NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Pookie Entertainment) - What do "Star Kitty" and "Tennessee Slim" have in common? They are the names of the alter-egos of critically acclaimed R&B singer/songwriter
Joi. Joi is an R&B chameleon, changing her name and personality to reflect the mood of her music. She transforms into "Tennessee Slim" on her latest 'Tennessee Slim Is The Bomb' album (due out August 24), her first for Grammy Award winner Raphael Saadiq's Pookie Entertainment label, distributed nationally by the Navarre Corporation. In 1994 with 'The Pendulum Vibe,'she introduced herself to the music world simply as Joi.
Her first alter-ego, "Star Kitty" - the sexually provocative side of JOI - came to life in 2002 with the critically acclaimed Star Kitty's Revenge, which was hailed by Rolling Stone in a four-star review as "devilishly freakish soul - some of the best baby-making music since Barry White."
And now comes "Tennessee Slim," who the Nashville native and former Calvin Klein model describes as "the cool, poised, refined-but-yet-slightly-gangster, very trill, you know, get s*** done renegade. 'Star Kitty' was the glam girl, fun girl. 'Tennessee Slim' is fun, very funky and all of that, but she's a little more serious. A little more pimped out. And she's on a mission. She'll roll completely solo against the whole world if she's got to, because she ain't scared of that."
Joi made her first appearance on Pookie Entertainment as part of Raphael Saadiq's live album, 'All hits At The house Of Blues,' performing "Missing You" from Star Kitty's Revenge and "Copy Cat" from her 'Amoeba Cleansign Syndrome' album.
However, 'All hits At The house Of Blues' wasn't the first time Joi and Raphael Saadiq worked together.
In 1995, Joi was a guest vocalist on the Top 10 soulful remix of "Lady" from D'Angelo's Grammy Award winning and Saadiq-produced 'Brown Sugar' debut album (the video in which she also appears continues to get regular airplay on VH1 Soul).
Then in 2000, after Dawn Robinson's departure from Lucy Pearl (founded by Saadiq and A Tribe Called Quest's Ali Shaheed Muhammad), JOI stepped in to finish promoting the group's self-titled debut album.
Throughout her career, JOI has also lent her vocal stylings to a variety of artists, including Goodie Mob, Curtis Mayfield, Fishbone and OutKast on "Happy Valentine's Day," "Ghetto Musick" and "War" from their Grammy Award winning SPEAKERBOXXX/THE LOVE BELOW album, as well as "The Whole World" from their BIG BOI AND DRE PRESENT...OUTKAST greatest hits album.
