The curtain is drawn apart; the lights overhead bathe the entire venue with a soft light, the stage smoke fades out and the crowds call out…Enter Brandy. Brandy Rayana Norwood, born in Mississippi McComb on February 11th 1979. Brandy; the girl with a smokey voice and a rasp that never betrayed her. A tone beautifully mellow like an Indian flute. Brandy the girl with those sexy long legs, a curvaceous behind, a flat stomach and a beautiful face sporting a huge pearly white smile. Brandy the Multi-Platinum selling, Grammy Award winning R&B/Pop Singer/Actress who rose to the heights of Fame, dominating the charts with her music, and captivating all with her talent on screen.

Her journey to fame was eventful, full of highs and lows, a path scattered with obstacles, but persistence and dedication cashed in eventually. Singing at Chruch, at the age of two under the watchful eye of her father, Church Director Willie Norwood, Brandy established herself as a local celebrity. But as she grew older, a local celebrity was not all she envisaged herself as. Seeing her singing Idol, Whitney Houston performing ‘How Will I Know’ on television became the defining point for Brandy’s future life. Resolved to enter the realm of Showbiz her parents supported her from the onset. Sonja Bates Norwood, the ‘number cruncher’ waved goodbye to her financial career, and took the job of Mom/Manager. The first opportunity came to Brandy in the form of Danesha Turrell, one of the main characters in a 1990’s All Black Sitcom, Thea. Brandy was able to secure the role, and took to the small screen with burning passion. The show however was cancelled quite soon, despite good ratings.

Brandy found herself back to square one, this time she cast her eye upon furthering her musical career. She fought long and hard to gain a record deal. Overcoming negativity from her peers, teachers and talent scouts, she was able to impress Atlantic Executive, Darryl Williams, to welcome her to the major recording label.  Within a year Brandy emerged with an album under her belt, brimming of quality songs, which were coated with Jazz, Pop, RnB and Soul influences. The majority of the album was produced by Keith Crouch, legendary songwriter and producer. His chemistry with Brandy was apparent from the offset, together they created some amazing songs for her debut album. Released in 1994, the self titled album was like food for the hungry. Brandy burst onto the music scene, raising eyebrows and catching the attention of all. The album boasted two (RIAA GOLD) certified singles, ‘I Wanna Be Down’ and ‘Brokenhearted’, as well as the (RIAA PLATINUM) certified hit ‘Baby’. Her music was consumed with vigor by America, and her album pushed sales of 4.4 million copies in the States alone.

With her first album, Brandy won awards over the likes of Idol, Whitney Houston, and other major musical names. She also charted her singles above established artists such as Toni Braxton, Mariah Carey, Madonna, Anita Baker and Boys2Men. In all Brandy proved she was force to be reckoned with. With her new found fame Brandy found herself becoming a role model for thousands of teens in America. Determined to exemplify in this role Brandy projected her personality, a safe, mature, well mannered and level headed girl of 15, perusing her dreams.

With all the success she amassed since her Debut Brandy found herself in demand. Brandy was requested to sing on the amazing ballad, ‘Missing You’ for the ‘Set It Off’ album, with stellar artists; Tamia, Gladys Knight and Chaka Khan. As well as this Brandy loaned her talent to the Quincy Jones project, performing a remake of the Michael Jackson hit, ‘Rock Wit U’ and sung ‘Where Are You Now’, a Lenny Kravitz production for the Batman Forever soundtrack.

Brandy also found herself being taken under the wing of her idol, Whitney Houston. Whitney invited Brandy to take the lead role of Cinderella, on a Roger and Hammerstein mixed cultural cast of the story. The show attracted audiences of over 60million, was nominated for 9 EMMY awards and praised by critics. Brandy was making her mark as a multitalented performer. At the request of Whitney Brandy also appeared on a soundtrack for ‘Waiting To Exhale’, a movie Co-Produced/Staring her now close friend Whitney Houston. Singing ‘Sitting Up In My Room’ Brandy’s angelic vocals along with a sexy but respectful video took the song to soar to #2 on the Pop Charts. The single was certified PLATINUM (RIAA).

