Sisaundra has been blessed to have so much going on in the entertainment business throughout her life, and her new single titled “You Remain” transcends genres while spreading the word of God in a fun, upbeat way.
She has been on NBC’s The Voice working with country star Blake Shelton, has worked with some of the top musicians in the world, and hosts her own talk show on AFRO TV. The newest endeavor involves a track where she celebrates the Lord while belting out her vocals, with the backing of a talented band that she’s worked with for more than a decade.
“It is a tapestry of genres,” Sisaundra said. “You know like Donny and Marie Osmond said, “I’m a little bit country,” well I am a little bit country. You could kind of see it coming out with Blake on the Voice, but more so now in this song.”
One morning Sisaundra woke up and saw some new boots that she got from Shelton for being on his team while on The Voice in 2011. She put them on and started tapping, singing a melody and even yodeling. Sisaundra drove to the TV studio where she works, and told her band that she had a great idea. While they nixed the yodeling, they dug the idea and put together a track that Sisaundra loves.
“We came together and wrote all the lyrics for it,” she said. “We infused a lot of who we are and what we believe in this song, and I told them they really needed to capture the country side of me. I am very, very happy that we were able to do that, and I hope everybody loves it.”
Sisaundra grew up in a small town in Florida called Lake Hamilton, and was the daughter of a sharecropper and a pastor. This meant she spent plenty of time in church, and also plenty of time working. While she comes from humble beginnings, her richness in life comes from the aspects her parents shared with her.
“These are the things that they believed in, which was God, and their work ethic that was a ‘get it done’ mindset,” she said. “They were also empowerers and encouragers, so I feel when I look back at it in retrospect, it really helped me to develop into a better person because of who they were.”
Her parents have since passed away, but the memories of them and what they taught her hold true. Their leadership, love and work ethic was integral in the person she has become. One of these major pieces was her family’s involvement in music, and from the age of four, Sisaundra was singing.
“Getting into music was just destiny,” she said. “Of course, being a preacher’s kid, you’re going to do something in the church. You’re going to sing, play an instrument, preach. You’re doing something. My father encouraged me so much all the time to get into music. I would have wonderful surprises, like I came home one day and he had a beautiful blue drum set in the back of the truck.”
Sisaundra’s father was determined that someone was going to play drums in the church, and that was going to be her. They also bought her a piano, and just constantly exposed her to music. Her sisters had a group called “The Lewis Sisters” who would travel and open for major recording quartets. Sisaundra asked them if she could sing, but she was just way too young at the time.
Sisaundra didn’t want to give up that notion, and she asked her father if she could sing after he gave his sermon at Sunday mass. After some thought, her father gave the okay, and Sisaundra was on her way.
“As they say, the rest is history,” she said.
Sisaundra has had some incredible moments in her entertainment career. She spent 10 years performing with Cirque de Sole and has also worked with major talents like Celine Dion. Sisaundra was working with Peabo Bryson, who famously sang with Dion on “Beauty and the Beast.” She was also the understudy of Dion, and would sing the duet with Bryson while on tour. One day her manager called her and said Dion wanted her to go out on the road as her vocal director.
Fast forward and Sisaundra was continuing her push as a singer, but was also a single mother of three. They are grown now, as she has a 36-year old son named Vinson, 25-year-old daughter named Rasheedah and a 17-year-old son named RJ.
As a single mom, Sisaundra wanted to make sure that she spent quality time with her children. She decided at age 43 that she was going to retire completely to stay home and take care of her kids.
Rasheedah, who was then just a child, was baffled that she was seemingly letting her dream as a singer fizzle out. She had some words of encouragement for her mother.
“She sat me down and said to check out this show,” Sisaundra said, referring to The Voice. “The nearest audition was New York, and she said, ‘you’ve got to go audition.’ I was like, okay, I ain’t got no job. I might as well fly to New York and audition. Lord have mercy, that thing just kept going.”
Sisaundra was selected to appear on season six, and since she has country roots, she knew being on Team Blake was the right move.
“When you get the courage to step into the spotlight, for me, you don’t take that for granted,” Sisaundra said. “It was really a blessing to hear so many other people, outside the people who love me, saying I was going to move forward with this. I went ahead and accepted, went to California, and was on The Voice. It changed my life.”
Sisaundra said that it takes a certain type of courage to go up there and perform in front of 16 million viewers. While she didn’t win, she turned plenty of heads and the doors quickly started to open all around her.
Now she is the host of The Sisaundra Show, which is a talk show on AFRO TV that gives a platform to people like herself who needed exposure. It is filmed live and has an audience of 12 million viewers, airing five days a week at 7 p.m. on Comcast XFinity Channel 1623.
Be sure to check out Sisaundra’s work including her new single “You Remain” available on all platforms.
