Erica Jane is known for her bold personality The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, but this Georgia native was previously known for an incredible music career with an astonishing nine number 1 singles on the US Billboard Dance Club chart.
Now with a residency at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada, Erica is once again dazzling live audiences, with fans cheering her every choreographed move as she sings songs like “Pretty Mess” and “How Many F-cks.”
So let’s take a look back at Erica’s career leading up to the new season of RHOBA.
Erica Jane’s music career, summarized
Raised by a single mother in Atlanta, Georgia, Erica wasn’t always famous, but she always embraced the limelight. From an early age, she had a penchant for performing, and her early musical influences, such as Michael Jackson, Madonna and Prince, still carry her clubbing, fast-paced hits.
Her mother, Renee, a classically trained pianist and piano teacher, also instilled a love of music in Jane.
“You know, one of my special childhood memories is waking up on the weekend and listening to my mom play downstairs,” she told AceShowbiz in 2009
At 18, the confident high school graduate moved to New York to pursue her dreams of becoming a performer and found work as a go-go dancer in the early 1990s before landing small roles on the first season of Law and order and some movies.
Since then, she said PEOPLE in 2018. “Taught me to be independent. It also taught me to be incredibly resilient, bounce back and judge situations quickly. I trust my intuition a lot.”
CONNECTED: Erica Jane announces death of her dog, Tiago: ‘My boy is gone’
A move to Los Angeles in the mid-1990s exceeded expectations: she met her multimillionaire second husband (now her ex), but as she put it, “I lived [someone else’s] life… I was in a rich coma.’
So, at 35, she begins a second act.
“Erika Jane was born of rebellion. I like to break the rules,” she said PEOPLE.
This rebellious spirit shines through in Erica’s first single, “Roller Coaster,” which topped the dance charts in 2007. Her debut album, quite a mess, quickly followed suit, produced and co-written by a dream team that has worked with Madonna, Britney Spears and Cher.
Loaded with provocative lyrics, her pop music is both calm and upbeat: “Jane doesn’t sing so much as purr,” Los Angeles Times writes about her style.
Since then, Erica has developed, collaborating with artists including Flo Rida and Sheila E. and releasing several more singles, two of which became number one hits: “Painkillr” and “How Many F*cks.”
In a 2018 Ted Talk, she explained how she became empowered through a performance persona that was “based on the principles of fantasy, love, escapism, glitz, glamor and fun. She shines and has a good time… but more importantly, this alter ego gave me a strength I wouldn’t have otherwise, to be fearless.”
And she is fearless. In late 2018, she crossed the country on her first live tour, playing in cities from Los Angeles to Miami. The following year, Erica landed the iconic lead role of Roxie Hart in a Broadway production of Chicago until the show’s suspension due to COVID-19.
And of course, these days she has a residence in Vegas, Bet it all on the blonde. You can get tickets here.
Both on screen with RHOBA and behind the scenes, Erica Jane is clearly an unstoppable force.