Shanelle Gabriel

"Shanelle seamlessly infuses her smooth, melodic voice with some powerful verses from her self-penned spoken word. The result is an amazing experience, one that your ears and your heart will never forget." - Mignon, www.IntellectualSoul.com (Oct 31, 2009)

"Shanelle seamlessly infuses her smooth, melodic voice with some powerful verses from her self-penned spoken word. The result is an amazing experience, one that your ears and your heart will never forget." - Mignon, www.IntellectualSoul.com (Oct 31, 2009)

"Shanelle seamlessly infuses her smooth, melodic voice with some powerful verses from her self-penned spoken word. The result is an amazing experience, one that your ears and your heart will never forget." - Mignon, www.IntellectualSoul.com (Oct 31, 2009)

"Shanelle seamlessly infuses her smooth, melodic voice with some powerful verses from her self-penned spoken word. The result is an amazing experience, one that your ears and your heart will never forget." - Mignon, www.IntellectualSoul.com (Oct 31, 2009)

"Shanelle seamlessly infuses her smooth, melodic voice with some powerful verses from her self-penned spoken word. The result is an amazing experience, one that your ears and your heart will never forget." - Mignon, www.IntellectualSoul.com (Oct 31, 2009)

"Shanelle seamlessly infuses her smooth, melodic voice with some powerful verses from her self-penned spoken word. The result is an amazing experience, one that your ears and your heart will never forget." - Mignon, www.IntellectualSoul.com (Oct 31, 2009)

"Shanelle Gabriel has the yin and the yang of entertainment down packed.The best of both worlds [music and words], it is impossible for her to leave you hanging and looking for more. This girl’s got IT! REMARKABLE!" - D. Claire, Encore Status Entertainment (Apr 09, 2009)

"Make room Lil Wayne and Drake, Shanelle G is on the scene with a hot remix that commands attention! Her version, "Best I Ever," clearly shows this female rappers skills and smooth flow. This is clearly a female in charge!" - DJ Hipnotik, Hood Access Radio Show/Radio Phoenix

"[Watching] her perform live on stage was a whole other experience…an amazing one that is! Her positive & energetic vibe is truly empowering through her strong voice and insightful lyrics."
- The Bomb Eye Staff (Aug 10, 2009)

"Shanelle's debut proves that her work is indeed her wealth, and this album banks on common sense and reality checks. [This album] channels many aspects of her womanhood ranging from the envious high school freshman to the beacon of hope for the shadows in the ghetto." - Kickslusive Magazine by Michael Brown

Posted: 2/6/08

Last Thursday Suffolk University was treated to a performance by the remarkable spoken word artist and vocalist Shanelle Gabriel. Assuredly, this artist's style is not in any way like the stuffy poems you'd expect to find in a textbook.

Gabriel's performance was intensified by her animate personality and the distinct sincerity of her words; so much so that backup music was rarely utilized, and never missed by those listening. Each piece she performed presented a different genre fused into her own personal style, including everything from pop-esque undertones to old school hip hop rhymes-but her lyrics always came from her own experiences, sometimes happily, sometimes not.

Although Gabriel confessed to having been used to performing since a young child, her most significant inspiration came from
being diagnosed with Systematic Lupus Erythematosis.

She shared her experience with the audience, saying that after the traumatic diagnosis was given to her, she promised herself that
she would live her life to its fullest potential and pursue a career with the performing arts.

"My battle with Lupus has been tedious, but God has a plan. That plan does not include giving up on life. I want to be a testimony to others that no matter what, faith and determination can accomplish any goal," she exclaimed.

Gabriel is also known for both opening and being featured on season six of HBO's Def Poetry Jam 2007. Her greatest works can be
found on her debut album, Start Something, a true calling for people to live life to its fullest, as beautifully communicated by her own expression. - The Suffolk Voice- Suffolk University Newspaper

