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Harmony in Motion
BY SHI ENT.
BY XQUISITE EDITORS
JANUARY 2014 XQUISITE
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H
armony was born in Camden, NJ where she was raised
by her mother. Harmony has two brothers and is the only and youngest girl of the three. Harmony attended Urban Promise Charter School for her elementary. Junior high years and every last one of those years she was on honor roll. So it looks like this lil’ star in the making has brains as well. When she was attending UPCS, she critiqued her drawing abilities in art class, which was her favorite class when she was younger, after, her love for music class where she was in 3 school musical plays throughout her junior high years, that’s when she found out that she loves being on stage. Being on stage made her feel like that’s where she belonged. A very shy girl, she never really spoke about her love for music or even how it made her feel since she always kept it to herself. Harmony came from a very talented family. Almost about everyone in her family sings or rap or just have some type of musical ability. For instance, her brother Sultan sings, her other brother Shikeem has his own entertainment business called “Shi Entertainment” and her cousin Mia raps. Her mother is a Christian woman as Harmony was also brought up in church, listening to a lot of gospel music. Even at home her mother blast the wonderful tunes of Yolanda Adams, Kirk Franklin, BeBe and CeCe Winans; even PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHI ENT.
some oldies like mighty clouds of joy, and the canton spirituals etc. When listening to the music her mother blasts she always wanted to jump up and sing and dance but was really shy so she just set back and enjoyed the music and listen to her mother sing. Around the age of 9 years old, is when Harmony was introduced to R&B. In the year of 2003, when the ’03 BET AWARDS premiered was when Harmony seen Beyonce perform and was amazed by her high energy, and energetic dance moves, bright lights, and creative performance, and her iconic voice, most of all she seen that she was having a lot of fun while entertaining the crowd and having the crowd go wild. By watching Beyonce’ inspired Harmony to come out of her shell and present herself to the world. But, she didn’t show anyone her talents yet, between the ages of 9 and 12 Harmony would lock herself in her room and practice singing, learning how to hit different notes and project, Very smart for a little girl. Growing up, Harmony was a perfectionist, and she knew she wanted to have her voice together a little before she presented herself to anybody. Even her mother hasn’t heard her sing during that time. While in her room she’d pop in a Beyonce DVD and just listen to how she sang, and every little technique she did to hit her notes. Also she would sing while dancing and moving to exercise her voice so she would still sound good while dancing. Beyonce is Harmony’s biggest influence and inspiration. Within that same time, Harmony also started to write her own music. Her first song was called “Get Loose, Get Crunk”, which was pretty good for a little girl, but it wasn’t quite there yet. She kept writing and practicing more songs like “Twisted”, and “Cupid”, just to name a few. But then she took a little time off from writing and just stuck to singing covers of different songs. In 2008-09, Harmony started High School at CCTS. She then decided, in this new chapter of her life to show more of herself and break out of her shell. So she joined the basketball team, [her favorite number #25, just saying!] (laughing), and the performing arts program. Freshmen year, was the year that Harmony sang in front of her first audience at her school talent show, She was so nervous, but she did it anyway. She sang “Cater 2 U” by Destiny’s Child with her friends Crissy and Aarie. She was told that she sucked in that performance, but didn’t let that stop her. She turned all of that negativity into a positive. Her sophomore year, at the next talent show she sang ”And I” by Ciara with her best friend Aarie, and also sang “Ave Maria” by Beyonce’ with her other best friend Rosita and got a standing ovation. Junior year, she performed ”Angel of Mine” with her friend Teyonna. She had the crowd clapping and singing along too. So eventually the crowd came
JANUARY 2014 XQUISITE
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around, also “Never take what anyone says to you to the heart. Use it to your advantage”. Around this time during her sophomore and junior year was when she started to rap. She watched her cousin Mia rap for years and decided to give it a try and found that she loved rapping as much as singing and was pretty good at it, so she decided to add it to her list of talents. Around this same time Harmony decided to broaden her audience and go worldwide by making a Youtube page and post videos of her singing and rapping. She has also posted her original material and has gotten a lot of good feedback on it. She then transferred over to Facebook, the one place everyone logs onto at and created a fan page and in just 2 months, fans grew 1,000+ and growing. Harmony just wants to touch and relate to everyone through her music and bring everyone together and just enjoy life. So now, Harmony is working on her own music and projects and hopefully all of her hard work takes her to the next level. Harmony does it all for the LOVE of Music and of course #TeamHarmony #Harmonizers. Tell your friends and family about her and tell them to tell their friends and family, etc about and her and let’s make Harmony “The Next Big Thing!!!
PHOTO(S) BY SHI ENT. COURTESY OF HARMONY MUSIC
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XQUISITE So Harmony Welcome to XQUISITE MAGAZINE. Tell us a bit about yourself, professionally and personally? Come on... you can do it. (laughing) HARMONY (Laughs) Well my name is Harmony Nieves and my stage name is just Harmony or Harmony Music! I’m from Camden, New Jersey. My Birthday is November 27, "Sagittarius All Day" *Laughs* and I’m a Singer. I Love Art, it’s a Great way for me to express myself and to exercise my creative mind." XQUISITE Woot Woot!! YES!!! Another Sagi in the house!!! And she’s talented! I knew it was something about you that….Speaking of...Was that a birthday hint? Just kidding? So Harmony, what are some of your likes and dislikes? Something for your fans because we Sagi’s are very competitive! Hahaha HARMONY (Laughs)Yes!! Some of my likes are basketball, dancing, pizza, homemade Banana Pudding, drawing, going to the beach and reality shows. I dislike when people crack their necks like they would do to their knuckles, sushi and liars.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHI ENT.
