Case Woodard, stage name Case, is an American R&B singer who was born in New York City.

Biography

Case was born October 4th in New York and grew up in various New York City projects with his parents and two younger sisters. While the family struggled financially, they often found solace in music. “We didn’t have much”, says Case “but there was always music in the household.”

Introduced to music by his father, (briefly a member of the group Cameo) Case believes music is in his blood. At the age of 5, he would perform constantly for family and friends in his living room. Often singing together with his father deepened Case’s already growing love of music and created a lifelong bond between them.

“I wanted to sing so bad. I was willing to leave everything behind” - Case

Case, who refers to music as his, “first love”, discovered his passion for the artform early. However, growing up in a strict Jehovah’s Witness household, where only close association with other Jehovah’s Witness was accepted, made pursuing a music career difficult. His desire to become a professional musician was met with harsh resistance from his parents resulting in mounting family tension. His parents made it clear that Case could not pursue a music career while living under their roof. So at the age of 17, armed with determination and a bag of clothes, Case moved out. He moved in with one friend, then another, and before long he was homeless during what he calls, ”the coldest winter in New York”. He scrounged around for money to buy food and showered and changed where he could. Even during this trying time his determination to succeed didn’t waiver.

At 19, Case reconciled with his parents and reluctantly moved back home. He soon began working for the New York Housing Authority while spending all his free time producing demos, singing and writing music. He continued to work for the Housing authority until his work schedule conflicted with studio time he wanted. Case left his job and never looked back.

“I found out that the song you hate the most, is the song that works” –Case
 

Music Career

After stints with R&B group “Future” and a duo called “Black”, Case got work co-writing and singing background for artist including Usher, Christopher Williams and Al B. Sure. Case finally felt close to achieving his dream of becoming a solo artist, and he was. Armed with a song written by Faith Evans, Case was discovered by Russell Simmons who signed him to Def Jam Records. “Everything changed with this deal,” says Case, “I was in heaven, on cloud nine.”

Case’s solo career took off in 1996 with the release of “Touch Me Tease Me” from his first self titled album Case. The hit song, co-written by Mary J. Blige with guest vocals from Foxy Brown was featured on “The Nutty Professor” soundtrack and sold over 1,000,000 copies. The album featured "Touch Me Tease Me" with rapper Foxy Brown and R&B singer Mary J. Blige, the hit single from "The Nutty Professor". The single went gold, reaching #4 on the R&B charts and #14 on the Hot 100.

Case followed the success of his first album with the release of Personal Conversation in 1999. The album featured the hit singles "Happily Ever After" written & produced by Christopher "Deep" Henderson; which reached #3 on the R&B charts and #15 on the Hot 100, and "Faded Pictures", which featured R&B singer Joe, which reached #3 on the R&B charts and #10 on the Hot 100. Aside from being a favorite wedding song, "Happily Ever After" notably featured Beyonce in the video as Case's love interest receiving an elaborate scavenger hunt-type proposal. The album's other single, "Think Of You" failed to do well on the charts, managing to only reach #50 on the R&B charts. “This album was a better representation of me,” says Case. Personal Conversation achieved platinum status.

In 2001, as the first artist on the new Def Soul imprint, Case released his third album Open Letter and topped the charts with the Tim & Bob produced hit song “Missing You”. He also expanded his music catalogue by working on soundtracks for films including: Rush Hour, The Best Man and The Nutty Professor, II: The Klumps. Open Letter, Case's most well-known album went gold. "Missing You" is Case's only #1 single to date as it topped the R&B charts and reached #4 on the Hot 100. Later that year, Case also appeared on rapper Ja Rule's hit Livin' It Up,

After the success of Open Letter, Case moved to Atlanta to be closer to his children, and has over the last several years proven to be a real survivor. To say his seven years “away” from music have been interesting would be an understatement. On February 5, 2002, Case was moving his cousin's registered handgun, when it accidentally discharged striking him in the throat nearly missing his spine by a half inch. Case suffered no vocal damage. He remembers looking at his throat in a mirror and trying to sing. The bullet, that went in through his throat, came out the back of his neck and was miraculously less than a centimeter away from paralyzing and killing him. To the shock of everyone around, Case was out of the hospital in four hours with just bandages around his neck.

A great deal of Case's success has been due to his appearance on movie soundtracks. Many of Case's most popular tracks appear on the soundtracks for Nutty Professor, Rush Hour, Nutty Professor II and The Best Man. These singles were "Touch Me Tease Me" (Nutty Professor), "Faded Pictures" (Rush Hour), "Best Man I Can Be" (The Best Man) and "Missing You" (Nutty Professor II). Case's single, "Shoulda Known Betta (Featuring Ghostface)", reached #87 on the R&B charts in 2004. The single appeared on the Johnson Family Vacation soundtrack, and was produced by The Neptunes. Case continues to tour, performing on the Ladies Night Out Tour in 2006 with Ginuwine, Jagged Edge and Donell Jones.

On October 4, 2006, Skeleton Key Entertainment, the mainstream entertainment division of Mega Media Group, Inc. announced today the signing of a recording contract with R&B sensation, Case. With the help of Blue Williams, the veteran manager who has managed the likes of Outkast, Jagged Edge and Lyfe, he started a record label Indigo blue, with the distribution of Skeleton key records.

He is also featured on a track called Face to Face which is a duet with gospel singer Coko formerly of SWV which is on the soundtrack of Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns (film) which the soundtrack is to be released March 18, 2008.

With no damage done to his vocal chords, Case continued to work on completing his fourth album, but due to professional differences, he asked to be released from Def Soul Records in 2004. He has since worked through the challenges of a changing music industry and partnered with manager Blue Williams to create independent record label, Indigo Blue. Case is now poised to release his much anticipated album, The Rose Experience, in 2009.

The Rose Experience, which stays true to Case’s signature sound - soul music with a twist of new jack and hip-hop, will not disappoint fans. Always drawing from his musical influences like Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Elton John and Earth, Wind and Fire, new songs such as “Lovely” and “I Can’t” will take the listener on a journey into love and relationships from Case’s perspective. “This is the first album I produced and I knew what I wanted to say,” explains the singer.