‘When I wake up in the morning…..M to the O to the ESHA….’ Sound familiar? It should, Brandy made it big on the televisions of USA and Europe with her massively successful Sitcom ‘Moesha’. The major station UPN secured its highest rating in 13 years with the #1 show, and it ran for 5 series. The show was a phenomenal hit across the world, and it established Brandy as a household name across countries.

Brandy had already worked with some of the biggest names in the industry, and now got to work with another legend, Diana Ross, on a television-movie, Double Platinum. The movie was another hit, and sold over 2 million copies when released. This required more drama training for Brandy, and tested her range of performance. Brandy rose to the occasion and received positive comments from critics. As well as this she landed her first Movie role playing a lead character, ‘Karla’, in the highly anticipated horror sequel ‘I Still Know What You Did Last Summer’. Performing her own stunts and developing her performing skills Brandy was determined to grasp every opportunity that came her way. The movie was a Box Office smash.

Brandy admitted to at that time being afraid of recording, of singing and of the expectation of her next album. Her debut was a huge success commercially, and the young Diva was unsure if she could top it. Fans were yearning her return to the music scene, and sale hungry executives of her label were anxious to get Brandy back in the studio. But what to record, who with and what to say were issues for Brandy. The answer came in part in the guise of Rodney Jerkins, a hot new talent in the music recording/writing business. Together they cultivated a new sound for the album. ‘Together’ being the key word, the album was largely Written, Produced and Executively Produced by the pair. Crafting and polishing each and every song to perfection, ‘Never Say Never’ remains an R&B Classic.

A particular song, Co-Written and Co-Produced by Brandy would become so popular that it would dominated the #1 charting for a massive 13 weeks, become Atlantic Music labels biggest selling single to date, earn a Grammy for Best Female Duo and sell over 4 MILLION copies worldwide (RIAA,EUROPA, SS,WARNER), all in reference to ‘The Boy Is Mine’, a song Brandy proposed as a duo with the hugely popular R&B singer Monica.

The album was certified GOLD in 2 weeks of sales, and would be spurred on to sell an incredible 5.6 million copies in America alone. Also earn a 4xPlatinum certification in Canada, 2 Platinum in Japan, and Platinum and Gold in UK, South Africa, Australia, Denmark, France, Ireland and many others. Total worldwide sales are between 10-14 million (RIAA, SS, Warner). The album also spawned the smash hits, ‘Have You Ever’, a (RIAA GOLD) certified single, which took the #1 position for 3 weeks, as well as ‘U Dont Know Me (Like U Used To), ‘Top Of The World’ featuring rapper Mase, which charted at #2 in the UK and was Americas #3 most played song of the year on radio and ‘Almost Doesn’t Count’ which was Americas #5 most played song of the year on radio. Brandy completed the album with a worldwide tour which packed out the biggest venues in America and across the world.

With a smash movie role, a ‘Ratings’ smash Sitcom, two majorily successful albums, and a shower of Industry Awards from Soul Train Awards, Grammy’s, Emmy Nominations to Billboard awards, few would think that anything could be troubling the Diva extraordinaire. But looks can be deceiving. Brandy had been romantically involved with Wanya Morris of Boys2Men and been more than happy for quite some time, but the relationship had ended causing a lot of pain for Brandy. Brandy’s next relationship saw her abused verbally at the hands of her boyfriend. She admitted to huge insecurities about herself, her looks, ability and who she was. She felt overworked and unhealthy. Shock soon began to spread as rumors of diet pill addiction, collapsing on set of Moesha and a Breakdown flooded in. Brandy needed some desperate ‘me’ time. Having wrapped up the successful ‘Never Say Never’ project and ending filming the last series of Moesha, Brandy retreated from the public domain.

