Joi Cardwell

n 1997, R&B and dance music vocalist and songwriter/ producer Joi Cardwell garnered attention with her hit singles "Run to You " and "Found Love" in her self titled release in 1997. The Advocate's pop music critic, Barry Walters, wrote, "Neither glamour queen nor earth mamma, Cardwell focuses on her music, which she writes and often produces herself.... Cardwell's definitive approach is to sing meditative ballads set to extroverted, thum-intensive arrangements. "Entertainment Weekly's William Stevenson described Cardwell's music as "infectious dance music, "ebullient, and "propulsive," and described her voice as "R&B-ready". In the 1980s, before the advent of house music, Cardwell was closely connected to the urban R&B sound. Born in New York City in the mid-1960s and raised in various areas of Queens; her early influences included Billie Holiday, Barbra