Shalekiah Barton, Staff Writer
Sha-shalom, which means peace, Le- a Levite a servant of god and Kiah- a legend or a folktale all together meaning Sha-le-kiah, “Determined to be here.”
Born Sept. 24, 1993 in Brooklyn, Shalekiah Monique-Patrice Barton has always made her presence known since her birth.
Shalekiah is a 21-year-old inspirational R&B/Hip hop and Pop singer, songwriter, Dancer, actress, motivational speaker and journalist. She has been doing it all since the age of four when she started touring for various productions such as “The Maafa.. A Healing Journey.”” Langston Hughes, Black Nativity,” “Hark Christmas in the Raw,” and “Maafa. .The Struggle Continues.” She’s toured with Dr. Johnny R. Youngblood and Oboe award winning director Jesse Wooden Jr., the Saint Paul Community Baptist Church Dramatic company to Seattle, Chicago, St. Croix and many other places. She also performed in various school adaptations such as “Lion King” and “The Wiz” and was cast the principle role of Mary in the Christmas production “Unto us a child is born” which is in its 11th anniversary season.
Shalekiah loves singing but didn’t realize her talent of singing until the age of 9. She is able to creatively write memorable and inspirational song lyrics that could ‘Woo’ a crowd. Shalekiah recorded her first single “Haters” at the age of 13 in spring 2007 and continued to build and develop her talent. Since then she has co-wrote songs with legends like “Kool and the Gang” and was privy to participate in recording sessions with producers from the So So Def music label.
In the summer of 2009, Shalekiah introduced her album “Shalekiah Monique The Dreams EP” and began promotion tours all over New York and New Jersey. Her ep is available on iTunes and her new single off of her sophomore album, “Un doable” can be viewed on soundcloud.com and her official web site, ShalekiahMonique.com.
Shalekiah is a junior at Mercy College and studies media studies and journalism. Being that she loved writing and talking, she decided to hone her craft and is working with her school’s newspaper “The Impact” to learn the ins and outs of journalism and publication.
Shalekiah lives by the phrase “dreams are real, just believe” and the phrase that she uses to motivate herself which was originally written by Marianne Williamson “Our Deepest Fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure” an intimate part of her journey.
