Ane' - Mystery Solved!

Regular readers will no doubt be aware that over recent weeks two albums and a single have appeared from an artist named Ane'.  I couldn't find any information on her at the time and speculated that her name may well be Shirley Anne Marshall based on the fact that most of her material was written under that name.

I can now confirm that she is indeed Shirley (Anne) Marshall who spent 26 years (1990-2016) as a member of a reformed Shirelles led by original member Beverly Lee who won the rights to the name.  Shirley Owens/Alston/Alston-Reeves led another 'splinter' group with the name Shirley Alston-Reeves & The Shirelles.

Ane' is on right, Beverly Lee centre

She is originally from Newark, NJ, but relocated to, and now performs in, Las Vegas in 2005, at which point she changed her stage name to simply Ane'. In 2017 she was inducted into the Las Vegas Entertainers Hall Of Fame.

Also, as I originally suspected, her 'latest' album 'Learning To Love Myself' was in fact recorded in 2005, whether or not it was released then I don't know, but I don't think it got released (it is on Discogs as a CDr unreleased promo only). It originally had 16 tracks but the recent release has only 14. One of the 'missing' tracks is the one she has just released as a single 'If I'd Only Known', which is a song she wrote after the sudden and unexpected death of a close friend and her father. The other 'missing' track is called 'Surrender', so don't be surprised if that appears as the next single.

She released her first album on CD, 'Once Upon A Time', in 1997 as Shirley Marshall which she repackaged in 2005 as 'My Story Volume 1' as Ane'. The album consists of eight original songs written by Ane' along with covers of 'It's Too Late' (Carole King) and, what she describes as, a soulful-Brazilian rendition of 'Use Me' (Bill Withers). It is still available to purchase on Amazon (link on image below), although sound samples are no longer available, but there are some on her website (first web link below), and I found a few on her YT channel and have embedded below.

Four of the tracks were released on a 12" EP in 1997 on SAMA #ECHO-2293 as Shirley Marshall.

Once Upon A Time

Lover Man

I Choose You

Her cover of Janet Jackson's 'Anytime, Any Place' (which is on 'Learning To Love Myself') was released on an Expansion compilation 'Andreas Hellingh Presents Soul Exposed' in 2005.

The first album that appeared this year was a covers album, 'Where I'm Coming From', which I would say is a more recent album as her voice sounds 'older'.

Since 2018, she has her own show production in Las Vegas which she has titled 'This Is A Man’s World…..Buttt'