Cassie (born Casandra Ventura on August 26, 1986) is an American hip hop, R&B and pop singer, model, and occasional actress. She is best known for her 2005 single "Me & U", which became a hit in 2006. Cassie is trilingual, being fluent in English and conversational in Tagalog and Spanish.

Biography

Cassie was born in New London, Connecticut to a Filipino father and a West Indian black/Mexican mother. While attending The Williams School, a preparatory school on the Connecticut College campus, Ventura began her career as a model at the age of fourteen, appearing in ads for Delia's, Adidas, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Seventeen. When she completed high school in 2004, she announced that she was going to pursue her career in modeling and music, foregoing college.

In New York, Cassie was modeling for Abercrombie & Fitch Wilhelmina Models, and taking classes at the Broadway Dance Center. Producer Ryan Leslie began spotting her at club parties in late 2004, later saying he was charmed by her personality. Through Cassie's hard work and dedication, she was introduced to Sean "Diddy" Combs' make-up artist for one of her modeling assignments.

Shortly after a formal introduction to music producer Ryan Leslie, Cassie became the focus of Next Selection. The two wrote a duet called "Kiss Me". And after recording, Next Selection made a management move and played the track for Tommy Mottola, who is a known expert of Modeling. Cassie inked a deal with Leslie's NextSelection label in the early 21st Century. Leslie also co-wrote and produced Ventura's first single, "Me & U", in 2005. By March 2006, Cassie had found the interests of Entertainment Specialist Diddy and Bad Boy Records.

On its release, "Me & U" proved to be a massive hit, particularily in the U.S. It reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100, number four on the Billboard Pop 100, and number one on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Follow-up single "Long Way 2 Go" was far less successful, peaking at ninety-seven on the Billboard Hot 100. The album sold 300,000 copies in the U.S.

Billboard magazine reported that Ventura's second album is to be released in the U.S. on September 18, 2007.[citation needed] Contrary to rumors, she has not been dropped from Bad Boy Records, and will be working with producers Kanye West and Pharrell Williams on her second album. She has made available for listening on her MySpace page a new song titled "Sometimes", produced by and featuring Ryan Leslie. Cassie and Lauren London are spokesmodels for the Sean John women's collection, which Diddy said would be released in July 2007.

She made an appearance in the Kanye West music video "Stronger". She will appear in the film Step Up 2, and is to record a song for its soundtrack

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