Casandra Elizabeth Ventura, known professionally as Cassie, was born on 26 August 1986 in New London, Connecticut, and after attending The Williams School on the Connecticut College campus, she began modelling at the age of 14, and by 16 she was modelling for local department stores, Delia's fashion catalogue and Seventeen. After appearing in R&B singer Mario's 'Just A Friend 2002' music video, she was encouraged by producer Rockwilder to take vocal lessons. After finishing high school in 2004 she moved to New York City, where she returned to modelling, and started taking classes at the Broadway Dance Center. After Ryan Leslie spotted her at a club in 2004, the two wrote a duet together called 'Kiss Me', and after recording the track, Leslie played the song for music executive Tommy Mottola, who offered Cassie a management deal, while Leslie signed her to NextSelection Lifestyle Group. Leslie wrote and produced her first single, 'Me & U', in 2005, and the song became a club hit in Germany before it was heard by P. Diddy, and Leslie convinced him to partner his Bad Boy Records with Leslie's NextSelection imprint for the release of Cassie's debut album. The self-titled record was released in August 2006, and sold 321,000 copies in the United States, while the lead single 'Me & U' peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, selling more than 1 million digital downloads. In 2007 it had to be denied that she'd been dropped from Bad Boy Records, and Diddy confirmed that she was in the studio working with producers Kanye West and Pharrell Williams on her second album, having split from Ryan Leslie, who had produced the majority of her debut album.
The idea was that working with a mix of writers and producers, as well as her own co-write input, would make it a more personal record. In 2008 she made her film debut as Sophie Donovan in the dance film 'Step Up 2: The Streets', and she also sang the lead single 'Is It You' from the soundtrack album. In July 2009 it was announced that her second studio album's title would be 'Electro Love', and that it would demonstrate more independence and have a bit more personality. Three singles were released as tasters for the record, but neither 2008's 'Official Girl', nor 2009's 'Must Be Love' and 'Let's Get Crazy' charted in the US, and so the album was pushed back a couple of times, before she left Bad Boy Records in December and signed with Interscope Records. She was still talking about the album coming out in October 2010, saying that she'd already recorded around fifty songs for it, but still no release date was offered. Her next release was another single, with 'King Of Hearts' appearing in February 2012, but that was now three years after her second record was supposed to have appeared, and so I think we'll we have to admit that by now it was never going to happen. Luckily there have been a number of leaks of her music over the years, and they include all the tracks from 'Electro Love', and so here is that long-awaited second album from Cassie, which should have come out in 2009.
Track listing
01 Let's Get Crazy (feat. Akon)
02 Official Girl (feat. Lil Wayne)
03 Activate (feat. Newz)
04 2 The Morning
05 My House
06 Must Be Love (feat. P. Diddy)
07 Thirsty
08 Make You A Believer (feat. Jadakiss)
09 Keep On Lovin' Me (feat. The-Dream)
10 Nobody But You (feat. The-Dream)
11 Stamina
12 Up In Here
13 In Love With The DJ
14 Turn The Lights Off
15 Is It You
16 Summer Charm
17 Not What Love Is (feat. P. Diddy)
18 Talkin' Like This
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