Artist description "This is American dance pop!" asserts Diana, one-third of She Moves. At first that may seem like a fairly obvious and broad sentiment. But on closer inspection, it reads more like a mission statement. She Moves is about three women pursuing their dreams - it's almost "Fame" for the '90s."We're as down-to-earth in our music as we are on the street," says Danielle, the fiery redhead of the New York City trio. That, says Carla,the group's lead singer, is "why we're performing live on the radio as much as we can, with just an acoustic guitar backing us up. We want the audience to hear us just the way we are." Though Carla, Danielle and Diana - they want to be on a first-name basis with the world - were members of the New York Knicks City Dancers (Danielle also danced on and hosted MTV's "The Grind"; Diana has danced in videos for Salt 'N Pepa, Lil' Kim and Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott), She Moves was formed after the Berman Brothers heard them sing. The German-born, New York-based brothers produced Real McCoy's double platinum debut; their platinum single, "Another Night" (its stay in the Top 20 is one of the longest in history); the gold single "Runaway"; and Amber's 1997 Top 10 hit "This Is Your Night." Now, only months after they heard Carla wow the crowd at Madison Square Garden before a playoff game with her soulful, a cappella rendition of the national anthem, She Moves debut with Breaking All the Rules (Geffen Records), released Nov. 18, 1997. After discovering Carla at the Garden (it was the third time she'd sung "The Star-Spangled Banner" there), the Bermans found out she'd toured as a backup singer for R&B artist Gina Thompson and sang and danced with The Rhythmics, a percussion/dance troupe. They also learned that Carla had two friends in the City Dancers who sang,too. "They wanted to put a group together," Carla recalls, "and they liked the way we sounded together; they could see the chemistry we had. They also liked that we could dance, we were friends - the whole vibe." Diana admits they were skeptical at first: "You don't know what to take seriously in this business. But we knew this would be positive since it was the three of us, and we really respect and care about each other." Carla, who was born and raised in Peoria, Ill., started singing as a child in her church choir. Her dad is a choir director and singer-songwriter. She arrived in New York in 1994. "Oddly enough, New York felt like home to me,"she explains. "My first day, I was walking down 42nd St. and saw Boyz II Men coming the other way. I knew this was where I wanted to be." She was with the Knicks for three years. Says Danielle of her colleague: "Carla's intelligent and she works her ass off. She's also really funny - sometimes she cracks me up so much, I'm peeing in my pants." The daughter of a former Boston Celtics player, Danielle grew up in Maplewood, N.J., where she says she was "a crazy child, a bad girl with a bad attitude, always performing and being loud." As a teenager, she styled her hair in a Mohawk, went wild with body piercing and was heavily into thrash and hardcore metal (though she will confess to choreographing dance routines to the "Grease 2" soundtrack with her girlhood friends). At 13 she was playing drums, bass and guitar. "I was so out there," she admits. She danced on MTV's "The Grind" for three years (1994-96) and hosted the show for a month. She remembers: "It was a great experience. As a dancer, you're fighting for camera time, so I worked harder than anyone." She often ran into Carla and Diana at dance auditions. "I'd be petrified because they were always the best there. They push you to the limit of your ability." Challenged by a girlfriend to audition for the City Dancers, Danielle buried the graveyard shift at a 24-hour caf? to join Carla and Diana in the acclaimed troupe for the Knicks' 1996-97 season. The granddaughter of an Italian opera singer and niece of a pianist, Diana came to the Knicks the same year as Carla. From Manalapan, N.J., Diana's studied dance since she was nine years old. After graduating from a performing arts high school, she joined the City Dancers "because other dancers know how good they are. They don't have pompons - they're not the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders." Diana says she, Carla and Danielle "clicked from the beginning. We all have our moments when we're the biggest bitches,but we are truly friends. We have fun going out together, and we have the same dreams." That particular shared quality is unmistakable. The trio went to dinner after being signed by the Berman Brothers and strangers came up to them asking if they were a singing group. "We'd been to restaurants together before," says Danielle, "and no one had ever said that. It was amazing." Commenting on one direction of those dreams, Diana says: "For a while,there's been a lot of music that's just not danceable. The ballads on our record have a deeper meaning, but the music in general is about fun and dancing. People want dance music again." Evidence of She Moves' desire to give it to them is provided by remixes of "Breaking All the Rules," the first radio track from their debut, courtesy of several producers,including Love to Infinity, the London trio who mixed Jennifer Holliday's 1996 #1 club hit "No Frills Love." Diana says the Bermans encouraged them to share their input in the studio."Everything was pretty natural," she reports. "Except the engineer had to keep telling me to stop dancing and snapping while I was on the mic!" Remarks Danielle, "We really had fun. And what we recorded is fun party music, but we're also incorporating other beats to push our music ahead." Part of She Moves' interest in branching out comes from their backgrounds.Not one of them grew up listening solely to pop music. Carla's first love remains gospel, followed by R&B, and she acknowledges affection for country and classical music as well. Danielle remains a rocker. Diana listens to everything from hip-hop to Billie Holiday, jazz to R&B. All three pay homage to Prince. "We can touch other genres and bring along fans of other kinds of music," Carla confirms, "because we have love and appreciation for it. It's something we know about." That sort of confidence carries over into their live show. "You know how you can love a song but see the person do it live and it's boring?"Danielle asks. "Well, we do the baddest show, where people go, 'Did you see what she did?!'" Carla attests: "Besides fans, we appeal to our peers,other dancers and singers. We want to earn their respect." And She Moves are earning it their way. "We're real," says Danielle. "And that's how we're gonna stay." She adds with a laugh that her biggest fear is "someday we'll dress identically and have the same hairstyles." Assures Diana: "We're not trying to be glamorous or sexy, but if that's what shines through then great." In fact, the story of how She Moves found their unusual name is as natural as they are. A friend of Carla's had a unique catchphrase he used at every opportunity: "I say she moves!" Carla, Danielle and Diana loved it so much, they adopted it. "It makes people smile," says Carla. "It's about always moving, always getting ahead, never stopping. It really fits us because you can definitely say we move - we are not ones to stand still!"

Location New York, New York - USA

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