Lutchelle Wallace (born May 22, 1985), better known by Chellie, is a Canadian singer, musician, model, beauty queen, and businesswoman residing in Ajax, Ontario, Canada. She is known for her numerous television and radio appearances, including Toronto’s CIUT 89.5FM<ref>Official CIUT Website: http://www.ciut.fm</ref>, CHRY 105.5FM<ref>Official CHRY Website: http://www.chry.fm</ref>, and ThatRadio.com’s Two9 Lounge<ref>Two9 Entertainment: http://www.two9entertainment.com</ref>. She has been featured as a guest on Omni Television’s Planet Africa<ref>Official OMNI Website: http://www.omnitv.ca</ref>, CVM-TV’s Movie Hangtime with Tyrone, and Reggae Sun TV’s Let’s Talk as well as serving as a CFL cheerleader for the Toronto Argonauts<ref>Official Toronto Argonauts Website: http://www.argonauts.ca</ref>.

Early life & background

Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Chellie is the oldest of three children of Jean, a project manager and systems analyst for a leading Canadian financial institution, and Marie, a health care professional. She has two sisters: Vanessa and Jennifer.

When Chellie was seven months old, she and her family moved to Brooklyn, New York, where both her sisters were eventually born. She began playing the piano at the age of three, taking lessons at Elsie M Bennett Music School. When Chellie was eight, the family moved once more to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and she studied briefly with the New Conservatory of Music before continuing her musical studies with the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Chellie changed schools frequently in her youth, attending Holy Innocents School in Brooklyn, New York up until the second grade, and Our Lady of Lourdes School in Toronto, Ontario, Canada for the rest of her elementary years. The family bought their first home in Scarborough, a suburb of Toronto, where Chellie began her middle school years at Glen Ravine Junior Public School, lasting only a year there before transferring to St. Albert’s, only a few blocks away. At St. Albert’s, she also played on the school’s championship volleyball team. Her high school years were spent at Pope John Paul II Catholic Secondary School in Scarborough<ref>Official JPII Website: http://www.tcdsb.org/schools/popejohnpaulii.asp</ref>, with a brief break in her sophomore year when she attended Great Lakes Christian College in Beamsville, Ontario, Canada, a small Christian boarding school supported by Independent Christian Churches/Churches of Christ<ref>Official GLCC Website: http://www.glcc.on.ca</ref>.

Chellie built her reputation as an above-average student, participating in academic and extracurricular activities all along the way<ref>TCDSB Annual Director's Report: http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:9nGujMIZRlcJ:www.tcdsb.org/news/Director's%20Annual%20Report%202002-2003.pdf lutchelle volcy&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=ca</ref>. She was placed in the school board’s Gifted Program, and later, the Enrichment Program. Her busiest time was, no doubt, throughout high school, where she played flute in the school band, sang in the Jazz and Gospel choirs, served as a varsity cheerleader, competed and won several local, provincial, and national public speaking and debating awards, all while maintaining her above-average GPA. In an interview with ThatRadio.com’s Two9 Lounge, Chellie speaks about this period in her life:
<blockquote>
"I was pretty much good at everything. I was athletic, and I was smart, I got good grades, but I’d been that way all my life. I mean, I knew how to read when other kids in my class were learning what the letter ‘A’ was – I was so sick of being the smart girl, the good girl, but when everybody’s expecting that from you, it’s a little hard to find the right time to rebel!"<ref>Two9 Entertainment: http://www.two9entertainment.com</ref>
</blockquote>

Chellie graduated from Pope John Paul II Catholic Secondary School in 2003 and went immediately into the Political Science and Sociology program at the University of Toronto’s St. George Campus. She eventually switched into sciences and subsequently graduated with a degree in Biochemistry and an established minor in Biotoxicology.

