Ti Corn says singing in Creole, a very colorful language, gives her free range in terms of creation and expression. The softness, musicality and natural poetic strength of the language, more than any language, lend themselves to her artistic voice.

Born in Germany on August 11, 1953 to a German family established in Cap Hatien, Haiti for many generations, Cornlia Schutt-Richard, aka Ti Corn, daughter of Ingrid and Carl Otto Schutt, a merchant, was taken to Cap Hatien two months after her birth. There, she grew up with her brother, Broder, and her sisters, Laetitia and Anne-Caroline.

At 12 she picked up the guitar. At 13, after years of German homeschooling, she was sent to Germany, the country of her birth, to pursue her secondary studies. She stayed there to study hotel management but frequently traveled between Hamburg and Cap Hatien.

Very early on Cornlia, who received the nickname Ti Corn from her nanny Anna Colo, was exposed to Creole, to the traditional songs, to the tales and legend of the land. She quickly developed a love for the culture and the music of Haiti.

She made her first public appearance in 1960 at the Feu Vert Nightclub, at a dance hosted by the Orchestre Septentrional. Ever since, Ti Corn has continued to take roots in Haitian folklore, singing, like her models Martha Jean Claude and Toto Bissainthe traditional songs, largely in Creole. She is fluent in German, French, English, and speaks Spanish.

She recorded Hati Chrie (1979), Cvolan (1982), La map rete (1987), Crole
favorites (1988), Ballades Carabes and Caribbean Ballads (1991), as well as Cap Hatien, her latest, in 2009. Carnage, Promenade Amoureuse Sur le Rivage du Cap, Sous le Ciel Haiti (the latter covered by the rap band Barikad Crew) are but a few hits from her repertoire.

On June 20 and 21, 2009, Ti Corn performed at the North Miami Beach Performing Arts Theater, and there signed copies of her latest album, Cap Hatien, released simultaneously as a CD box featuring all her old hits.

So next time your hubby empties the dish washer or offers to pick up the kids from school, be sure to give him