XQUISITE Oops sorry! Bad habit. (laughing) Now, um…(laughs) how did you get started singing and at what age were you when it became obvious this is what you wanted to do? HARMONY "Well, I always loved music. I grew up in church, so when I was younger I always listened to gospel music. I know a lot of celebrity artist say "I was in the choir since I was like 4, (Laughs) but I never was in the choir because I was too shy (laughs), so guess I always just sat back and enjoyed the music but, when I was around 8 or 9 years old, I saw Beyonce perform "Crazy in Love" on the BET Awards, I was like "Woooowwww!" lol I thought it was the most amazing thing ever and I was like, "I’m going to do that when I get older" So ever since then, I’ve been singing ever since. But I actually started singing publicly and putting myself in the public eye when I was 13 years old. XQUISITE What else do you do professionally? HARMONY Things I do professionally are of course: singing, and I'm getting into modeling because I've grown to love fashion more and I love photography, so that’s another occupation I would love to get into as well, outside of music. Other things I’m also into are Videography, Rapping, Photography, Web design etc., but my main focus is on singing and modeling. XQUISITE Where are you located? HARMONY I’m located on the East Coast, in New Jersey. XQUISITE What city do you represent? HARMONY Camden, NJ XQUISITE New Jersey in the house!!! Said is Jersey in the House??? Man, I used to live in Westwood and Washington Township as a teen, but um (Sorry had to stick it in there), as far as relationships goes, (laughing), Are you seeing anybody or casually dating? For the record of course! (Smiles) HARMONY (Laughs) "I knew it was coming, I was just waiting for it…(laughs) but, Yes, I’m married actually....to my Music! (Laughs) "We've been together for 19 years…(Laughs) but "No" seriously I’m actually not seeing anyone at the moment and I’m not dating. XQUISITE Hear that fellas? Do you have the time for that? (laughs) HARMONY Honestly, I’m focused on my career, I put all of my time into my music. I don’t have time for guys right now, because being a girlfriend is definitely a job in itself, and I only got time for one job and that’s my music. If the right guy comes along later on in life, then we'll see, but until than, I’m focused. "I’m Single and NOT ready to Mingle!" (Laughs)
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XQUISITE I heard that!! (laughing and snapping fingers in a Z) What have you learned from (relationship wise and career wise), that has made you say "I'm Good, I'm Moving on? or “That’s OK, NEXT??? HARMONY There's two things I’ve learned: If a guy is TOO controlling, especially in the first couple days or weeks in the relationship, its time to Go. Compromise is one thing but, when he want you to do what he says all the time and he doesn't care what you have to say, NEXT! (Laugh) Also when a guy is a "Consistent" liar. I hate liars, but, when a guy consistently lies, it’s time to go. Consistent liars are the guys that still lie, even when they caught. lol You catch him in his lies, like you have evidence to prove he's lying, and he still tries to lie, (Shakes head) its time to go! "Ain’t nobody got time for dat!" (laughs in her Sweet Brown Voice) XQUISITE (Laughs) Ok! WOW!!! You think? Lady, you are too much! Any competition out there (I bet you'll probably say "No, not really, Next question!!! (laughing) that makes you say to yourself "Hey I'm out, Sorry I can't compete, this just isn’t for me? Are they serious??"
PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHI ENT.
HARMONY (Laughs) “No! There's a lot of talented artists out there right now,
but I don't look at it as competition, I look at them as inspiration. Honestly, I'm my own competition; I don't try to be better than anyone but myself. There's always somebody that's better than the next person, so you can only try to out do yourself and be the best artist, actor, comedian etc. that you can possibly be.” XQUISITE – That’s good! Are there any upcoming videos, movies, fashion shows or events in the future? HARMONY Yes! I’m currently working on my mix tape.So pretty soon you should be hearing new music, and also some music videos. As for shows and events, I will be definitely be hitting the stage as soon as possible, nothing is confirmed, but if you visit my website www.OfficialHarmonyMusic.com you can be updated on all upcoming, shows/events and more. XQUISITE – Any advice for the next generation? HARMONY Oh Yes! "Stay true to yourself! Never let anyone influence you to anything you
don’t want to do. If you want something in life, you go get it. Don’t let anything stop you, especially not negative people or haters. Live to be the best you can be and never give up. XQUISITE – Are you being managed right now or signed to any companies? HARMONY Right now, I only have my Manager Shi of Shi ENT. with me. As for me being signed, No, I’m not signed to any companies. XQUISITE How is that working out for you? Details please... HARMONY Being with my manager, Shikeem of Shi Ent. is going really well. We are both very hungry and determined to be successful. If in the long run, I was offered a deal as far as labels/record companies, I will definitely take it into consideration. As of now, we are both grinding, working hard to make it to the top. XQUISITE Its 10 years from now, where do you see yourself in say the clothing industry or movies, etc.?? HARMONY In 10 years, I definitely want to have at least a Grammy and a couple platinum albums. As, far as the Fashion Industry, I see myself having my own clothing line out in London because I’ve always loved London and their fashion. Movie wise, I see myself having at least (1) Oscar for my acting (laughs) but, I definitely want to be in as many movies that I possibly can. XM
CHECK OUT HARMONY MUSIC www.OfficialHarmonyMusic.com FACEBOOK HarmonyFanPage TWITTER _TheRealHarmony YouTube jos4814 INSTAGRAM IG: _TheRealHArmony For Bookings Email: Shient1@gmail.com
JANUARY 2014 XQUISITE