Nona Gaye

Nona Marvisa Gaye (born September 4, 1974 in Washington, D.C.) is an American singer, former fashion model, and screen actress, and the daughter of African-American soul music legend Marvin Gaye. Her mother, the former Janis Hunter, was of Irish, Afro-Cuban and Greek descent. Nona's grandfather was Cuba jazz great Slim Gaillard.

First album and modeling career

Nona released her first album, Love for the Future, on Atlantic Records in 1992, at age 18. The album featured her only hit, "I'm Overjoyed". In 1993, Nona was named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People. She made her runway modeling debut in Paris for Versace in the summer of 1994. A short time later, Nona was signed to the prestigious Ford Modeling Agency. This was a short-lived stint, however, as the curvy Gaye battled bulimia for over three years. Eventually, Nona was forced to make a choice between her health and her modeling career. Nona summed her experience up quite nicely: "I couldn't keep my weight down, and I was like, whatever."

With Prince

For three years, has both worked with and dated singer-songwriter Prince. During this time, she recorded at least 4 known songs with him. A duet, "1000 Hugs and Kisses" and solo track, "Snowman" are currently unreleased, but have made their way into circulation amongst fans. Another duet, "Love Sign", was released on the 1-800-NEWFUNK compilation album in 1994, along with another track with no Prince contribution, "A Woman's Gotta Have It". She provided backing vocals on "We March" for The Gold Experience, released in 1995, and on the title track to the Girl 6 soundtrack, released in 1996. In addition to these projects, she starred in a Prince-produced European TV special called "The Beautiful Experience", consiting of a loose storyline to promote new material from Prince (most of which would be released at some point over the next few years). She was also mentioned on the track "Return of the Bumpsquad", on the New Power Generation album, Exodus.

Child

With her then boyfriend and high school sweetheart, Justin Martinez, Gaye had son, Nolan Pentz Gaye in June 1997.

Later career

Nona appeared alongside other artists to re-record and release her father's single, "What's Going On" for AIDS research in 2001. Nona has found her biggest success as an actress co-starring in movies including Ali, The Matrix Revolutions and The Polar Express. In July 2006, she joined the cast of Criminal Intent as Assistant District Attorney Patricia Kent.

Filmography

Ali (2001)
The Matrix: Reloaded & Revolutions (2003)
The Polar Express (2004)
State of the Union (2005)
Crash (2005)
The Gospel (2005)

External links