Rock On The Net: Brandy (original) (raw)
Brandy (Norwood) was born on February 11, 1979, in Mississippi, and raised in California. At the tender age of 15, Brandy burst onto the music scene with her R&B and pop crossover hit, "I Wanna Be Down." With her soothing and soulful voice, Brandy has gained the acclaim of many critics and fans. Brandy has also allowed her wholesome image to help her career instead of presenting a false persona for the sake of record sales or street credibility. As a result of being true to herself and her music, Brandy has been described as a performer who's stardom will always be on the rise. Her talents with singing and acting have already allowed Brandy a step to super stardom before reaching the age of 20. Brandy's dream of stardom began when she was 4 years old. She used to study her father's singing and try to improve her own vocal skills. She began singing in public at local youth groups and eventually to high profile gigs. Her inspirations include Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, and Stevie Wonder for whom she gives tribute in "I Dedicate."
Even as the music was being developed, Brandy's acting career began with a role on Thea. Her appeal eventually led to a series of her own called Moesha on UPN, which has been proclaimed a hit with fans and critics.
# 44Singles Artist of the Year
Brandy's debut LP, Brandy, was released on Atlantic Records. The tracks on the LP showcased Brandy's talents for "soul-drenched r&b with a hip-hop edge." The LP gave Brandy 2 Top 3 hits with "I Wanna Be Down" and "Baby" and the additional hits, "Best Friend" and Top 10, "Brokenhearted."
Brandy hit the Top 40 with "I Wanna Be Down."
Brandy topped the Billboard R&B Singles chart for 4 weeks, the R&B Singles Sales chart for 2 weeks, and the R&B Airplay chart for 5 weeks with "I Wanna Be Down."
Brandy was certified gold and the single "I Wanna Be Down" was certified gold.
Brandy hit the Top 10 with "I Wanna Be Down."
# 12 Singles Artist of the Year
Brandy hit the Top 40 with "Baby" and the Top 10 by the end of the month.
Brandy topped the Billboard Singles Sales chart for 5 weeks, the R&B Singles chart for 4 weeks, the R&B Singles Sales chart for 5 weeks, and the Hot Dance Music Maxi-Singles Sales chart for 4 weeks with "Baby."
Brandy was certified platinum.
Brandy topped the Billboard R&B Airplay chart for 4 weeks with "Baby."
The single "Baby" was certified platinum.
Brandy was certified 2x platinum.
Brandy hit the Top 40 with "Best Friend."
The hits kept Brandy on the radio and pop charts throughout the year. Brandy appeared on the Batman Forever soundtrack with the track "Where Are You Now" a song written and produced by Lenny Kravitz.
Brandy topped the Billboard R&B Airplay chart for a week with "Best Friend."
Brandy hit the Top 40 with "Brokenhearted."
The video for "I Wanna Be Down" was nominated for a MTV Video Music Award for Best Rap Video, and the video for "Baby" was nominated for Best Choreography.
Brandy hit the Top 10 with "Brokenhearted."
Brandy was certified 3x platinum and the single "Brokenhearted" was certified gold.
Brandy topped the Billboard Year-End Chart-Toppers as the Top R&B Artist - Female (singles & albums), Top New R&B Artist, and Top Hot R&B Singles Artist - Female.
# 24 Singles Artist of the Year
Brandy hit the Top 40 with "Sittin' Up In My Room" from the Waiting To Exhale soundtrack. As for working on the Waiting To Exhale soundtrack, Brandy said: "It was my dream come true to work with Babyface, as well as being involved in the same project as Whitney Houston."
Brandy won an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B New Artist and was nominated for Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist.
Brandy was nominated for 2 Grammy Awards for Best R&B Vocal Performance - Female ("Baby") and Best New Artist.
The single "Sittin' Up In My Room" was certified gold and hit the Top 10.
Brandy topped the Billboard Hot R&B Singles Airplay chart for 2 weeks with "Sittin' Up In My Room."
Brandy hit #1 for a week with "Sittin' Up In My Room."
The single "Sittin' Up In My Room" was certified platinum.
Brandy teamed up with Chaka Khan, Tamia, and Gladys Knightfor the Top 40 hit "Missing You" from the Set It Off soundtrack.
The video for "Sittin' Up In My Room" was nominated for a MTV Video Music Award for Best Video from a Film and the video for "Brokenhearted" was nominated for Best Cinematography.
Brandy was certified 4x platinum.Brandy won a NAACP Image Award, 2 Billboard Awards, and 4 Lady of Soul Awards (including Entertainer of the Year).
