Truth Hurts

Shari Watson (born 1972 in St. Louis, Missouri), known as Truth Hurts, is an American R&B singer. She is noted for her funky and powerful vocal style. After signing to Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment label, Truth Hurts first appeared on Busta Rhymes' 2001 hit single "Break Ya Neck" as a background vocalist. For her first solo LP Truthfully Speaking, issued on Aftermath in 2002, she enlisted the production talents of Dr. Dre, Timbaland, Hi-Tek, and DJ Quik. Her debut single, "Addictive," was a Top 10 hit in the United States, and featured a verse from hip hop artist, Rakim.

The song, produced by DJ Quik, utilized an uncleared sample of "Thoda Resham Lagta Hai" by Hindi artist Lata Mangeshkar. The copyright holders sued Aftermath and parent company Interscope Records for $500 million dollars, and issued an injunction against further sales or performances of the record. A judge later ruled that the album was not to be sold with out being stickered with proper credits for Mangeshkar.

In summer of 2002, Truth Hurts secured a high profile spot on the Smokin' Grooves tour with Lauryn Hill, Outkast, Cee-Lo, The Roots, Jurassic 5, and Erykah Badu.[3] However, following the buzz on "Addictive", Truth Hurts became relatively obscure, only contributing guest vocals to "The Watcher 2" on Jay-Z's Blueprint 2 album and "What" on Eve's Eve-Olution. To date, she remains as a one-hit wonder in both America and the UK. "Addictive" was followed up by a song called "The Truth" featuring R. Kelly on the chorus. The song underpeformed on American radio and video outlets. This was likely due in part to the firestorm of negative press Kelly received over sex crime allegations that hit media outlets shortly before the single's release.

Truth Hurts returned in 2004 with her second album, Ready Now, on Raphael Saadiq's independent Pookie Entertainment label. Its first single, "Ready Now", was released in the summer of 2004 without much fanfare, but being critically acclaimed due to its high quality, mainly because of the work of legendary Raphael Saadiq, who executively produced the album and produced most of the songs in it. Some sources state that a Georgia based record company is looking for Truth Hurts for a possible spot on a movie soundtrack. Dream Leader Ent CEO Carlton Richard has stated that he has been a long time fan of hers and would like to know if she would be interested in being on the soundtrack. No word yet on if and when this project will be available.


ALBUMS
Truthfully Speaking

* Released: June 25, 2002
* Chart Positions: #5 Billboard [5]
* Singles: Addictive, The Truth

Ready Now

* Released: June 01, 2004
* Chart Positions: #173 Billboard [6]
* Singles: Ready Now

SINGLES

* 2002: "Addictive" (featuring Rakim) (U.S. #9, R&B #2)
* 2002: "The Truth" (featuring R. Kelly) (R&B #47)
* 2002: "I'm Not Really Lookin' (featuring DJ Quik)
* 2004: "Ready Now"