Three years later she returned, and her legions of fans were joyed. The first hint of Brandy’s return came with singing for the ‘Wild Thornberrys’ movie soundtrack and voicing for the Animation Movie ‘Osmosis Jones’. She followed this up with the release of her third studio album, ‘Full Moon’, after a three year hiatus. The sound of ‘Full Moon’ was unlike anything Brandy had recorded before. She was desperate to take her music to another level and collaborated with her star producer Rodney Jerkins once again. Together, with the aid of a few other writers and producers on the album a radically different album was given to the public, which still kept the ‘Brandy’ sound and feel that listeners had come to love. The album was headed with the smash hit single ‘What About Us’, one of Americas fastest rising singles of recent chart history, peaking at #4 on UK Charts and #7 on USA charts. The song was streamed over 1.4 million times on AOL, breaking records for the major internet music outlet. The album held a bonus track; ‘Another Day In Paradise’ recorded and released as a dedication for legendary musician ‘Phil Collins’. The song entered in the Top Ten Charts in over thirteen countries worldwide. ‘Full Moon’ became the album’s last single, and established itself as a club classic. Sales in America stood at 1.4 million, and ‘Full Moon’ accumulated 4.5 million in worldwide sales. The worldwide tour intended was put on hold, and each single was given very little promotion. Why? Because Brandy was expecting a child! She had found love in music Producer, Robert Smith, the pair had married in secret and were expecting a child. Unable to promote due to heavy pregnancy the album was not promoted to increase sales. Instead Brandy chronicled her birth for MTV, ‘Special Delivery’, capturing Brandy in pregnancy, birth and married bliss. After 9 months, America’s sweetheart gave birth to her own little gem, Syrai Iman Norwood.

But it seems that the Cinderella story of ‘living happily every after’ was not something that would be Brandy’s fate as of yet. The pair divorced after a year, with Brandy taking custody of her child for the most part. At first a heartbroken Brandy found it in her to remain friends with her Ex-Husband, but in 2004 a lot would change. Wasting no time after Full Moon, Brandy shifted her focus onto her music once more, with nothing to hinder her. But months before the release of her album Brandy found herself in a scandal. Robert Smith reported to ‘Celebrity Gossip Monger’ Wendy Williams that he was never married to Brandy, never loved her and feigned marriage for her image. The rumors needed quelling and Brandy did just that, stating that the marriage was a ‘Spiritual Union’ that at the time of being married she believed spiritually that she was and needed no minister or ceremony to confirm that. With class and attitude Brandy discredited her Ex, and dealt a better hand when her new found love and fiancé, NBA player Quienten Richardson adorned her with a 13 ½ Carat Diamond ring  worth over $1,000,000.

Brandy channeled her emotion, her experiences and her feelings into her fourth studio album, Afrodisiac. It heralded Brandy as a woman, an artist with substance and a maturity not seen before. Critics fawned over it, and it earned its ‘A’ Ratings and 3 ½ -4 Star awards. Afrodisiac saw Brandy teaming to make the album in the most with hit Producer, Timbaland. Together they sculpted an album that reeked of emotion, sexuality and coming of age. The album saw Brandy focused on her Vocal Arranging and Production to get the sound just right. The album was handed to the Atlantic Urban division of the label. The project fell apart at the seams at the hands of a new management team. A lack of promotion and bad singles choices by the failing label led the album scraping a Platinum certification worldwide.

With the failing of Afrodisiac taught Brandy some bitter lessons, lessons it seems Brandy has learnt from. She is signed with KnockOut Entertainment as well as (rumors suggest) Sony. She is currently recording her 5th Studio album with The Neptunes, Timbaland, Rodney Jerkins, Warryn Dubb Cambell, Rich Harrison and Bryce Wilson. As well as this she is heading a Hair Line of Extensions, Braids, Wigs and Weaves through Ultima/Pro 10 and is working on Producing and Staring in a new Sitcom for the new merged station of WB/UPN.  What lies in store....time will tell.

Written by: Zuzu @ B.H