Janice Robinson first emerged on our TV screens in 2018 on The X Factor, but before her time in the adored talent competition, she had a massive dance anthem that shook the whole globe.
The 55-year-old singer of “Dreamer,” who rose to stardom in the 1990s dance group Livin’ Joy, has spoken up about a dreadful event she went through as a child.
Janice has spoken out exclusively to Daily Star about the “life-altering” racist incident, as she is eager to tell her tale in honour of Black History Month, observed in February in the United States.
The singer remembers how her parents warned her not to wander too far from them when she went to a nearby ice rink with her brothers when she was nine or ten years old.
As Janice went out to practice her “figure eight” skating manoeuvre, she encountered a brutal racist assault that left her with scars.
Janice was the victim of a vicious assault when she unintentionally got in the path of three bigger kids playing hockey on the rink.
She recounted, “They kicked me,” and continued, “That was such a horror. They shoved me and kicked me with their skates, and I remember running to the restroom and sobbing there for a while.
“That was terrifying,” Janice said, “and that experience is what truly transformed my life.
She said, “And from that point on, I concentrated on [how] people need to be more loving, people need to be more kind, people need to be more mindful of their acts toward one another, and all of that inspired the creation of my first album, The Colour Inside Me.”
She recalled the traumatic experience during our conversation when she described how the youngsters called her “all sorts of names” later on.
Janice said: “I was made fun of my lips,” later adding that it was “painful” to hear them call her “large lips” and make comments about her “color.”
She also revealed to us how the incident, in which she was kicked by children while wearing ice skates, left her with permanent scars.
Janice showed us the wounds on her face, which can be seen in the photographs above, noting how the blades were centimeters from from her eyes.
Since the incident, Janice has dedicated all of her efforts to spreading love and light, serving as a role model for countless others via both her songs and daily actions.
Together with her profession as a singer and musician, Janice also works as a teacher, inspiring her students as she instructs them.
The Dreamer starlet has a number of interesting projects in the works, and she plans to win a BRIT Award and a Grammy. She will release her debut ballad this spring, followed by a dance album in the summer.
»Janice Robinson recalls her 10-year-old racial abuse«