Shelina Wade (born in Denver, Colorado), commonly known as Lina, is an American R&B and soul singer and songwriter.
After cultivating her gospel and jazz roots by touring with the church choir, performing with her mother and singing at social gatherings, Lina was signed to Atlantic first as a songwriter and then as a singer.
Influenced by singers from Josephine Baker to Sarah Vaughan to Sade, Lina began developing a signature vocal style that could be described as a mixture of swing, r&b, and jazz meets modern day soul.
[1] In 1998, Lina got her first big break as a songwriter by penning a tune for Tyrese's self-titled debut album.
Four songs from "The Inner Beauty Movement" were considered for Grammys in 2006 the titles were "Smooth", "Come To Mama" "Leaving You" and "Hope Wish and Pray".
In 2007, Lina played a jazz singer performing "Santa Baby" in Sony pictures the movie "This Christmas" Starring Idris Elba and Chris Brown.
Many of Lina's songs are featured in movie such as "High Crimes" with Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd, "Guess Who" starring Ashton Kutcher, Eddie Murphy's "Pluto Nash", John Travolta's "Lucky Numbers" and more including the Truth Hall film soundtrack released on November 12, 2009 on Utopia Recordings.