Courting Chrissy D

Bimmermania television ads in early 2000, singer Chrissy D is quick to point out that she has been paying her dues on the entertainment circuit for close to a decade. In fact, the Courts gig resulted from management at the furniture company hearing her last hit, a cover of ‘The Eurhytmics’ Here Comes The Rain, and was impressed.

“They heard the song, liked it and gave me a call,” Chrissy D remembers.

“They liked my look and the fact that I could sing…it was a package.”

The vivacious singer signed on to a one-year contract to promote Courts’ giveaway campaign alongside Beenie Man and longtime Courts pitchman, Michael “Boysie” London, and has travelled all parts of the island to present winners with their prizes.

But while she says she enjoys the partnership with Courts (“They treat me good,” she said), the 29-year-old told All Woman that she is keen to get her recording career on solid ground. According to her, she yearns for the stability she enjoyed while a member of the Main Street Records Crew.

“It set me back a bit when Main Street closed because now I have to be doing a lot of things for myself,” she explained. “What I got (management) at Main Street is what I’m looking for now.”

Here Comes The Rain on fellow Main Street alumni Degree’s Quicksand ‘riddim’ was Chrissy D’s first local hit since Main Street founder and producer, Danny Browne, chose the path of Christianity and closed a company that was one of the leading sources of dancehall hits, thanks to performers like Junior Tucker, Degree, Red Rat and Buccaneer. Chrissy D and deejay Lady G were the female acts in the Main Street Crew.

“Danny was my first producer; I’m a fussy person and not everyone can voice me so I was comfortable at Main Street,” she related, pointing out that being a woman it was not easy finding a new home once that company disbanded. “Yuh can’t be like the guys and go around and sit down at every studio,” she said.

Dawnette Nevers (her real name) was working at her aunt’s embroidery company when she first met Browne through a family member who knew a band mate of his from Browne’s days with the Bloodfire Posse. Encouraged by Browne, she joined the growing Main Street family in 1991; by the mid-1990s, the label had built a reputation for producing hard rockers like Junior Tucker’s Love Of A Lifetime and off-the-cuff numbers such as Red Rat’s Oh No.

In time, Chrissy would score with hits of her own including Hot Gal, a remake of Donna Summer’s Hot Stuff and Big Timer but her biggest hit to date has been Girls Like This in tandem with Lady G. Written by Browne for a project by British supergroup UB40, the song was a hit in the United Kingdom in early 1999 and earned both artistes an appearance on the respected Top Of The Pops show in that country.

Between dates with Courts, the Alpha Academy past student is working on two albums. One is an unfinished set on which she was collaborating with Browne; the other is titled Cover Girl, a batch of pop standards like The Shirelles’ Soldier Boy, Hot Stuff and Here Comes The Rain, for a German company.

The mother of an eight-year-old daughter, Alexia, Chrissy D has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Japan and the UK. Yet, she says her biggest goal is winning the music business’ ultimate prize.

“I want to win a Grammy so there’s still a lot of work to be done,” she said.