in Los Angeles, Shani
began to study her craft as a performer both
musically and theatrically and found herself
mingling with some of the International music
scene’s great talents, working closely with
International/World music star Andy Madadian (Andy)
and learning the intricacies of Eastern-based
rhythms and melodies. She was forever hooked on the
sensual and hypnotic sounds that would influence her
own writing style. She toured the globe, honing her
skills in International concert arenas and
developing a strong following.
Along the way her path was
interrupted when she was diagnosed with a
life-threatening illness. Forced to channel all of
her energies towards regaining her health, Shani
felt her path enlightened by her spiritual search.
Through her indomitable will, she conquered her
ovarian cancer; this combination of inner and outer
exploration had a profound effect on her development
not only as an artist, but as a human being as well.
She proudly supports and is a featured performer for
such organizations such as Physician’s Committee for
Responsible Medicine and their Art of Compassion
gala and has been a supporter and produced a dvd for
Canyon Creek Farm, a PMU horse rescue in Southern
California which helps to support the fallout of the
hormone replacement industry and it’s relationship
to horse slaughter. She also has participated in Sir
Elton John’s annual post-Oscar benefit to raise
money for his Elton John AIDS Foundation, the Social
Hollywood Opening to Benefit Charlize Theron’s
Africa Outreach Program, as well as Best Friends
Animal Society's Annual Lint Roller Party to benefit
homeless pets as well as other animal advocacy
groups such as In Defense of Animals and The Humane
Society of the United States. Shani also walked many
red carpets in support such events as Amnesty
International’s Oscar Party (2006) and Billboard
Magazine’s Oscar Party for Children Uniting Nations
(2007). She uses her talent as a means to expand her
audience and to support other endeavors such as the
Hurricane Katrina animal relief effort for which she
coordinated rescues in the New Orleans. To raise
cancer awareness, Shani serves as a Board Member at
the Women’s Clinic and Family Counseling Center in
Los Angeles and is a proud supporter of the L’Oreal
Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. Shani also has spent
time making the congressional rounds in Washington
D.C. in support of various legislative causes such
as the American Horse Slaughter Ban bill.
Since the
classically-beautiful Shani arrived in Los Angeles
from Arkansas, she’s been on a Hollywood high. She
has cemented her status as a first-class
international entertainer, actress and singer.
Perhaps it’s because of her singing style – a
sensuous, alluring voice that curves and caresses
each vowel when she’s caught in the heat of passion
and unleashes sexy tremolos when she seems to suffer
the agony of love’s heartache. Or perhaps it’s
because of Shani’s pure allure – there are some
people who walk into a room and disturb the
molecules. This is 100-watt charisma, something no
scientist can explain. Her mysterious sexuality is
part enigma – a female whose sexual presence is too
mysterious to pin down, too intimate to forget.
A homegrown internationalist,
she has recorded and collaborated with some of the
International music scene’s giants, and those songs
play on satellite television and in nightclubs
around the world. Shani was also recently selected
to sing alongside some of the most prestigious
artists from around the world as part of the World
Peace One musical collaboration, a global project
that utilizes music as a means for peace, unity and
understanding. These bold moves are nothing new for
Shani who has sung in many languages and has left
many people shocked to know that her roots are
purely American, and not from the outer reaches of
the globe. Shani simply loves the artistic challenge
of blending genres and forging new paths on the
cutting edge of the musical mainstream.
In her previous album,
Call of the Wild, Shani broke new ground
creating a global span of sound that combined
percussive dance beats with sensual Eastern and
Spanish overtones, creating a new sort of
ménage-à-music. She followed its international
acclaim with Velvet (international release).
With her new release, At the Casbah, which
contains two updated Cole Porter standards in her
highly stylized direction along with 11 original
songs, she practically creates an "event," evoking
an exciting blend of rhythm, sophistication and
exoticism, free from labels, borders or boundaries.
One part jazz, one part pop,
Shani has also enlisted some urban flavor from
several Rap Artists on the album and features
Producer/Rap Artist, V-Style, who is also featured
on the "Get Somebody" video. Currently, her music
and videos from her At The Casbah CD / DVD
(CMG/SONY BMG), play across the country, showing up
on television and in shopping malls, and she can
even be heard on major Airlines and on International
television.
Mysterious yet cool as a
creamsicle, and a consummate artist, whether she has
achieved international acclaim as a starring
vocalist on Sony PlayStation singing in English,
Latin and Spanish (that has generated mega millions
around the world), or singing and dancing with
enchanting belly-dance flair on stage everywhere on
the globe, Shani has become a world-renowned
entertainer.
Based on the strong
international recognition of her music, Hollywood
called. Not only were they pleased with her talent
as an actress, but they began to request her work on
soundtracks; she has forged ahead both in front of
and behind the camera continuing to develop and
collaborate on projects.
Shani continues to tour and
perform, enticing audiences all over the world from
Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre to London to Dubai, and
has remixes of her songs playing in nightclubs
everywhere.
Publicity Contact:
Cherokee Music Group 818.906.8993
publicity@cherokeemusicgroup.com
Or Asal Masomi at AMPR
asal_masomi@asalmasomi-pr.com
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