Elisabeth Withers

About Elisabeth Withers

Elisabeth Withers, the acclaimed vocalist, was born in Joliet Illinois and received a Bachelor's degree in music from the Berkeley School of Music, as well as a post-graduate degree from New York University. She had earlier written and performed under the diva name of Ell Patrice. She received the prestigious Tony Award nomination for her debut as Shug Avery in Broadway's musical version of The Color Purple and is also a 2006 Theatre World Award winner. Prior to the above performance, Elisabeth used to sing as a backup for many artists including for Celine Dion and Jennifer Lopez.nnElisabeth, who was from a middle class family, started singing along with her parent's record collection since when she was 5 years old. Her mother was an engineer and her father was a power broker, but she got all the encouragement to develop her talent and she began singing at talent shows and social events while in her teens. This got her the scholarship to study Music. She was eventually discovered by producer, arranger and songwriter Tony Moran, who has been a benefactor for the likes of Patti Labelle, Whitney Houston and Luther Vandross. nnElisabeth worked in a number of back-up sessions in recording studios and made a name for herself as a first class vocalist. It was then that Moran wrote and arranged the dance room classic "Rising" for her in 2002. "Rising" reached the top 5 position on the Billboard charts. Elisabeth Withers had during this period been writing under the pseudo name of Elle Patrice. nn "Emotions" was the next hit from Elisabeth, which was given to her at the suggestion of music legend Nick Ashford for the Oprah Winfrey stage adaptation of The Color purple." In 2007, Blue Note Records released Elizabeth's Album called "It Can Happen to Anyone" which is a warm set of R&B standards. Singles from this album have been on the Billboard charts for several weeks.