Tattoos & piercings

Seeking to break free of the good girl label that had been on her since she could remember, Chellie began rebelling at the age of fifteen with tattoos and piercings. She had her navel pierced at the age of fifteen, followed by her first tattoo (a dragon with the Chinese symbols for ‘beauty’ and ‘spirit’ on her right hip) at the age of sixteen, using a fake ID with a childhood friend. Over the next few years she would get her tongue, nose, and left nipple pierced, as well as four more tattoos: ‘Chellie’ in script on the inside of her left wrist; an angel with ‘Rodrick’s Angel’ on the lower left side of her back; ‘Yet Still I Rise’ in a tribal design on her left foot; and her favorite tattoo, a phoenix designed by her youngest sister along her right side.<ref>CHELLIE's Fan Club: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=11916292129</ref> Asked whether or not she plans to stop there on ThatRadio.com’s Two9 Lounge, Chellie responds, “I’ve got a couple more in mind...”<ref>Two9 Entertainment: http://www.two9entertainment.com</ref>

Pageants

Although Chellie had begun participating in church and school talent shows at the age of thirteen, her initiation into the entertainment industry officially began with the 2004 Miss Black Canada pageant. Supporting close high school friend Odeen Eccleston in her bid for the crown in 2003, Chellie thought to herself that she just might stand a chance. She entered the pageant in 2004, singing gospel song ‘His Eye is on the Sparrow’ as her talent and wearing a gold evening gown. She placed top 10 and won the ‘Excellence in Communications’ award.
Chellie travelled to Jamaica that same year, competing in the Miss Commonwealth pageant, where she began a slew of promotional and media events. She appeared on television shows, radio shows, filmed commercials, attended press parties every night, and became fully immersed in the world she was quickly realizing she wanted to be a part of. This time, she played the piano and sung Etta James’ ‘At Last’ for her talent, billed in the next day’s Jamaica Gleaner newspaper as “...an A-class, smooth performance, strumming the keys with her fingers and making beautiful music with her voice...”

In 2005, Chellie became involved in the Miss Black Canada pageant once more, originally signing on to help in preparing the competitors from across the nation, but quickly deciding that she still wanted that crown. She competed once more, this time playing "Für Elise" on the piano, moving into a recitation of Maya Angelou’s ‘'Still I Rise'’, and finishing with Yolanda Adams’ gospel song "Yet Still I Rise". She competed against 26 other young women from across the nation. She won no awards, but she took home the crown.
Motivated by this win, two years later, Chellie entered the Miss Diverse Canada pageant, once again taking home the top prize.<ref>JPII Alumni Website: http://www.jpiialumni.ca/news/news-archive.php</ref>

Modelling & singing

Writing and recording songs throughout high school, Chellie began working with CUMA nominated producer Derek Wiggins of Simplisik Music, shopping around for a management contract and meeting with such Canadian music business heavy hitters as Chase Parsons (Chris Smith Management)<ref>Chris Smith Management Official Website: http://www.chrissmithmanagement.com</ref> and Ivan Berry. With feedback from these influential personalities, Chellie realized that the market for a solo female R&B/pop singer was saturated, and began shopping for members of a girl group. After numerous changes in the lineup, she began seriously singing and recording with Alana Randall under the group name doll*face, and working with award-winning producers and writers, including Derek Brin (Fierce Music Entertainment) and Rupert Gayle. Maintaining a gradually increasing fan base through her Facebook page and affiliated fan club group, Chellie began to realize that she was getting as much attention and recognition for her pictures as she was for her singing. As Randall began delving more into musical theater, Chellie began to gain further popularity through promotional modelling, primarily through the import racing scene, aligning herself with car club ‘Street Outlawz’ at various venues across the province, including the highly anticipated and covered Importfest<ref>Importfest Official Website: http://www.importfest.com</ref>.

Other business ventures

In 2008, Chellie launched her website entitled MzChellie.com<ref>Official Chellie Website: http://www.MzChellie.com</ref>, featuring all-ages content and information to promote her current career, business ventures, personal information, videos, non-nude picture galleries, blogs, and chat sessions.

She incorporated her company (Chellie, Inc.) in 2008, with plans to run all of her existing and future business ventures through the self-proclaimed enterprise, which she hopes to someday include not only her musical and modelling careers, but many more things to come as she continues to grow as a business woman.

Activism

In 2008, after watching a graphic video about animals raised for their fur, Chellie announced her support of PETA<ref>Official PETA Website: http://www.peta.org</ref>, vegetarianism and her opposition to wearing fur.

Personal life

Chellie loves small dogs, and currently has a male long coat Chihuahua named ‘Versace’. She intends to one day adopt another dog, either another Chihuahua or a Yorkshire Terrier.

References