Chrisette Michele Payne (born December 8, 1982) is an American R&B and soul singer. She won a Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance in 2009 for her song "Be OK" (featuring will.i.am). She was previously signed to Motown Records, Capitol Records, and Caroline Distribution but was dropped from her label in 2017 after performing at Donald Trump's presidential inauguration. In the same year, Michele announced plans to release new music independently through her own label, Rich Hipster. == Early life... [more on Wikipedia]