Marsha Ambrosius (born August 8, 1977) is an English singer-songwriter. A former member of Floetry, she released her first solo album Late Nights & Early Mornings on 1 March 2011. She currently lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Early career with Floetry [edit]

Original Floetry members Marsha Ambrosius and Natalie Stewart met through their love of basketball.^[1][2] Both Natalie and Marsha attended the Brit School for Performing Arts & Technology where Marsha studied business and finance and Natalie majored in Performing Arts, Media and Art. For college Ambrosius planned to attend the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia but could not due to an injury. Stewart attended Middlesex University in London and later transferred to North London University. During these years, both women continued to keep in touch. Stewart was a founding member of the performance poetry group 3 Plus 1 which was rising to critical acclaim throughout London, Birmingham, and Manchester. In 1999, Ambrosius wrote and submitted a song to her publishers Perfect Songs called "Fantasize", inviting Stewart to lend some of her poetry to the song. They debuted the piece at an open mic night in London. Combining spoken word and singing, it all seemed to make sense and Floetry was born.^[3]

Group success [edit]

In 2000, the duo travelled to the United States to perform on the poetry circuit. After frequenting spoken word/poetry spots in Atlanta, GA such as Yin Yang Poets' Cafe (to rave reviews), they moved on to Philadelphia.^[4] There they met Darren 'Limitless' Henson and Keith 'Keshon' Pelzer of DJ Jazzy Jeff's Touch Of Jazz studio and began recording. In 2002, they signed with DreamWorks Records and released their debut album Floetic, which featured the singles "Floetic", "Say Yes", and "Getting Late".^[5] The album was also released in the UK with additional tracks, one of which features British singer/songwriter and producer Sebastian Rogers.^[6]

Solo career [edit]

Ambrosius has been featured on many songs including Styles P's "I'm Black"; The Game's "Start from Scratch" and "Why You Hate The Game" (also featuring Nas); Busta Rhymes' "Get You Some" and "Cocaina"; Nas' "Hustlers" (also featuring The Game); and Hi-Tek's "Music for Life" and Jamie Foxx's "Freak'in Me". The group has also collaborated with Earth, Wind & Fire on their most recent album, Illumination, on the track "Elevated". She collaborated once again with Slum Village called "Cloud 9". In 2009, she guested on Wale's "Diary".

Aftermath Entertainment [edit]

Ambrosius was approached to sign to Dr. Dre's record label, Aftermath Entertainment, as a solo musician/song-writer/producer.^[7][8] Parting ways with the offer in early 2009, Ambrosius pursued her song-writing/production career landing her placements with R&B and hip hop artists ranging from Alicia Keys, Raven-Symoné, Jamie Foxx and Mario to Fabolous, Slum Village and Wale.^[9][10]

Late Nights & Early Mornings [edit]

In summer 2009, Ambrosius was approached by numerous record labels offering her a solo deal after a long awaited performance at NYC's SOB's where a sold out crowd gathered to a show accompanied by The Roots and DJ Aktive. In December 2009, Ambrosius signed to J Records and her solo debut Late Nights & Early Mornings was released on March 1, 2011.^[11] "Hope She Cheats On You (With A Basketball Player)" was released as the album's first single on August 13, 2010.^[12] The song charted on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and peaked at number twenty-two. "Far Away" was released as the album's second single on December 7, 2010. The album would debut at #1 on the US "Billboard" Hot R&B Charts and #2 on the US "Billboard" Hot 200 behind Adele and ahead of Mumford & Sons the first time in over 20 years that British Acts had topped the US charts.^[12][13][14]

Ambrosius won the Centric Award^[15] at the BET Awards of 2011. She was also nominated for Best Female R&B Artist ^[16] at the BET Awards 2012.

Ambrosius won the Record of The Year (Ashford & Simpson Songwriters Award) at the 2011 Soul Train Awards for the song "Far Away".

Two Grammy nominations for "Far Away" were announced the night before she performed at The White House with The President and First Family at The National Christmas Tree Lighting December 2011.

Friends & Lovers [edit]

On October 7, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding J Records along with Arista Records and Jive Records. With the shutdown, Ambrosius (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) will release her future material on the RCA Records brand.^[17][18]

Marsha Ambrosius is slated to release her sophomore album titled Friends & Lovers on RCA Music Group in 2013. The single "Cold War" was produced by Diplo and Picard Brothers.^[19]

Discography [edit]

Studio albums [edit]

Singles [edit]

• For discography of singles as a part of duo Floetry, see Floetry Discography

Guest appearances [edit]

Writing credits [edit]

• 2001: "Butterflies" - Michael Jackson (Invincible)^[44]
• 2002: "Simple Things", "Beautiful Eyes", "Lonely", "This Love", "Take You High" - Glenn Lewis (World Outside My Window)^[45]
• 2004: "My Man" - Angie Stone (Stone Love)^[46]
• 2006: "Circus" - Kelis (Kelis Was Here)
• 2007: "Go Ahead" - Alicia Keys (As I Am)^[47]
• 2008: "Wanna Go Back" - Solange featuring Marsha Ambrosius and Q-Tip (SoL-AngeL and the Hadley St. Dreams)
• 2008: "Love Me Or Leave Me" - Raven-Symoné (Raven-Symoné)^[48]
• 2008: "Do About It", "Mirror" - Girlicious (Girlicious)^[49]
• 2008: "Music (All I Need)" - Jazmine Sullivan
• 2009: "Matter" - Letoya - Lady Love
• 2009: "25 To Life" - JoJo

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Official Website
• Marsha Ambrosius on Twitter
• Marsha Ambrosius on Facebook
• Interview With YouKnowIGotSoul 3/12/10