Adina Marie Howard (born November 14, 1974) is an American singer and songwriter. She rose to fame during the mid-1990s with her debut album, Do You Wanna Ride? and her debut single, "Freak like Me". Some of her other minor hits include "What's Love Got to Do with It?" (with Warren G), "(Freak) And U Know It", "Nasty Grind", "Freaks" (with Play-N-Skillz and Krayzie Bone) and "T-Shirt & Panties" (with Jamie Foxx).
Adina Howard was born on November 14, 1974, and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, by her mother with her three younger sisters. The family would later move to Phoenix, Arizona. One of her earliest role models was Madonna, another Michigan native.
In the mid-1990s, she gained the attention of manager-producer Livio Harris, who helped her record some demos and later land a deal with Max Gousse through Mecca Don/EastWest Records.
1993–1996: Do You Wanna Ride? and the hit success of "Freak Like Me"
Her debut album Do You Wanna Ride?, featuring the Platinum-certified hit single, "Freak like Me", was released in 1995 and was certified Gold by the RIAA. Her follow-up singles included "My Up and Down" (No. 32 R&B, No. 68 Hot 100) and "It's All About You" (No. 58 R&B).
In 1996, she collaborated with Warren G for the Police Story 3: Super Cop soundtrack with the single "What's Love Got to Do with It" which featured a sample of the Tina Turner hit. The single was another hit for the two, peaking at No. 36 on the Hot 100, No. 32 on R&B, and No. 2 on the UK charts. The music video also featured Jackie Chan in a cameo. Also that year, she collaborated on a track with Somethin' for the People titled "Damned If I Do" which appeared on the soundtrack for A Thin Line Between Love and Hate as well as their self-titled debut album. She also recorded the track "For the Funk" for the Sunset Park soundtrack.
1997: Welcome to Fantasy Island and acting
In 1997, she prepared for the release of her second album, Welcome to Fantasy Island (originally titled Portrait of a Lady). It garnered critical raves and a moderate hit with the lead single, "(Freak) And U Know It", but was shelved by Elektra Records in 1997. The album was leaked to the internet a few years later and promotional copies sell for hundreds of dollars.
One of the shelved album's tracks, "T-Shirt & Panties" (a collaboration with Jamie Foxx) ended up on a soundtrack the following year. It was originally slated for the soundtrack to his film Booty Call but it eventually ended up on the soundtrack to the 1998 feature film Woo. It was released promotionally as a single, and the remix featured Cam'ron and Charli Baltimore.
Also this year, she collaborated with Cydal on a track titled "Chocolate (Cuties & Condoms)" which was released as a single for the Bulletproof soundtrack. The track was also included on their debut album Cydalwayz the following year.
During this time, she made her feature film debut in the independent film High Freakquency, starring Deon Richmond and John Witherspoon.
In 2002, she filmed her second movie role, in the still-unreleased Casanova's Demise for director Tigre Hill.
Also this year, she collaborated with the Hip-Hop group PYG'z and Yuck Mouth on the track "Been Around the World" for the former's debut album.
1998–2005: New label and The Second Coming
By 2004, Howard released her third album The Second Coming on Rufftown Records. A video was made for the first single, "Nasty Grind", Mark Rezyka Directed the video and the music video was produced by Jack Edward Sawyers. The video featured Adina topless covering herself while she sang. The video played on BET during early morning hours. The album sold poorly due to lack of promotion and only managed to gather 40,000 copies on store shelves and she was later sued by the label. A second single, "(Outside) The Club" was slated to be released, along with a remix album The Second Coming: Remixed & UnCut but both were canceled following her departure from the label.
Later that year, she collaborated with Play-N-Skillz and Krayzie Bone for the track "Freaks" which sampled her hit single "Freak Like Me". The single appeared on the Play-N-Skillz album The Process and became a hit, peaking at No. 52 R&B and No. 69 on the Hot 100 (her first-charting single in 7 years).
She released an official mixtape album (with DJ RIP) featuring new songs, remixes, and unreleased tracks titled Let You Hit through SoundJewelz.com on August 5, 2005.
In 2006, she announced that the single "Phone Sex" was going to be released, but the following year, the song "L.O.V.A." was released digitally as her lead single. Additionally, a song titled "Hips" was announced to be her second single.