“I’m amazingly blessed. I will never ever say that I’ve lived the perfect life to be shown such favor with God or the people, but here I am,” declares the incomparable Regina Belle. The Academy Award-winning and Multi Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and actress, with a string of hits including “Make It Like It Was,” “If I Could,” “Baby Come To Me,” and “This Is Love,” Regina Belle has made a career following her heart and moving gracefully between the worlds of R&B, Gospel, and Jazz.
She is an entertainer of immeasurable musical talent. This New Jersey native has earned distinction as an international treasure. Her luminous vocals on the Peabo Bryson duet, “A Whole New World” (Grammy’s Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group in 1994) solidified her place as music royalty.
Belle’s vocal abilities were demonstrated at a young age, with her first solo at the age of 8, at Friendship Baptist Church in New Jersey, pastored by her uncle, the late Dr. Fred M. Belle, Jr. The entertainer’s natural gifts were further polished at Dwight Morrow High School and the Manhattan School of Music for Preparatory College, where she studied classical voice training with Inga Wolfe. Although having received a full scholarship to attend Manhattan School of Music, she opted to aim her sights on the elite Rutgers University to study both Africana Studies and Music.
In 1985, Belle left Rutgers University her senior year, just 15 credits shy of completing her degree, to go on the road with the Grammy Award, World Renown Group, THE MANHATTANS. She remained with them for two years before being springboarded into her own career.
Thirty years after leaving Rutgers and 10 albums later, Belle started taking online courses, which earned her a Bachelor’s Degree in Africana Studies and a Minor in Music. Belle walked the stage with her ‘new class’ from Rutgers in May of 2015. She states, “This achievement of finishing my degree which I started almost 30 years ago and finally being done was a bittersweet moment and rates as high as my Grammy Awards.”