Floetry

Floetry is a Grammy Award-nominated female English R&B, soul, neo soul, and hip hop duo. The members of the group are singer/songwriter Marsha "the Songstress" Ambrosius and rapper, MTV personality and radio hostess Amanda Diva. Amanda Diva replaced previous member Natalie "floacist" Stewart. Original members Marsha and Natalie met through their love of basketball and formed a friendship. Ambrosius attended Brits Performing Arts School and studied business and finance. Stewart experimented with acting and directing. For college, Ambrosius planned to attend the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia on a basketball scholarship but could not due to an injury. Stewart attended Middlesex University in London and later transferred to North London University. During these years, both women continued to keep in touch. she she was part of a girl group named 3 Plus 1. After the split of the group, she and Ambrosius decided to concentrate on a group together.

They began their career as songwriters in 1997. They have written for Jill Scott, Jazz of Dru Hill, Glenn Lewis, Bilal, and Michael Jackson, for whom they penned the hit 2002 single "Butterflies".

In 2000, the duo moved to the United States to further pursue their music career. After frequenting such Atlanta spoken word/poetry spots such as Yin Yang Cafe (to rave reviews), they moved on to Philadelphia. There they met J. Erving, son of basketball player Julius Erving. He became the manager of the group and introduced them to DJ Jazzy Jeff. In 2002, they signed with DreamWorks Records and released their debut album Floetic, which featured the singles "Floetic", "Say Yes", and "Getting Late". The album was also released in the UK with additional tracks, one of which features British singer/songwriter and producer Sebastian Rogers. Floetry released a live album titled Floacism in 2003. The two-disc set consisted of a CD and DVD and included the single "Wanna B Where U R (Thisizzaluvsong)" featuring rapper Mos Def. Their third album Flo'Ology was released in November 2005 and included the single "Supastar" featuring rapper Common.

Ambrosius has been featured on several songs including Styles P's "I'm Black"; The Game's "Start from Scratch" and "Why You Hate The Game" (also featuring Nas); Busta Rhymes' "Get You Some" and "Cocaina"; Nas' "Hustlers" (also featuring The Game); and Hi-Tek's "Music for Life". The group has also collaborated with Earth, Wind & Fire on their most recent album, Illumination, on the track "Elevated".

Ambrosius is currently signed to Dr. Dre's record label, Aftermath Entertainment, as a solo musician. "I have waited a long time for this, so the last thing I want to do after waiting all these years, is to rush the album and be disappointed. I am aiming to release the album this summer. I am focusing on making this a classic album, that will stay relevant across time. I have been doing some stuff with Scott Storch, Dre & Vidal, Cool and Dre... I'm a music maker, I love to create so I'm reaching for the best out of different situations. The creative relationship between Dre, the Aftermath in-house production team and myself has become so strong that it may not be necessary to use any other producers. But why not?! If I gotta call Just Blaze, Neptunes, Kanye, whoever, I just want the music to be right".

After Ambrosius's solo ventures, it was been announced that Amanda Diva, VJ for MTV2, will replace Stewart. Reasons haven't been disclosed as of yet, but on upcoming tours, Diva's lyrics will replace Stewart's in popular Floetry songs.

• 2002: Floetic #19 U.S. (Gold)
• 2003: Floacism #74 U.S.
• 2005: Flo'Ology #7 U.S.

Career stats

• Career wins: 0
• Career nominations: 5

• Official website
• Floetry at Geffen Records website
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