[16][22] Davis, headed in a direction of a "new" Monie Love, was searching for a singer to add vocals to the title track of her album Female Preacher, which was to be released on A&M Records that summer.
I gave her the chance, but I didn't give her a voice,"[22] the rapper insisted for Phoenix New Times in July 1992, and Peniston, interviewed by the same newspaper in the meantime, reacted by her own words.
[23] Besides Peniston's vocal performance on three tracks in total, of which "I Like It" was released as a single with a moderate success (at #16 in US Dance[24] and #58 in UK Top 75[25] the following January), she was eventually given also a credit for co-writing two of those, "Kickin' Da Blues" and the title's, "Female Preacher".
Not looking to lose his major deal connections, Delgado called on music producer Rodney K. Jackson, who she had met through mutual friends in Arizona, who was brought to the A&M family to help co-produce Peniston's single, which was soon to be recognized as "Finally".
Her travels started with a series of shows in the Philippines, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and Italy, and after her return to the US, Peniston continued with such R&B acts as Joe Public, the Cover Girls, R. Kelly and LeVert.
The grieving lyrics of her ballad "Inside That I Cried", co-written by Peniston's then-husband, Malik Byrd (who appeared also in its video), and produced in conjunction with Anita Baker's cohort, Steve Lindsey, peaked at No.
[3] Along with "Hit by Love" in the charts, A&M issued a rare compilation, Remix Collection, in Japan with nine alternate versions of her songs previously available only on vinyl, which tracked Peniston's music career since the "Keep On Walkin'" release.
While A&M was listed as the sixth best dance label in the Billboard Year-End chart, Peniston was also rated as the 5th Top R&B Singles Female Artist (behind Janet Jackson, Toni Braxton, Aaliyah and Mariah Carey).
[37] As a member of the gospel quintet called The Sisters of Glory, which included Thelma Houston, Phoebe Snow, Lois Walden, Albertina Walker, and herself, Peniston also recorded a spiritual album, Good News in Hard Times, that featured two solo traditionals ("How I Got Over" and "Precious Memories") performed by Peniston, four standards with her solo part ("Rough Side of the Mountain", "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands", "I Won't Be Back No More" and "Oh Happy Day"), as well as her chorus vocals on additional nine tracks.
Judging from the magazine's earlier preview of several cuts, Billboard published that Peniston was about to explore more mature jeep-soul fare a la Faith Evans, and that she has never sounded so assured and convincingly soulful.
[39] Though I'm Movin' On with a noticeably slimmed-down Peniston adorning its cover was not released until September, a similarly sleek sound marked its title single delivered to the radio stations on July 17, while hitting music stores one week later.
"Movin' On", the song considered as the strongest track to reach core R&B listeners with potential across several genres, was produced by Dave "Jam" Hall, the hit maker behind Mariah Carey's "Dreamlover", whose earlier work included also Madonna's Bedtime Stories album.
The black and white photographs for its booklet were done by Daniela Federici, whose art work was noticed already on I'm Movin' On release, and later also on album and single covers of other female recording artists, such as Céline Dion, Toni Braxton, or Pink.
To make things surrounding her potential comeback even worse, ferocious house groove "Nobody Else", which was premiered at the 5th Annual Billboard Dance Music Summit on the stage at the Green Dolphin Street, failed to enter the music charts, despite favorable reviews of the Billboard that rated the song "among the artist's strongest recordings", "a sure to-thrill die hards",[52] and as "a triumphant return to clubland" commenting in addition her summit live performance.
[53] In 1999, "He Loves Me 2", co-written by M-Doc (known for a remix production for such major artists as Madonna, Janet Jackson or Keitha Sweat) to whom the singer returned the favor providing background vocals on "Keep It Real", a song recorded for his own album Young, Black, Rich and Famous, seemed to bring more competitive results than her previous endeavor, reaching No.
[56] While looking for alternative options for the cancelled production of her album, Peniston decided to make a step back and record a cover version of "Lifetime to Love", written by Steven Nikolas and Brendon Sibley, for her ex-major label producer and the Manny Lehman's compilation Circuit Sessions 00.1.
"[61] Accompanied by a line-up of seven other female vocalists coming from both sides of the Atlantic, she joined Rob Derbyshire and Paul 'Solomon' Mullings, the Birmingham's R&B production duo known as Full Flava, to record lead vocals for their album Colour of My Soul.
The modern soul set was to be made in England, released on Dôme Records in 2003, and one of the compositions performed by Peniston, "For My Baby", was later given also a treatment for the dance floor with stand-out house mixes from Dave "Leggz" Longmore and Sam Junior Bromfield known as Ruff 'N' Tumble, and duo KT & C.[62] "For My Baby" did not succeed on the music charts, however Ruf N Tumble's dance remixes of the song were based on a sample of the Delegation hit single "Heartache No.
Her next steps afterwards led to Better Days Studios in Paris where, for a change, singer was supposed to work with a French producer, Fréderic Tharreau alias BIBI, on exclusively import single "Eternal Lover".
On September 19, 2005, Peniston was invited to appear at Manhattan Center, Grand Ballroom, NYC, to be present at the 2nd Annual Dance Music Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, along with Wanda Dee (of KLF), Nile Rodgers, Freddie Jackson, and Kathy Sledge.
"[22] Instead, Peniston co-wrote with Jackson single "It's Alright" for RaShaan Houston,[69] and took part in another proto-D'vas project, produced by Full Flava, to which she contributed with a Brand New Heavies hit from 1997 (No.
Her cover version was attached to Full Flava's retro album, Music Is Our Way of Life, which reconstructed eleven dancefloor classics in total, and the compilation was released on Dôme.
On April 25, 2007, her icon stood on the stage of Avalon, Hollywood on the occasion of a five star concert Divas of Disco – Live, which included Thelma Houston, Linda Clifford, A Taste of Honey, France Joli and herself.
The ballad was written by Byron V. Garrett, Peniston, Erric Carrington, Essej and Marcus L. Barnum, and the CD promo release, issued on National PTA Recordings, included overall four versions.
Although she did not concrete its release date, Peniston revealed that she was working with such likes as Track Kingz West, Vudu, Status ("Above Horizons"), David Givens, Montell Jordan (on their common duet "He Say, She Say"), Mateo (on "Piece of That"), Isalene Elliot, and Ragland.
In June 2010, Hip-Hop Press posted information about Ron Carroll launching his own independent record label called Electricity, which is to be part of One Entertainment company that will specialize in marketing and promoting concerts, fashion shows and club events all over the world, and signing Electronic, Hip-Hop/R&B and gospel artists.
[9] One month prior to that, Peniston contributed to the March-issued various artists digital compilation titled Miami 2011 with "Make Me Say Oh",[81] which is her fourth track recorded in collaboration with Ron Carroll (their previous works included songs "My Boo", "I'm Feelin' U" and "In Love with a DJ").
[87] A friend of Peniston had brought the article to her attention later, and she responded to Monica via the social networking website MySpace, saying that she did not recall the event but wanted to apologize for it, saying she had always encouraged and supported children and speculating that she may have been distracted by her staff at the time.
"[88] Originally in 1997, singer, along with her friend Heather, founded the CeCe Peniston Youth Foundation to help raise funds for many other organizations, particularly those concerned with HIV/AIDS, women and children in need, hunger and the equality of mankind.
Peniston has acted in theatrical productions such plays as The Wiz, Treat Her Like a Lady or When a Woman's Fed Up, and later also wrapped up shooting two independent films[14] of the same genre (both released on Maverick Spirit in 2005).