Flexxing with Timberlee
Mad, ‘schizo’, miserable, quiet and humorous are just a few words that dancehall diva Timberlee used to describe herself when she met up with TEENage. Born Timberlee Heaven, this Gemini princess grew up in the cool parish of Mandeville where she spent much of her free time pumping gas at her father’s gas station.
Although Timberlee indulged in modern contemporary dancing and playing the piano, the closest she thought she would come to being an entertainer, was when her high school class at Bel-Air High, voted her most likely to be in the limelight. In 2003 she, by chance, recorded her first single Prada Gucci (Independent Gal) on Don Corleon’s Trifecta riddim. Even then, while still in school, Timberlee had her hopes of becoming a veterinarian or a chef; certainly not an entertainer.
It wasn’t until Bubble Like Soup stormed on to the charts and had such an impact on the dancehall scene that Timberlee made the all-important decision to take on music as a career. The track was co-written by Cunley from Ward 21 a year before it was recorded and released; since then, everyone knew who Timberlee was.
The diva believes that reputation is very important in the music industry and tries to stay away from negativity. Her split personality in her songs shuts out all monotony as she is always able to interchange on the tracks.
Timberlee never failed to mention that her favourite producers are Ward 21, “I just work better with Ward,” she explained, “the chemistry is amazing at times”. Since then, Timberlee has worked with other producers like Equiknoxx, Leftside, Coppershot, Don Corleon.
Currently, she has a track called The General (Fi Di Hot Gal Army) on Ward 21’s Cosanostra riddim; the video of which will be shot and co-directed by Timberlee on June 5th.
She describes her proudest moment as an artiste as, “everytime someone comes up to me for a picture and a hug, it is really warming”. The end of the month will see Timberlee doing shows around the Caribbean and then she will be off to Europe in July. As for advice for young and upcoming artistes, Timberlee simply says, “do you”.
