Melanie Fiona Hallim is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. She began her career in 2002 as part of a Canadian R&B trio X-Quisite, who was nominated for a Juno Award for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year for their self-titled album (2004). She went on to form the duo The Renaissance with hometown native Drake, although they released no albums.
Hallim performing live at Luminato in 2010
Fiona performs in Bern, Switzerland at the club Bierhübeli in 2009.
Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to female recording artists for quality R&B songs. Awards in several categories are distributed annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position."
Aretha Franklin was the first recipient of the award in 1968. In total, she has won the award eleven times, making her the artist with the most wins in the category.
In 1976, Natalie Cole won the award for her song "This Will Be", only the second artist to win the award back then.
Thelma Houston became the third artist to win the award, in 1978.
Chaka Khan won the award in 1984 for her album Chaka Khan as well as in 1985 and 1993.