“REGINA BELLE – THIS IS LOVE”

Regina Belle emerged as a prolific, consistently engaging vocalist on the urban contemporary scene. Born in New Jersey, Belle’s early experience was in gospel, though she was also attracted to R&B during her childhood. She studied trombone, tuba, and steel drums, and at 12 won a school contest singing the Emotions’ “Don’t Ask My Neighbors.”

Belle sang in a New Jersey vocal group, and studied opera and jazz in college. New York disc jockey Vaughn Harper introduced her to the Manhattans, and she began working as their opening act. Belle recorded a duet with them, “Where Did We Go Wrong,” that was produced by Bobby Womack in 1986.

In 1987, she released her debut album All by Myself. It includes her first hits “So Many Tears” and “Show Me the Way”. In the same year, Belle recorded her first successful duet with Peabo Bryson: the song “Without You”, the love theme from the comedy film Leonard Part 6, also released in 1987.

The song was her first single to appear on the Adult Contemporary (chart), peaking at #8 and was also her first single to appear in four charts, including the UK Singles, peaking at #85, her best position in this chart until 1989.

Her follow-up album, Stay with Me, released in 1989. Belle recorded a duet in 1991 with Johnny Mathis, “Better Together” which appeared on his album Better Together: The Duet Album. Continuing her tradition of duets, Belle teamed up with Peabo Bryson for four songs: “Without You” (in 1987), “I Can’t Imagine” (in 1991), “A Whole New World” (in 1992) and “Total Praise” (in 2009).

Later in 1993, she released her Platinum selling third album, Passion. The album featured the Disney hit, “A Whole New World”.[6] The theme song “Far Longer than Forever” from the animated movie the The Swan Princess, performed with Jeffrey Osborne was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1995 for Best Original Song. She released Reachin’ Back in 1995 followed by Believe in Me in 1998. Source