Beverly Peele: Life on the Runway
Beverly Peele was born in 1975 in the greater Los Angeles, California metropolitan districts. The six-foot, petite ebony princess, an American supermodel and actress, rose to fame during the late 1980s and flourished under the limelight throughout the 1990s. Peele's most notable achievements include appearances in "Mademoiselle, "Elle," and over a dozen other fashion model magazine covers. Peele also starred in several motion pictures, often play short roles in sitcoms and short films. Her career milestones were overshadowed by freak incidents of bad luck and criminal mischief, thus tarnishing the records and achievements made during her earlier years of public acclaim.
Career:
Peele entered the fashion model industry in 1987, two years before landing her first magazine cover of the February issue of Mademoiselle, a praised women's magazine with an established reputation lasting over 52 years. Mademoiselle was first published in 1935 by Street and Smith Publications, Inc. who were renowned for pulp fiction and dime novels, but were later sold to Conde Nast Publications. Mademoiselle had a reputation for publishing short stories authored by Truman Capote, Joyce Carol Oates, Perri Klass, William Faulkner, Mona Simpson, Julia Cameron, Susan Minot, Paul Bowles and many others. Conde Nast Publications, Inc. decided to cease the Mademoiselle publication after the tumultuous economic climate caused by the horrifying terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. Peele subsequently landed her second feature in the April edition of Mademoiselle in 1989.
Shortly after her Mademoiselle April edition, Peele was featured on the cover of Seventeen, a newsstand American magazine geared towards teenagers. Seventeen, currently owned by Hearst Corporation, still holds the highest purchase rate with a growing percentage of competitors aspiring to accrue the financial and industrial respect that this international magazine has managed to acquire. Seventeen has sponsored reality TV show contest, America's Top Model, and even branched off into its own version called, Miss Seventeen, which debuted from October 2005 to December 2005 on the MTV network. Peele's Seventeen featured magazine cover sparked an uphill modeling career that would pair her with world-famous supermodels, such as Tyra Banks.
Beverly Peele was a featured fashion model for advertising agencies specializing in high-class clothing brands, such as Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan New York, Vogue, People and Versace. Peele also attracted runway model agencies sponsored by Chanel, Chloe, Valentino, Comme des Garcons and John Galliano.
Peele also had starred in guest apperances on music videos during the 1990s. The song "Too Funky," made by George Michael in 1992 had enough popularity base to create a music video. Directed by fashion designer Thierry Mugler, the music video has Michael acting as the director filmming various supermodels, including Linda Evangelista, Nadja Auermann, Emma Sjoberg, Estelle Hallyday, Shana Zadrick, Tyra Banks and Beverly Peele herself. "Too Funky" charted at number 84 onthe Billboard 100 while reaching number 10 at its peak. The album sold 500,000 copies, which certified it at a Gold status, according to the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) standards.
Alongside the hit single "Too Funky," Peele also featured in Heavy D's and the Boyz' music video, "Nuttin' But Love." "Nuttin' But Love," the fifth and final album by rap group Heavy D and the Boyz, was released on May 24, 1994 by Uptown Records. The songs were produced by DJ Eddie F., Tiddy Riley, Marly Marl, Kid Capri, Easy Mo Bee, Pete Rock, The Trackmasters and Erik Sermon. The red-hot album's first track "Friend and Respect," included spoken-word introductions by renowned artists LL Cool J, KRS-One, Kool G. Rap, MC Lyte, Martin Lawrence, Pete Rock, Buju Banton, Positive K, Q-Tip, Spike Lee, Treach and Queen Latifah. The hit single reached number 11 on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart during its first week of inception.
Peele's appeal garnered international recognition. In 1992, she was photographed by Gilles Bensimon of Elle magazine alongside Naomi Campbell. The German edition of Vogue magazine would also feature Peele alongside other top models in the April issue of 1992. In 1993, she also featured in Vogue with Naomi Campbell with short haircuts. In 1994, alongside her appearance in the music video made by Heavy D and the Boyz, she was photographed by Peter Lindberg in the March edition of Harper's Bazaar. Steven Meisel also photographed her in the April edition of the Italian and American Vogue. In November of 1994, Peele appears on the French Elle magazine cover. In 1995, Peele gave birth to her daughter Cairo and decides to retire from modeling to spend time raising her.
