Brooke Valentine

Houston, Texas, USA. This R&B vocalist’s solo career was launched in 2005 with the provocative ‘Girlfight’, a minor hit that earned more notoriety for its subject matter than any intrinsic artistic value. Valentine grew up singing in the church choir but earned her mother’s disapproval when, while still at high school, she was enlisted by Houston-based producer Deja to join his girl group, Best Kept Secret. The group did the rounds of the international club circuit but by the start of the new millennium had failed to make the expected breakthrough. When Deja disbanded Best Kept Secret he continued to work with Valentine, who he had already begun to encourage as a writer. The producer enjoyed more success with his new protégée than any of his previous signings, securing Valentine a recording contract with the Virgin Records subsidiary Subliminal Entertainment. The duo recorded Valentine’s debut album with the help of a number of leading producers, including Jermaine Dupri and Soul Diggas. With in-demand crunk king Lil Jon and Big Boi of Outkast handling production and guest vocals respectively, ‘Girlfight’ raised a few eyebrows with its lurid depiction of female violence but was not as successful as might have been expected, scraping into the R&B Top 30 and the lower regions of the Hot 100 in January 2005. Chain Letter, which followed two months later, was more successful in reaching the R&B Top 5 and pop Top 20.

In 2006, Valentine set work on her second studio album, Physical Education. She released the set's lead single "D-Girl" featuring Pimp C that year, peaking at #92 on the Billboard R&B/Hip Hop Singles chart. A follow-up single "Pimped Out" featuring Dem Franchize Boyz was released but failed to catch on. Eventually, the Physical Education project was put on hold due to Virgin Records’ merger with Capitol Records in 2008. Subliminal Entertainment CEO Deja the Great then acquired the masters and the contract rights from Virgin Records, and material from the project was released independently on the Physical Education Mixtape in 2009.
She later said in an interview that the project was a "paper album" with Virgin, as it was a forced effort due to her being on the label's timeline for a new release and being set up with all the "hot" producers at the time. In addition to not turning in the complete album to the label, Valentine was also dealing with the death of her cousin during the "D-Girl" single release, all of which added to the album not being initially released.

In a 2010 interview, Valentine said that she took a break and has been writing music for other artists, and was now working on new material.
That year, she also gave birth to her first child, a son named London. In 2012, she did an interview with Essence Magazine discussing raising her son's cerebral palsy diagnosis. She also penned an open letter to him with Ebony Magazine, calling him her "tiny hero." Adding to her stage name the alias B. Valentine, she released a music video for the song "Insanity" in January 2012, shot entirely on an Apple iPad and directed by Subliminal CEO Deja the Great. She announced a new album titled Forever set for release later in the year, led by a new single "Forever" which premiered on February 14, 2012. "Rub It In" (a collaboration with Tyrese) was announced as the set's second single and released as a digital single, but the album was later pushed back in lieu of a new project. In 2013, she released a new EP titled Love Letters which garnered a positive response. A single from the set, "Don't Wanna Be In Love" was released and peaked at #29 on the Billboard Adult R&B chart, marking her first chart appearance in six years.

In 2014, she filmed scenes for the L.A.-spin off cast of VH1's hit reality series Love & Hip Hop, but ultimately did not make the cut. Since then, she's been working on her second studio album. In 2016, she released a series of new digital singles, with "Grow Up" on April 29, "#CRAIG" (produced by Yonni) on July 2, and "Games" on October 5. In June 2017, it was confirmed she will appear on the new season of VH1's popular series Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood alongside newcomers Keyshia Cole and Chanel West Coast.