Kiana Knight

Kiana Knight (1989)

**Kiana Ladonna Knight Bruce** (October 17, 1962 - February 2, 1996) - was an American singer and actress.

## Biography

### Early Life

Kiana Knight was born on October 17, 1962 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She is one of five children born to Roberta (née Chaney) and Ernie Knight. The Knights were middle class family. In 1967 family moved to Tujunga neighborhood of Los Angeles. Through her father she is of Creole descent. When she was six her mother, who is a vocal coach, started teaching her a proper vocal technique, she wanted Kiana to use her powerful voice in the future. She started caring more about music when she was nine, she started listening to major R&B female artists and became fully motivated to be a singer in the future.

### Career

When she was 17 she was signed to Panorama Hollywood Records, one of smaller record labels based in Los Angeles. She started recording her first songs. Her label pushed her to make more pop influenced songs, rather than clean R&B, the sound continued to be used on her debut album. Before release of the album she was signed to Columbia Records, she started working with some of most important producers at the time. Her first single "That's The Way We Know Each Other" was released  in April 1980. It reached number one 3 months after release. When the single was atop the chart Kiana's first album "Love Will Never Go Away" was released alongside the title track, both the album and the single reached number one. Record's third single "Rhythm Choice" also peaked at number one, it made her the first person ever to make their first three singles number-ones. Fourth and final single "The Trait to End This Game" also peaked at number one and made every album single be a number-one. Succeeding year she won many awards for the Best New Artist and Best Album. In 1981 she released her second studio album, it became a commercial failure, although two of three singles became number-ome hits. in 1982 she decided to go on her first headlining tour, she played shows in many huge venues in the United States such as Madison Square Garden and Hollywood Bowl. In 1984 it was announced she'll play a leading role in the movie September (released 1986), she also recorded the soundtrack for the movie. In 1989 she released her fourth studio album called "Kiana". It became her most successful album at the time. For the second time in her career she became the biggest artist of the year winning many awards and having three number-one singles. Her fifth studio album "Live Your Truth" was released in January 1992, the title track of the album was used to promote a movie "Gunshot'. By the time she also became the first female solo artist with 13 number-one singles on Billboard Hot 100. In late 1992 she went on her third and first worldwide headlining tour, called "Loverboy Tour". When she was on tour she started working at her sixth studio album called "1994: Making Process". The record received  favorable reviews from critics, many of them said it's her best record. It also became her biggest commercial record debuting at number one in 18 countries. The album had 10 singles, 5 of them peaked at number-one in the United States, the other 5 were also successful top 10 hits. Her second worldwide tour "Making Process Tour" started in 1995, she was scheduled to do 120 shows, although the last 2 legs (and 48 shows) had to be cancelled due to Kiana's tragic death..

### Personal Life

In 1983 Knight started dating Allan Wey, a swiss lawyer. They got engaged in 1984, but they broke up year later. In 1991 Kiana started dating 30 years older businessman, Joe Bruce. They got engaged and married shortly after. In 1994 they decided to move to Bruce's hometown, Cleveland. In late 1995 she got pregnant with him, unfortunately she died before the birth. On February 2, 1996 Kiana died in an airplane crash near Sao Paulo, Brazil.

## Discography

### Albums

* *Love Will Never Go Away* (1980)
* *Loath* (1981)
* *Drone* (1983)
* *Kiana* (1990)
* *Live Your Truth* (1992)
* *1994: Making Process* (1994)