30 Brilliant Facts About Brandy Norwood Every Fan Must Know

Brandy Norwood, dubbed as “The Vocal Bible” because of her distinct tone, vocal style, has been in the limelight for decades, with several of her albums hit gold and platinum certifications. She has a line of Barbie dolls designed after her and is also listed as RIAA’s “Top Selling Artists” in the US with over 10.5 million certified sold albums. However, in the 2000s, she experienced a lot of career and commercial turbulence, despite earning several accolades. Here are some really interesting facts about the singer that will make you love her more:

"Singer Brandy at The Cosmopolitan Grand Opening and New Year's Eve Celebration" by The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

1.  In November 2016, Norwood became the second recipient of the Lady of Soul Award at the Soul Train Music Awards.
2.  Her duet with singer Monica, “The Boy Is Mine,” was the most successful song by a female duo in the music industry, which spent a record-breaking thirteen weeks atop the Billboard charts.
3.  She played the title role of Moesha Mitchell, a Los Angeles girl coping with a stepmother, in the sitcom “Moesha,” in the year 1996, which was the most watched show on UPN. Norwood earned an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Youth Actor/Actress for her performance in the show, which lasted for six seasons.
4.  She made her big screen debut in the supporting role of Karla Wilson in the slasher film, “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer,” in which her “bouncy” performance received highly positive reviews.
5.  In fact, this performance earned her a Blockbuster Entertainment Award and an MTV Movie Award nomination for Best Breakthrough Female Performance.
6.  Brandy Rayana Norwood was born on February 11, 1979, to Willie Norwood and Sonja Norwood in McComb, Mississippi. She has a younger brother named Ray Norwood.
7.  Her father is a gospel singer and choir director, while her mother is a district manager of H&R Block. Brandy is the cousin of rapper Snoop Dogg and WWE wrestler Sasha Banks.
8.  She actually started singing through her father’s work, as part of the local church choir. At the very young age of 2, she performed her first gospel solo.
9.  Her parents relocated to Carson, California in the year 1983, and attended the Hollywood High Performing Arts Center.
10.  She became even more interested in music, after listening to singer Whitney Houston, at the age of seven, and eventually became a very big fan of the singer.

"Brandy Norwood wearing Lloyd Klein with Monica for their duo performance in the It all Belongs to Me video" by Lloyd Klein is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

11.  However, during her school days, she received no support from her teachers and other staffs, and it was really difficult to persuade anyone to send her on auditions.
12.  By the time she was 11 years old, she was part of a youth singing group, who performed at several public functions. Around that time, she also entered several talent shows.
13.  She signed with Teaspoon Productions, through whom she got the work as a backing vocalist for their R&B boy band Immature, in the year 1990.
14.  Three years later, there were negotiations going on to join with the East West Records, however, her parents organized a recording contract with the Atlantic Recording Corporation after auditioning for Darryl Williams, the company's director of A&R.
15.  Her mother resigned from her job, in order to manage her daughter. Norwood also dropped out of Hollywood High School and was tutored privately from tenth grade.
16.  While her debut album was in the early production stages, she was selected for a role in the short-lived ABC sitcom “Thea,” in which she played the daughter of a single mother.
17.  Initially, the series received high ratings, but with viewership declining, the show ended with only one season. However, she earned a Young Artists Award nomination for Outstanding Youth Ensemble alongside her co-stars.
18.  She recalled in an interview that the cancellation was a good thing, as she was unenthusiastic about acting at that time and that it also caused scheduling conflicts with the recording of her album.
19.  Her self-titled debut album was released in September 1994, peaking at #20 on the US Billboard 200. She received generally positive reviews from critics for the album.
20.  The album produced three top ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including "I Wanna Be Down" and "Baby." Both these songs reached the top of the Hot R&B Singles chart.

"Singer Brandy at The Cosmopolitan Grand Opening and New Year's Eve Celebration" by The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

21.  With this album, she earned two Grammy Award nominations for Best New Artist and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance the following year, and won her four Soul Train Music Awards, two Billboard Awards, and the New York Children's Choice Award.
22.  She was particularly hand-picked by producer Whitney Houston, to play the lead role of Cinderella, in the Rodgers and Hammerstein’s TV version of “Cinderella.”
23.  In the year 1998, she embarked on the successful Never Say Never World Tour consisting of sold-out performances in Europe, Asia, and the United States.
24.  She dated Boyz II Men lead singer Wanya Morris, whom she cited as her "first love." It was said that their relationship ended just a month before her nineteenth birthday.
25.  She was romantically involved with producer Robert “Big Bert” Smith, in mid-2001, and even claimed that they were legally wed, when they welcomed their daughter Sy’rai Iman Smith on June 16, 2002.
26.  However, a year later, Smith revealed that they only pretended to marry, in order preserve Norwood’s public image, which was confirmed by Norwood, who justified her actions with the pressure of having to be a role model.
27.  In June 2006, she was cast as one of three talent judges on the first season of “America's Got Talent,” and was slated to return for a second season, but decided against it.
28.  She and Ray J debuted in the VH1 reality series “Brandy and Ray J: A Family Business” along with their parents in April 2010, which chronicled the backstage lives of both the siblings.
29.  In fall 2010, Norwood appeared as a contestant on season 11 of the ABC reality show “Dancing with the Stars,” partnering with Maksim Chmerkovskiy. She was considered to be one of the frontrunners, since the start of the competition, but ended up fourth.
30.  In the year 2019, Norwood was honored with the BMI President's Award at the BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Awards, organized by Broadcast Music, Inc.
31.  Brandy Norwood Net Worth: $12 Million