Beverly Peele returned to the camera in 1997 with her guest appearance on the teenage television sitcom, Sister, Sister. Sister, Sister, a narrative about identical twin girls Tia Landry and Tamera Campell once separate, then reunited 14 years later in shopping mall, stars Tia and Tamera Mowry as themselves, Jackee Harry, Marques Houston and Time Reid. The show was produced by de Passe Entertainment and sponsored by the Paramount Network Television, more commonly known as the CBS Television Distribution network. The series lasted for one season spanning from April 1, 1994 to June 14, 1995, and was canceled due to a low adult viewership. The show was reinstated by the WB (Warner Brothers) network from September 5, 1993 to May 23, 1999 because of its high demand from its pre-teen and teenage audience. WB canceled the show, but it returned once again four three additional seasons on the UPN network, which spanned from September 12, 1999 to September 18, 2002. Peele starred as herself on Designer Genes, which aired in 1997. It was the first episode in Season 5 of the popular ethnic show.
Beverly Peele also co-starred on the American sitcom Girlfriends. She played as Nicole, a friend of Tracee Ellis Ross. Girlfriends premiered on September 11, 2000 on UPN, then transferred to The CW, UPN's successor network. The final show aired on February 11, 2008. Girlfriends, oft referred to as the African-American version of the Sex and the City, was the longest-running, live-action sitcom on network television during its time. Angie Stone, an R&B musician, sings the Girlfriends theme song. Peele co-starred in the episode "Into the Woods." Peele also co-stars with Zooey Deschanel in the short-film "Sweet Friggin' Daisies," directed by Jesse Wigutow.
Her last professional television appearance was on April 17, 2006, where she was interviewed on the Tyra Banks Show over the dangers of modeling. The Tyra Banks Show premiered on September 12, 2005 in Los Angeles and moved to New York City in 2007. The nationally syndicated television talk show addresses current events facing women and the detriments it imposes on society. Tyra Banks, a renowned world-wide supermodel, once posed with Beverly Peele. Beverly Peele exposes and addresses the hidden dangers of the fashion model industry, the illusion it gives to women across the world, and warns those women already involved in the industry of impending dangers surrounding them.
Personal Life:
Even 30-year old supermodels find themselves tempted with breaking the law, despite already having an established, international reputation. Beverly Peele, who appeared on hundreds of glamor magazines, faced charges of using credit cards not in her name to buy over ten thousand dollars worth of household merchandise. She was arrested at 7:30 p.m. by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department in Santa Clarita as stated by Deputy Colin Matsumoto. The alleged charges were filed as suspicion to "use expired or forged credit cards." Peele's bond was set and released on twenty thousand dollars on December 29-30, 2005. Beverly found a wallet in a shopping cart, returned it its rightful owner, but not before accruing charges that would appear on her credit card statement. The household items were delivered to Peele's address, which gave away a clear paper trail to the suspect. Investigators confiscated Sears and Maytag appliances and furniture that was racked up on the credit cards. Neighbors, friends and family were equally surprised to find out of Peele's criminal mischief.
On August 02, 2006, Beverly Peele was sentenced to three years probation and 300 hours of community service over stealing a woman's credit card information and charging thousands of dollars in household merchandise. The Superior Court Judge Lyloyd Nash who oversaw the case ordered the 31-year-old supermodel to pay back four thousand dollars directly to the victim and nine hundred dollars of restitution to American Express. Peele pled no contest in May and paid the restitution in full, according to defense attorny Brian Oxman. Peele claimed that she used the wrong credit card information "accidently" before returning the card to its rightful owner.
The former supermodel found herself rushed to a hospital on May 05, 2010 after a crippling car crash. Peele was in "very serious condition," according to a private source involved at the UCLA Medical Center where Peele was held. Cairo, Peele's daughter, also suffered multiple bone fractures and injuries. Both mother and daughter have since recovered from the car crash. Peele has yet to return to the fashion model industry or as an active role in music videos, sitcoms, short-films or major motion pictures.
