Article - There’s no business like personal business for Keyshia Cole

After witnessing Keyshia Cole endure verbal spats with her mom and DNA tests with random guys claiming to be her dad, you’d think her hit BET reality show “Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is” has revealed everything there is to know about the artist.  

Sure, she’s probably a little too tolerant of her unrefined mother, Frankie. And yeah, she’s got a giving spirit, as suggested by the extended family she helps support. But Keyshia Cole’s also a perfectionist when it comes to her career.

After being a featured act in Lil’ Wayne’s I Am Music tour earlier this year, Cole could have easily reprised many of the show’s technical elements for her A Different Me tour. Her legion of followers wouldn’t have cared a lick. But that’s not what Keyshia wanted.

“I have new band members,” says Cole, whose third effort, A Different Me, has moved over 800,000 copies since its December ‘08 release. “I have a new choreographer. I have new background singers that are excellent. We have a couple of different parts to the show that are going to be interesting. We’re all trying new things, so it should be fun.”

Since moving to Atlanta three years ago, the 27-year-old Oakland native has settled into her blossoming career and her new hometown. “I’ve always wanted to live in Atlanta because of the weather and the trees,” she says.

While it may seem like she relishes putting her family business on front street, Cole intends to balance the blitz for ratings with a sense of responsibility.

“We know everything about my mother and my family and what I’ve been through and the road it took to get here,” says Cole, who promises more surprises during the fourth season of her show later this year. “I have to make sure what I put out there into the world and what people see is definitely something that I can be proud of.”