Nivea Hamilton, the 44-year-old R&B singer known for "Don't Mess with My Man," "Laundromat" and her Grammy-nominated catalog, disclosed a leukemia diagnosis during a recent appearance on Cadillac Chronicles, a YouTube series hosted by Brian Freeman in which he drives R&B artists around Atlanta in a vintage Cadillac while they sing and talk. When asked what she was grateful for, she went there immediately.
"Well, first of all, I was diagnosed with leukemia earlier this year, and I'm so grateful to God," she said. "I've been going through treatment, and everything is going great so far. And I expect it to continue. Amen, amen, amen."
She did not specify which type of leukemia she has or detail her treatment regimen. What she did was describe how the diagnosis has restructured her priorities.
She is going to school for audio engineering, she has always wanted to learn to mix her own records. She is back in the studio. She is more present with her four children, three of whom she shares with her ex-husband The-Dream and one with rapper Lil Wayne.
"It's so cliché to say you don't know the time nor the hour, but it's true," she said. "It just helped me put a lot of things in perspective."
She also proved, mid-car-ride, that leukemia has not touched her voice. She opened her mouth and sang. "Don't take anything for granted," she told Freeman. "Very grateful for life."