In 1991, Whitney, aka Melanin, was born in Washington, D.C. to parents Cordelia Gurley, native to Bequia, St. Vincent, and Woodroe Andrews, native to Trinidad and Tobago. Her family migrated to the U.S. at the age of two and she grew up in Prince George's County, Maryland, attending private SDA school outside of her district, in Montgomery County.

     While in high school, Whitney often sang in choirs at church and in school, often as lead soloist. In the fall of 2010, she enrolled at Oakwood University, majoring in Spanish and International Studies. While at OU she became a member of Dynamic Praiz gospel choir and auditioned for the campus series music competition “Making the Group.” Winning the competition, she became a member of the group Serenity. They sang all over the Southeastern states. She also spent a year abroad in Valencia, Spain, joining the choral group during her time there.

     After finishing undergrad, in the summer of 2015, the solo artist, Melanin, began to emerge winning a karaoke competition in Huntsville, AL. In 2016, she spent some time teaching in Honduras and began learning to play the guitar. In 2017, she worked with local DMV artist, PDOT, on his album, Amongst God, and the two opened for R&B artist, Jacquees, at Karma DC, in January 2018. Later that year, she performed at the Daze Summit annual fundraiser, released her first single, Never Alone, and featured on two songs: “Sages” by AZA and “Riden4me” by Jamine Shakur and Judge Purnell featuring well-known Chicago independent rapper, Mick Jenkins.

     In 2019, Melanin flew to her dad’s home island, Trinidad, to record her next single, Lock it Up, and released it in 2020 during the pandemic, following up with the single One Night, recorded in Miami, released in 2021. She featured on Dat Boy B’s album in 2022 on the song Jewelry Store and just released her latest single Latency, in March 2023. Melanin is currently working on her debut EP and a collaboration project with AfroBeats artist, Izzy Zick, as they have a single they will be releasing in summer of 2023, titled “Beautiful.”

     Melanin performs and records a variety of genres, including but not limited to: R&B, Jazz, Classical, Soul, Hip-hop, Rock, Country, EDM, Dancehall, Soca, Reggae, and Afrobeats. Her upbringing, cultural experiences, classical voice training, and musical exposure have influenced her multigenre abilities and is the kind of artist that leaves a lasting impression.