On "A Message To My Girls," the opening flow-strong, loosely poetic
monologue that kicks off this incendiary and soulful 14 song spoken word CD, Gabriel opens up, taking a telling-it-like-it-is approach and expanding it, reaching to encompass a steady and street wise vision of what could be. "Keep your heads up and your skirts down," she says, issuing a well-intentioned challenge to girls who may be more interested in rap videos than earning and preserving their right to think for and respect themselves. While her views may come across as somewhat idealistic, there are appropriate pragmatic undertones in her words and delivery that ascend any trace of didacticism that could only bog this down. Her voice is pure, and her
handle on language and rhythm is really pushed to the limit by the wide variety of styles she chooses to take on. Some songs are acappella poetry, while others are sophisticated slow jams where she easily proves her prowess as a singer. It takes a special talent to effectively blend spoken word with music, and it's even more impressive to hear someone take it on with such passion and honesty. She's got a lot to say, and she's found a
compelling and intelligent way to share her thoughts with us. - CDBaby.com

In 2004, Shanelle Gabriel was a student at Utica College in New York when she was diagnosed with lupus, an autoimmune disease in which the body attacks its own healthy cells and tissues.

Instead of feeling sorry for herself, as she could have, she used the illness as a motivation to follow her dreams.

Today, Gabriel, 31, of Brooklyn, is a recording artist and spoken word poet who travels the world performing before mostly college audiences.

“I always give the facts about lupus,” Gabriel told me in a recent phone interview. “No one’s going to leave without hearing what lupus is.”

Next month, Gabriel will bring her story to Charlotte at the annual N.C. Lupus Summit on Oct. 24.

She’ll tell the story of how she started having trouble getting out of bed. Her joints hurt. Her wrist was swollen. One day, when she tried to donate blood, she was told she couldn’t because she was anemic. But when she visited the student medical center, a doctor found nothing else wrong.

A year later, in 2004, when she was combing her hair, Gabriel noticed two large bald patches on the top of her head. She had ignored other symptoms, such as poor circulation in her fingers and toes, but the hair loss moved her to visit a doctor the next day. New tests and a review of her symptoms resulted in the diagnosis of lupus.

After getting over the initial shock, she said she asked herself what she wanted from life. “I love singing. I love music,” she said. “So I just decided I’m gonna put my whole heart into it.”

She recorded her first album, “Start Something,” in 2007 and now spends about 12 weeks a year on the road, singing, performing poetry, leading creative writing workshops and promoting lupus awareness. She has appeared on the Def Poetry Jam on HBO and at Lincoln Center in New York City.

Gabriel also wrote a poem, “Vanity,” about her diagnosis. By that time, she had been able to quit her job as an office administrator to perform full time. “I was thinking about how awesome it was that I was on the road, a touring artist,” she said. And she decided to share her diagnosis with her audiences.

“Lupus can’t hold me,” she wrote. “… I’m reaching my goals/ no matter how hard it seems/ … It’s not cool to be conceited/ but nothing’s wrong with a li’l vanity/ cause me loving myself/ well, that’s the beginning of my testimony.”

When she performed the poem for the first time, she was nervous but then pleasantly surprised by the reaction. “A bunch of people came up to me and said, ‘I have lupus too. I thought I was alone.’ It made me really want to speak about this.”

"HAVING LUPUS MADE ME (REALIZE) I HAVE TO LIVE EACH DAY AS IF IT MIGHT BE MY LAST."- Shanelle Gabriel, poet, singer and lupus survivor

Because people with lupus don’t necessarily look sick, friends and loved ones don’t always understand. She said her mother thought she just needed rest. “No one in my family has ever had a chronic illness. It took awhile for them to come to grips.”

The cause of lupus is unknown and there is no cure. Research suggests genes play a role, but it is likely that many factors trigger the disease. Symptoms vary with individuals and they also come and go. Treatments include drugs to prevent “flares,” reduce swelling and pain, reduce or prevent joint and organ damage and help the immune system.

Gabriel takes several medicines to control her symptoms. She tells her audiences that 1.5 million Americans are diagnosed with lupus every year, and women are three times more likely to be affected than men. She has been hospitalized with complications several times. Once she had two blood clots in her lungs. “I woke up and couldn’t breathe. They rushed me to the ER. They said ‘You could have died.’ ”

Gabriel said it’s appropriate that the theme of the Charlotte conference is “Aim High.”

“If I didn’t have lupus, I wouldn’t have worked so hard,” she said. “Having lupus made me (realize) I have to live each day as if it might be my last. I don’t want to have regrets. I want to try to live a very passionate and intentional life.”

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/living/health-family/karen-garloch/article36279045.html#storylink=cpy - Charlotte Observer