You may have heard her sing about heartbreak in songs like “JumpBack” or about the past coming back to haunt you in “Leftovers,” but do you know about the Wonder Woman that is PatriceLIVE?
Patrice Nickols, a native of Prince George’s County, Maryland, is a phenomenal R&B singer and songwriter, who also happens to be a wife, mother of two, and holds down a 9-to-5 in marketing as well as two part-time jobs.
How does she do it? “I love Google calendar and I lose a lot of sleep,” she jokes. “It can be a challenge, but a lot of the time I feel like there’s this battery in my back that I never knew was there and I just keep on going.”
Patrice, whose stage name was chosen during a deciding vote by her son, Shawn, classifies her music as “smooth and sexy with an R&B edge,” as can be heard in the gritty “JumpBack” single. “It’s a little edgy and sexy, and that’s who I think I am as a woman as well. I’m embracing my sexiness as a woman, but I also have that edge like don’t try me!” she says.
Artists who inspire her include The-Dream and Ne-Yo because they are well rounded (the two are singers and songwriters like herself); and she also cites Michael Jackson, Beyoncé and Cee Lo Green, but Patti LaBelle is her favorite. “She still embraces who she is and I love that because it is very hard in this industry and even in society nowadays to embrace whatever your thing is,” says Nickols.
Nickols isn’t daunted by the challenges of balancing her career and family obligations. She’s fought bigger battles. She was paralyzed at the age of 7 after flipping off her bed. The fall damaged the nerves in her spine. The doctors informed her family that she would never walk again; however, she underwent physical therapy, and a year later regained full function of her legs. “The fact that I could run and play basketball and run track, to now performing in 4-inch heels on stage, my family — mainly my grandmother — still get a little concerned because they remember [my injury],” she says.
This Wonder Woman encourages other women to follow their dreams and not allow obstacles or hard times to deter them. “Hey, it’s not easy, it’s actually a struggle, but you can do it,” she says.
Check out PatriceLIVE’s reality series, titled Wonder Woman, a four-part episodic event following the past year of her life. You’ll get to see the tough times and the ultimate highs of her journey. You can view this on her website, PatriceLIVE.com, for the next few Sundays.
Check her out on Sept. 2 at the Pure Poetry event PURE Lounge will be hosting, and at the LIVE Show on Sept. 4 at Rams Head in Baltimore.
