Sheri John

Sherika Johnson was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. The soulful singer found her love for music at the age of 3, long before shortening her name to her current alias Sheri John. Sheri grew up surrounded by talented women with a love for music. Sheri found a passion for singing and began writing her own music by age 16.

Sheri pulls her inspiration from old-school heavy weights such as Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin; however, she credits artists such as R. Kelly, Ne- Yo and Ester Dean for their ability to create stories through their lyrics.

Sheri John wanted to perfect her craft and went on to study Music at Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus. John’s drive to make it in the music industry lead to a few amazing opportunities; in April 2000, right on her 16th birthday, John competed in the Essence Magazine Grammy Music Competition for High School students in the Tri-State area. The competition granted the winner a chance to go to the Grammys and present an award.

The singer refers to this memory as her ‘Bitter 16’ due to the series of disappointing and pleasantly surprising events. The day before the Essence competition John met director and black-film pioneer Tyler Perry. Perry was debuting his stage play at the Beacon Theatre in New York City when he told Sheri that he would have taken her with him on the road to Florida the next day if she was turning 18.

Sheri said, “After the Essence Competition my Mother and Father took me to Justin's (Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs restaurant) for a Birthday Dinner. I lost that day to an Opera singer from Laguardia High School. At dinner, I met the rapper Mase and I asked him for an autograph. He told me that he didn't sign autographs anymore but I could get a hug! I was disappointed and felt rejected that my entire weekend of events wasn't so sweet turning 16, but I became determined to be successful with my talents just to show people that adversity could never conquer my spirit.”

In 2003 Sheri began to take her music career to higher heights and started to participate in showcases, some in particular given by AIDS activist Maria Davis. Sheri experienced her first tour by performing in a show entitled ‘New York Meets Atlanta Tour’. The tour allowed underground artists from New York and artists from Atlanta to come together to showcase their musical talents.

Unfortunately, every success story has a bump in the road. After a few years of trying to get signed by a major label, Sheri John became discouraged about her career in music. She said, “ the negative people around me, made me doubt myself. I started to think maybe they were right.”

Using her moments of defeat as inspiration Sheri John is back with a vengeance. She credits performing in showcases as a pivotal moment in her musical career. At the time, unsigned R&B singer Chrisette Michelle was also one of the underground artists who performed during the same showcases as Sheri John. Fortunately for Michelle, at that time, her journey had landed her a recording contract with Def Jam Recordings. John looked at that moment as a push to keep pursuing her dream.

Sheri’s biggest moment as an unsigned artist came about in 2007 when she was given an opportunity to perform as an opening act for R&B singer Ginuwine. 
In 2015, Sheri auditioned and was selected by the Deans List Tour to travel and perform at Colleges and Universities across the United States. With two single releases "Love Garden" and "Poppin". Sheri has now gained a newfound belief in herself and her music and is currently working on her debut EP.