Her songs are anthems and her singing captivates! Grammy Award winner Regina Belle is an entertainer of immeasurable musical talent. From her 1987 debut album, All by Myself, to her latest offering, The Day Life Began, the New Jersey native has earned distinction as an international treasure. Her luminous vocals on the duet with Peabo Bryson, “A Whole New World,” (Grammy’s Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group in 1994) solidified her place as music royalty.
Belle’s vocal abilities were demonstrated at a young age, with her first solo at the age of 8, at the Friendship Baptist Church in New Jersey pastored by her uncle the late Dr. Fred M. Belle Jr. The entertainer’s gifts were further polished at Dwight Morrow High School and the Manhattan School of music for Preparatory College where she studied classical voice training with Inga Wolfe. Although having received a full scholarship to attend Manhattan School of Music she opted to aim her sights on the elite Rutgers University to study both Africana Studies and Music. Belle left Rutgers in 1985 (her senior year) just shy of 15 credits to complete her degree to go on the road with the Grammy Award winning and world-renowned group The Manhattans for two years before being spring boarded into her own career. Belle received her degree and walked the stage with her “new class”, from Rutgers in May of 2015 in Africana Studies and a minor in Music. Belle states, “This achievement of finishing my degree which I started almost 30 years ago and finally being done was a bittersweet moment and rates as high as my Grammy Awards.”
Regina is also a mother of 5, (4 ladies and one young man) a minister of the Gospel and is the praise and worship leader at both churches that she and her husband pastor together New Shield of Faith Worship Center and Spread The Word Church Ministries respectively. She has been married to her long-time best friend whom she met at Rutgers (who is also a graduate and has a position in the Rutgers Hall of Fame) John S. Battle, III who serves as the Senior Pastor for both churches.
Regina Belle’s exceptional voice knows no boundaries, creating musical gold on R&B, Pop, Jazz, Gospel, and inspirational melodies. She has recorded 10 albums, and her 2016 full-length release, The Day Life Began, comes after a 15-year hiatus from R&B. The entertainer calls it a true “gumbo mix,” listing “a lil bit of Jazz, R&B, and Gospel as the main ingredients with a dash of Country.” She calls the lead single, Be Careful Out There, the sequel to her Top 10 hit, If I Could.
Belle has enjoyed career success for which many entertainers can only pray. She never forgets to give thanks for a blessed life in which she says she wouldn’t trade with anyone for the good times or the bad Especially at RU where it all began!