Hailing from the Windy City, Bijou formed in the Summer of 2002 under the original name "Chi". Chi (Alicia "Ya-Yah" Townsend, Chiara Bell and Ashley Pettis) began performing in local neighborhood festivals such as The Taste of Austin and the Bud Billiken Parade. At first rooting their music in Pop and R&B, Chi took the opportunity to perform in the 2002 Tampax Total Youth Tour hosted by Free (106th and Park). That led them earning a feature article in the September 2002 issue of Seventeen Magazine. In the Spring of 2003, the teenage trio wrote to and recorded their first songs together: "So So Tight" and "Put Me Down", which marked the beginning of a more laid-back, soulful and harmonious side of the young women. However, in the Summer of 2004, due to artistic differences, Chiara and Alicia separated themselves from Chi and renamed their duo The Betties. Over the next three years, The Betties honed in on developing a more adult sound for themselves under the management and production of Joseph Barksdale (former attorney of Kanye West, Common and Malik Yusef) and producer Dantanna (Dan Ryann Productions). This gave them the opportunity to work with artists such as Teefa (WGCI) and producers such as Earl Robinson of the group Public Announcement, and producer LT Hutton (Snoop Dogg, Bone Thugs and Harmony, Da Brat and Mariah Carey). In 2005, Barksdale relocated to Washington D.C., leaving the duo inactive for a year and a half. During that time Alicia and Chiara further developed their writing, music and vocal skills and began their classical vocal training under the leadership of Hilary Feldman. Also during this time, they studied many artists from Sam Cooke to Radiohead, from Betty Wright to Aerosmith, and from Janis Joplin to Talib Kweli. Ready to head back to the studio with a more developed sense of themselves as individuals and the duo, they decided to change their name from The Betties to Bijou (pronounced BI-zhoo), which is French for "a long sought-after treasure". At the present, they are finishing the recording of their album and performing around Chicago. Catch them on various websites for updates at www.twitter.com/2bijou, www.facebook.com/YahChiBijou, www.eventful.com/2bijou... Logo designers
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