Keyshia Cole (born October 24, 1983) is an American R&B singer-songwriter.

Cole grew up in Oakland, California where she was a foster child adopted by Yvonne Cole. She has said that her brother, Sean Cole, and Tupac Shakur were close friends and that he was like an older brother to her. Cole's first recordings were with MC Hammer at the age of twelve. In the early 2000s, she appeared on tracks by San Francisco Bay Area artists including Tony! Toni! Toné!'s D'Wayne Wiggins and San Francisco rapper Messy Marv.

Cole was inspired by her grandmother to further pursue her career, so she left the Bay Area with a rented car and a thousand dollars and moved to Los Angeles, California. Keyshia had written an early version of "Love" and performed it in front of record executives Ron Fair and Jimmy Iovine in June/July 2002. She was than signed by the president of A&M Records, Ron Fair in December 2002. Cole than started to record her debut album. In 2004, Cole made her first solo appearance on the track "Never", taken from the Barbershop 2: Back in Business soundtrack with rapper Eve.