Who is Cree Summer?

That was my question in 1999 when I went to see Lenny Kravitz at the Brixton academy with my then new date (now my missus!). That night Cree Summer was the support act to Mr Kravitz and while her set was almost certainly excellent I did not have my ears open to new sounds and so missed out .... grrr. Fast forward a few months to find my brand new wife and I in California driving from San Diego to Napa listening to Cree's 1st and so far only album Street Faerie which fast became the soundtrack of our honeymoon. Since 1999 that CD has been a favorite of mine and I have waited and waited for a follow up which never came. It's only relatively recently that I discovered why.

You may have wondered why I am blathering on about a singer on a blog that is meant to be about TV and movies ... well ... Cree Summer is not just a great singer, she is also one of the most talented and sought after voice actors working today.

Any TV heads out there might have bumped into Cree when she played the character of Freddie on A Different World (1988-1993) but other than a few guest appearances on shows like Fresh Prince her acting has been wholly behind a mic' doing voiceover work.

Checking out her resume you see the multitude of movies and shows she has worked on. You will almost certainly have heard that distinctive voice at some time or other perhaps on more recent shows including Mike Judge's The Goode Family plus the nicely edgy Drawn Together.

To me Cree Summer will always be a singer who also does voiceovers but it's just so interesting when you dig into the lives of those we listen to and whose talents we enjoy to discover the unexpected.

Check out a song from my 'honeymoon soundtrack' by clicking here.

Who is Cree Summer?