Cassie Ventura

By Ines Mendoza

Wayne Campbell from 1992 cult hit comedy Wayne's World said it best : "Aaaaand her naaaaa-iiii-mmme was Cas-saaaan-dra". There's just something about that name that screams "Dream Woman" and in the case of Casandra Ventura, the rule contines to ring true.

Born in New London, Connecticut (not to be confused with "Old London" or "London - Current Day" as it may very well be referred to in sci-fi films that have yet to be made) in August of 1986 (ah, to be young again!) to a Filipino Father and African-Mexican Mother (did somebody say AMAZING MIX?!!) Casandra Ventura was always destined for great things.

After attending The Williams School, Ventura trained as a singer, dancer, took voice lessons and even did a spot of modeling at the tender age of just 14. In fact, by the age of 16 Casandra had popped up in several print ads in magazines like Seventeen, Delia's and was chosen by Wilhelmina Models to be represented offficially.

Her young career was going so well that by the time she graduated from high school, in 2004, she really had no option other than to continue her pursuit of fame via a career in modeling and the occasional sing song.

As most do when they see stars in their eyes, Casandra Ventura left for the big apple where she continued modeling as well advancing her skills by attending classes at the Broadway Dance Centre.

But, as most know, showbiz works in strange ways. It's not what you know, it's who you know. So it was a stroke of luck that the infamous Ryan Leslie spotted the sexy young lass at a party in 2004. They decided to team up (I'm sure it had nothing to do with either of them wanting to hook up... why would it... get your mind out of the gutter guys!) and it wasn't long before the duo had written the duet "Kiss Me".

Cassie Ventura

The song made it's way to the ears of music guru Tommy Mottola who offered Ventura a deal which she happily signed up for. From there, Leslie took on the role of writing and producing Casandra Ventura's first single, released with the grammatically correct title "Me & U", in 2005. The song was a smash in Germany (a country famous for Nazi's and being the biggest fans of David Hasselhoff).

The song made enough of an impact to prick the ears of Puff Daddy (again, I'm sure it had nothing to do with Diddy wanting to do naughty things with her) and partnered Bad Boy Records with NextSelection to release "Cassie's" debut album, which went on to sell over 300,000 copies in the US and the single garnering over 1 million digital downloads.

Then things went strange. There were reports that Ventura had been dropped from Bad Boy Records, that she was working with Kanye West and Pharrell Williams and that she had shaved the rights side of her head. Yep, showbiz can make y'all go a bit crazy. Hang on... this sounds a bit like Britney Spears doesn't it?

But fear not, three singles were eventually released in 2009 and featured Lil Wayne (who is, in fact, not that Lil at all... what a f**king liar), a song with Diddy and another song called "Lets Get Crazy" which featured Akon (who, if we remember, was someone or something for a brief moment in time before we forgot about that stupid name). However, the album was plagued with delays and things went off the rails and since then, there's been a lot of talk of another release to head our way.

But how much of that is showbiz pre-buzz? Yeah, I know right? It's like we totally forget about sexy girls the minute another one comes along. Same goes if you have a stupid name like Akon.

I'm sure we'll see her again, and if not, how will we ever survive without a hot 20 something year old pop star? Oh, that's right, we'll just move onto the next one. Yay for being fickle!

Cassie Ventura is super hot!