D A N I T Y ¤ K A N E

¤D. WOODS¤ "I've done musical theater and dramatic stage productions, interned at Power 105 in New York, appeared in commercials and music videos, and toured as a dancer with major recording artists," reveals D. Woods. "I've tried it all, because I like to stay busy." Since her earliest days growing up in Springfield, Mass., she's been enamored of every aspect of performance; over the years she's studied modern, ballet, hip-hop and West African dance, undergone intensive voice training, developed her songwriting skills and educated herself about the business. A fan of Mary J. Blige, Stevie Wonder and Jay-Z, among many others, she's equally at home with hip-hop and classic soul.¤SHANNON¤ Shannon hails from Portland, Ore and has been an avid singer and dancer since childhood. She learned a great deal about performing with a group when she became a Portland Trailblazers cheerleader at age 19. Eclectic in her musical taste, she expresses admiration for acts as far afield as Aerosmith and Garth Brooks. The only member of Danity Kane who sports a wedding ring, Shannon attributes some of the poise and confidence her bandmates have praised in her to the bond she enjoys with her spouse. "He's so positive," she declares of her husband, a fellow dancer.¤AUNDREA¤ California native Aundrea was singing rancheros and other song forms by the time she was old enough to talk, and by age eight she was a fixture in her church's choir. Roles in school plays followed, and in her teens she began recording in a studio and joined the pop ensemble Intrigue. It was with this group that her love of stage performance fully blossomed. The youngest in her tight-knit family, Aundrea headed home whenever possible during breaks in the shooting of "Making the Band 3."¤DAWN¤ Given her upbringing, New Orleans-bred Dawn seems to have been destined for a music career. Her mother owned a dance studio, while her father was a keyboardist who played in the R&B band Chocolate Milk (which opened for Michael Jackson, Earth Wind & Fire and other luminaries). Her mom's talent and her dad's gigs ignited in Dawn an unquenchable desire to perform. She studied tap, jazz, ballet and hip-hop dance and became a cheerleader for the New Orleans Hornets before joining the group Angelique, which toured the South supporting singer Anthony Hamilton. "The girls call me the passion in the group," she reveals. "When I'm on stage, I become someone else. That's when I can be wild, sexy, crazy and passionate. I leave everything at the mic."¤AUBREY¤ At age three, Aubrey stepped onstage - and never looked back. Reared in the sun-soaked confines of Palm Springs, Calif., she appeared in productions of virtually every major musical production (including "Annie," "The Sound of Music," "A Chorus Line," "Fiddler on the Roof" and "The Wizard of Oz"). She won a slew of honors for both singing and acting in various talent competitions before attending the University of California at Irvine. Her post-graduation international travels took her to Asia, India and South Africa, among other places, and moved her to become involved in charitable works. In addition to volunteering in battered women's shelters and refugee centers and serving as a Big Sister, she founded the organization Fight AIDS Now (FAN). "The stage has taught me the things I value most: compassion, patience, and eternal love for anything or anyone expressive and unrestrained," she says.