Brandy Norwood

Brandy Rayana Norwood (born February 11, 1979), better known mononymously as Brandy, is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, model and actress. Born into a musical family in McComb, Mississippi, Norwood was raised in Carson, California, beginning her career as a backing vocalist for teen groups. After signing with Atlantic Records in 1993, she released her debut album Brandy the following year, which sold six million copies worldwide. Norwood gained fame by starring in the UPN sitcom Moesha, and further recognition for her role in the television film Cinderella (1997) and the slasher film I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998). Her 1998 duet with fellow R&B contemporary Monica, "The Boy Is Mine", won a Grammy Award and became one of the best-selling female duets of all time.

Norwood saw continued critical and commercial success with her third and fourth albums, Full Moon (2002) and Afrodisiac (2004). She served as a judge on the first season of America's Got Talent. Soon after, Norwood released her fifth album, Human (2008) to modest commercial success.

Norwood returned to television as a contestant on the eleventh season of Dancing with the Stars and starred in the reality series Brandy & Ray J: A Family Business. In 2012, she became a series regular in the BET series The Game, and released her sixth album Two Eleven. In 2015, Norwood made her Broadway debut as Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago, followed by her seventh and eighth studio albums, B7 (2020), and the holiday album Christmas With Brandy (2023).

Norwood is certified through the RIAA as selling 10.5 million album units in the US, along with 5 million singles and 1.5 million digital singles.^[1] Her accolades include a Grammy Award and an American Music Award. She has become known for her distinctive sound, characterized by her peculiar timbre, voice-layering, and intricate riffs, which has earned her the nickname "the Vocal Bible" from industry peers and critics.^[2]