Brandy Biography

For Brandy Rayana Norwood, 19 years old and already a succesfull singer and actress, the release of her self-titled debut album represents the realization of a musical dream set into motion as far back as 1983. That's when Brandy, at age four, decided she wanted to be a professional singer.

She was born in McComb, Mississippi on Februari 11,1979. At age four she moved to California with her family. She built a reputation singing with local youth groups before moving on to more high-profile gigs. She performed on numerous awards shows and specials, including ABC-TV's Rhythm and Jam, The People's Choice Awards, and Showtime At The Apollo. She not only sung on awards shows she also won a lot of awards( American Music Awards, MTV Awards and many more.

Among her many appearances, a personal favorite took place when, at age 11, she was named Darling of the Brotherhood Crusade. As part of the festivities, Brandy serenaded Arsenio Hall - who was being honored as the Crusade's "Man Of The Year" - with a rendition of "The Greatest Love Of All."

Brandy has also had succes in acting. She played the role of Brandy Beechwood in the movie Arachnophobia(1990).She had a part in the ABC-TV comedy series Thea(1993), on which she played the part of Denesha, Thea's shy 15-year-old daughter who took schoolwork, boys, and talking on the telephone very seriously. Brandy was nominated for a Youth In Film Award for her work in the series, a parallel career move she says gave her a greater understanding of show business mechanics. Brandy recently starred in the UPN-TV show series Moesha(1996). Here she played the role of Moesha Mitchell, a bright high school girl in a middle-class black neighbourhood in Los Angeles. She has also starred in Disney's Cinderella(1997), a TV movie with hero Whitney Houston and Whoopie Goldberg. Brandy will now play a role in the sequel of the succesfull horror-movie 'I Know What You Did Last Summer'; I Know What You Did Last Summer 2 (I Still Know What You Did Last Summer)(1998). Filming of the movie will start in spring.Still aside from all the 'glitter & glamour', Brandy also focusses on her study. She's studying psychology and music at Pepperdine University...

The family:
mom & manager Sonja Norwood, dad & manager Willie Norwood Sr. & kid brother Ray J., who is also doing his thing in the music business.
The hits so far:
"Baby", "I Wanna Be Down", "Brokenhearted", "Sitting In My Room" & "Missing You".
The School:
Brandy is studying psychology and music at Pepperdine University in California.
Favourite artists:
TLC, Boyz II Men, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Fugees, Celine Dion, Alanis Morissette and Ray J. The Notorious B.I.G, Tupac, Mase (Brandy: "I'm a big fan of Mase. A huge fan. I want to do a song with Mase so bad! It's like Mase is kinda like me, laid-back."), Monica, Puffy, Nas, Snoop Doggy Dogg.
Favourite food:
Chicken Chow Mein and McDonalds hamburgers.
Favourite color:
Dark Brown
Hobbies:
shopping, hanging out with friends, reading, wathing basketball, cleaning her room(!)
Favourite church song:
Amazing Grace
Favourite song from the Brandy album:
"Brokenhearted"
Favourite subjects in school:
English and math
First ever date:
Kobe Bryant took her to the prom!
Favourite movie:
The Bodyguard with Whitney Houston!
Favourite musicvideo:
"Sitting Up In My Room" and Michael Jackson's "They Don't Care About Us" (Brandy: "Michael Jackson, he is just like; he is the king of it all. Everything that everyone's doing now, he's already done. He's opened a lot of doors for a lot of artists today.".
Favourite TV-shows:
Home Improvement, Family Matters, Beavis & Butthead, Parent Hood.

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