Shanice's debut in Les Misérables is the result of two years of courting by the show's executive producer/associate director, Richard Jay-Alexander, who had seen the star's hit video "I Love Your Smile" one night on television and decided that she was destined to play the part of 'Eponine.'

Currently represented with her new Motown release 21 Ways....to Grow, Shanice first hit the charts in 1987 with the album Discovery, which yielded two #1 R&B hits, "(Baby Tell Me) Can You Dance?" and "No 1/2 Steppin." Her 1992 Motown debut album Inner Child featured the #1 international hit, "I Love Your Smile," and two other Top Ten hits, "Silent Prayer" (with Johnny Gill) and "I'm Crying." Inner Child brought Shanice a Grammy Award nomination as Best R&B Female Vocalist and the Golden Lion Award as Best International Artist.

Shanice has also been featured on three highly-successful soundtracks Beverly Hills 90210 (which brought Shanice a Top Five pop/R&B hit with "Saving Forever For You"), Boomerang (with Shanice's "Don't Wanna Love You") and Meteor Man (featuring Shanice's #1 R&B hit, "It's For You.")

Hailing from the Hays Manor projects on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, Shanice moved to Los Angeles when she was eight and quickly got her first big break: a national television commercial opposite the legendary Ella Fitzgerald. Soon thereafter, Shanice was featured in such local L.A. theater productions as The Fantasticks at the L.A. Inner City

Playhouse, In Command of the Children and Get Happy (starring Donna McKechnie and featuring the music of Harold Arlen) at the Westwood Playhouse. It was while performing in Get Happy that Shanice was discovered by A&M Records, who quickly offered the 11 year-old her first recording contract.