Shea Diamond

My name is ShaGasyia “Shea” Diamond. I’m a singer/songwriter born in Little Rock, Arkansas. I was raised in Memphis & moved to Flint, Michigan with my family for a better life. I was born into a gender role that I did not accept & I didn’t feel like myself. I knew at a very young age I loved to sing. My voice was effeminate and I remember feeling afraid to sing in the church choir. The fear of my own voice left me feeling like an outcast.

No longer able to hide my truth, I ran away from home at 14 years old, becoming a temporary ward of the state. I grew tired of the shuffle from foster home to foster home, so at 17yrs I was emancipated and sought out independent living. Desperate to find the financial means to transition to my true gender, I committed a crime in 1999 and was sentenced to 10 years in a men's prison. I was afraid that I could possibly die in a prison system designed to ensure correctional jobs over human lives.

While incarcerated, I spent time talking to other like-minded women of trans experience about their stories. It was because of these women and the community I was a part of in prison where I really found my voice. I was locked up but my mind was free!

I began writing “I Am Her” as a statement to a world that said I shouldn't exist. I wrote it as an anthem for all those that felt shunned for simply being who they were. In 2009 I was released from prison. Shortly after my release, I moved to New York City –a place where I felt I could make my musical dreams come true. It was in NYC where I found a studio to record “I Am Her” and also the means and support to create a video for my song.

“I Am Her” means that no matter how the world treats me, no matter if I’m rejected, accepted, denied or misunderstood, I will continue to live out my truth as Shea Diamond! It was in losing the world that I found myself & the will to keep living as the woman I am proud to be.

ShaGasyia "Shea" Diamond (born March 17, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, and transgender rights activist. Her music is chiefly soul and R&B, and includes elements of blues, rock, hip-hop and folk. Her songwriting ability has been described as "demonstrating a rare gift to portray raw, dynamic emotion in a way that moves the body as much as the spirit" Her influences include Whitney Houston and Tina Turner.

Her debut extended play Seen It All was released on June 29, 2018.