Brandy
Beginning her singing career almost as soon as she could speak, Brandy came to prominence in the 1990s with her signature, soulful sound. She was the star of her own sitcom for several years, and currently serves as a celebrity judge on America’s Got Talent.
Brandy Norwood was born on February 11th, 1979, in Carson, California . She began singing at the age of two in her father’s church, and when she was only four, her family relocated to California in the hopes of advancing Brandy’s career. By her early teens, she was already working as a backup singer.
In 1993, one of Brandy’s performances piqued the interest of a record company executive, which lead to her being signed with Atlanta Records. One year later, her self-titled debut album was released. Brandy was certified quadruple platinum, and received two Grammy Award nominations. Over the next several years, Brandy worked with Lenny Kravitz on the Batman Forever soundtrack, as well as the singers Tamia, Chaka Khan, and Gladys Knight to record “Missing You,” a single from the Set It Off soundtrack.
In 1998, Brandy’s second album, Never Say Never was released. “The Boy is Mine,” a duet with singer Monica, was one of the biggest singles of 1998, topping the charts for thirteen weeks and earning the pair a Grammy Award. Critics praised her as a cross between Mariah Carey and Mary J Blige, and the album boasted seven successful singles.
Over the next three years Brandy was still hard at work, but it was her starring role in the sitcom Moesha that took up most of her time and efforts. Aside from Moesha, she starred in a number of television movies, including Cinderella, which featured Whitney Houston, Jason Alexander, Whoopi Goldberg, and Bernadette Peters. Other appearances included a starring role, along with Diana Ross, in Double Platinum, and in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, which starred Jennifer Love Hewitt. She has also worked as a spokes model for Cover Girl cosmetics.
After three years away from the recording studio, Brandy announced her return to the music scene with her international hit remake of Phil Collins’s “Another Day in Paradise ,” and began production of her third album. Full Moon was released in March of 2002, but was not met with the critical praise her previous effort commanded. During 2002, she wrote and produced music for singers such as Kelly Rowland and Toni Braxton.
After another break, Afrodisiac was released in June of 2004. Despite its high acclaim by critics, it was Norwood ’s poorest selling album to date. By the end of the year, she had requested, and was granted, a release from her contract with Atlantis Records. She planned to release her fifth set of recordings in 2007.
Brandy went on to become a judge in the talent show American’s Got Talent. Hosted by Regis Philbin and boasting Simon Cowell as its executive producer, the show had been renewed for a second season and Brandy, once again served as a judge starting in January of 2007.
In the summer of 2001, Brandy married music producer Robert Smith and later revealed that she was expecting her first child. After giving birth in June of 2002, she divorced Smith, and it was later revealed that the marriage was not an actual legal union, but rather an arrangement to preserve Brandy’s positive public image. After her “divorce,” she began a relationship with basketball star Quentin Richardson. They were engaged for over a year, but Norwood ended the relationship in October of 2005. |
