Floetry

Floetry is a female British R&B, neo soul, and hip hop duo. The members of the group are singer/songwriter Marsha "the Songstress" Ambrosius and emcee/songwriter Natalie "the Floacist" Stewart. (In 2007, the original duo split with Stewart replaced by Amanda Diva.) The women of the original duo met through their love of basketball and formed a friendship. Ambrosius attended Brits Performing Arts School and studied business and finance. Stewart experimented with acting and directing. For college, Ambrosius planned to attend the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta on a basketball scholarship but could not due to an injury. Stewart attended Middlesex University in London and later transferred to North London University. During these years, both women continued to keep in touch. Stewart was part of a girl group named 3 Plus 1. After the split of the group, she and Ambrosius decided to concentrate on a group together.

They began their career as songwriters in 1997. They have written for Jill Scott, Jazz of Dru Hill, Glenn Lewis, Bilal, and Michael Jackson, for whom they penned the hit 2002 single "Butterflies".

In 2000, the duo moved to the United States to further pursue their music career. In Philadelphia, they met J. Erving, son of basketball player Julius Erving. He became the manager of the group and introduced them to DJ Jazzy Jeff. In 2002, they signed with Dreamworks Records and released their debut album Floetic, which featured the singles "Floetic", "Say Yes", and "Getting Late". Floetry released a live album titled Floacism in 2003. The two-disc set consisted of a CD and DVD and included the single "Wanna B Where U R (Thisizzaluvsong)" featuring rapper Mos Def. Their third album Flo'ology was released in November 2005 and included the single "Supastar" featuring rapper Common.

In 2007, Marsha Ambrosius confirmed the breakup of the duo. In a tour of the same year, Floetry Remixed, Amanda Diva (previously a television and radio DJ and rapper) replaced Natalie Stewart. Stewart's lyrics have been supplanted by Amanda Diva's in concert and the new duo has collaborated on original material.