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A lifetime before she became big enough to shed her surname, Janet Jackson was just a TV tyke with dreams of a music career. Joining a new generation of small-screen ingenues asking ''If Penny from Good Times can do it, why can't I?'' are sitcom veterans Cree Summer and Raven-Symone, both of whom are releasing debut albums this spring. Making the leap from soundstage to concert stage:
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Albums: Two, and a 1998 single, ''How Do I Deal?''
On TV: She's naive, knowing Sarah Reeves on Party of Five.
On CD: She's a naive, knowing R&B-lite diva-in-training.
Sample lyrics: ''It's a sunny day but you're not around/That doggone rain might as well be pouring down.''
Tatyana Ali
Album: 1998's Kiss the Sky
On TV: She was Will Smith's youngest, sweetest cousin, Ashley Banks, on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
On CD: She's Janet Jackson, the non-nasty version.
Sample lyric: ''Fallin' for you/This love's a TKO.''
Cree Summer
Album: 1999's Street Faerie
On TV: She was free-spirited Freddie Brooks on A Different World.
On CD: She's a softer, female Lenny Kravitz (who produced her album).
Sample lyric: ''All I see is the fullness of you.''
Raven-Symone
Album: 1999's Undeniable
On TV: She was Lisa Bonet's super-cute stepdaughter Olivia Kendall on The Cosby Show.
On CD: She's Aaliyah's super-cute li'l sis.
Sample lyric: ''Leave all your worries behind/'Cause we're gonna have a good time.''
