Brandy Rayana Norwood
Brandy Rayana Norwood was born on February 11, 1979, in McComb, Mississippi, to Sonja Bates and Willie Norwood Sr. After he younger brother Ray J. was born, Brandy's father got a job as a music director in a church in California, which relocated the family to Carson (A suburb of LA).
In the 90's Brandy embeged as one of the biggest new stars ever seen. With her mother as her manager, Brandy grew up in the media's eye and turned out to be a multimedia sensation. She has not only conqured the music business, but she has also been a success not on television and in movies.
At first she attracted the public's attention by singing with youth groups in her local area. Then she branched out and began to pursue acting. Brandy did a series of television award shows and specials, and later co-starred in the short-lived ABC sitcom Thea (now in syndication on BET).
Brandy's self-titled debut album hit the streets in 1994 and lauched a series of hits. Among them were "I Wanna Be Down," "Baby" and "Brokenhearted".
With her success came more hits like "Sittin' Up in My Room," a cut from the soundtrack to the film Waiting to Exhale. "Missing You," from the soundtrack to 1996's Set It Off, and then instead of immediately releasing a follow-up cd, Brandy returned to acting.
Brandy re-emerged as "Moesha". She was a tv darling starring as Moesha Mitchell in the acclaimed UPN sitcom "Moesha".
Brandy and also appeared in the title role of the 1997 Disney telefilm Cinderella, one of the biggest success stories of the television season.
The songstress finally released her long-awaited sophomore album, "Never Say Never" in mid-1998. It included hits such as the faux rival song "The Boy Is Mine", a duet with Monica.
"Never Say Never" sprung up a whole new serious of hit singles for Brandy like, "You Don't Know Me", "Never Say Never", and "Almost Doesn't Count".
If you though Brandy had finished there, you're mistaken. During 1999, Brandy did the sequal to the box office hit, "I Know What You Did Last Summer". She played a co-starring role in "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer".
In 2002 Brandy released her third album "Full Moon" and had a surprise for her fans. She blossomed into a woman right in front of their eyes. Brandy married producer Robert Smith and was also pregnant with her first child!
It was an exciting time as Brandy's pregnancy was captured on MTC's show Special Delivery. That intimate look into Brandy's life made her fans feel that much closer to her and on June 16, Brandy had her babygirl Sy'rai!
To the shock of many fans who were concerned about her hollywood breakup with her husband, in 2004 fans were surprised to find out that Brandy was never actually married to begin with.
On to other things... Brandy released her album Afrodisiac in 2004 and the single, "Talk About Our Love" featuring Kanye West was an instant hit.
In late 2006 Brandy was involved in a Los Angeles freeway crash that killed a 38-year-old woman. Two wrongful death lawsuits have been filed against the actress-singer on behalf of the woman's family.
Unfortunately, shortly after that she was replaced as a judge on the television program "America's Got Talent" by Sharon Osbourne.
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