Brandy was nominated for an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist.
Brandy was nominated for 2 Grammy Awards: Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals ("Missing You" with Tamia,Gladys Knight & Chaka Khan) and Best R&B Performance, Female ("Sittin' Up In My Room").
Brandy starred in Cinderella with her idol, Whitney Houston. Brandy and Houston demonstrated that when they combine talents with Disney and a classic story, they're a hit. Sunday night's airing of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, Cinderella on ABC (on November 2nd) was viewed by over 60 million people in the U.S. Cinderella, starring Brandy in the title role and Houston as her fairy god-mother, was presented by ABC's newly revamped Wonderful World of Disney. The presentation helped ABC get their best ratings in that time slot in over 13 years.
# 19 Singles Artist of the Year
Brandy hit the Top 40 with "The Boy Is Mine" (with Monica) and took home a Blockbuster Award for Favorite Female Artist - R&B.
Brandy's sophomore LP, Never S-A-Y Never, was released and the first single, a duet with Monica, "The Boy Is Mine" hit #1 on the ARC Weekly Top 40 and the pop and R&B Billboard charts. She told USA Today, "Your second album is supposed to do better than your first one... So I'm a little scared." Brandy co-wrote 6 of the songs on her new LP.
The single "The Boy Is Mine" was certified platinum.
Never S-A-Y Never was certified platinum.
"The Boy Is Mine" topped the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart for 13 weeks, the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart for 9 weeks, the R&B Singles chart for 8 weeks, the R&B Singles Sales chart for 7 weeks, the R&B Singles Airplay chart for 5 weeks, and the Maxi-Singles Sales chart for 21 weeks.
The single "The Boy Is Mine" was certified 2x platinum.
Brandy hit the Top 40 with Mase with "Top Of The World."
Brandy was nominated for 2 MTV Video Music Awards with Monicafor Best R&B Video and Video of the Year ("The Boy Is Mine").
Never S-A-Y Never was certified 2x platinum.
Brandy hit the Top 40 with "Have You Ever?"
Brandy's acting career is also on the rise with her feature film debut in the slasher sequel, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer.
Brandy starred in a TV movie with Diana Ross called Double Platinum.
Never S-A-Y Never was certified 3x platinum.
During the year, Brandy took home 3 Billboard Music Awards for Top Dance Maxi-Single, Top 100 Sales Single, and Top R&B Sales Single, and a Billboard Video Music Award for Best Clip (R&B/Urban) - all for "The Boy Is Mine" (with Monica).
Brandy hit the Top 10 with "Have You Ever?" (which topped the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Airplay chart for 9 weeks.)
"The Boy Is Mine" was the top-selling single of the year with sales of 2.6 million.
Brandy topped the Billboard Year-End Charts with the Top Hot 100 Single Sales, Top Hot R&B Single Sales, and Top Hot Dance Maxi-Singles Sales ("The Boy Is Mine").
# 20 Singles Artist of the Year
Brandy was nominated for 2 American Music Awardsfor Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist and Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist.
Never S-A-Y Never was certified 4x platinum.
Brandy had her 3rd #1 with "Have You Ever?" (and topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 2 weeks).
Brandy won her first Grammy Awardfor Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for "The Boy Is Mine" (with Monica) and was nominated for Record of the Year, Best R&B Song (awarded to the songwriter) for "The Boy Is Mine" (with songwriters Lashawn Daniels, Fred Jerkins III, Rodney Jerkins, & Japhe Tejeda), andBest R&B Album for Never S-A-Y Never.Brandy won a California Music Award for Outstanding R&B Album for Never S-A-Y Never. Brandy was also nominated for 5 NAACP Image Awards (Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series for Moesha, Outstanding Album for Never S-A-Y Never, Outstanding Duo or Group for "The Boy Is Mine", Outstanding Music Video for "The Boy Is Mine" (with Monica), and Outstanding Female Artist for Never S-A-Y Never) and 2 Soul Train Music Awards ( Best R&B/Soul Album, Female for Never S-A-Y Never and Best R&B/Soul Single, Group, Band or Duo for "The Boy Is Mine" (with Monica)).
Brandy hit the Top 40 with "Almost Doesn't Count."
Brandy hit the Top 10 with "Almost Doesn't Count."
Brandy was nominated for 2 Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards for Best R&B/Soul Single, Group, Band or Duo ("The Boy Is Mine" (with Monica)) and Best R&B/Soul Album, Solo (Never S-A-Y Never).
Brandy won a 'Teen Choice Award' for Choice Female Artist.
Brandy was nominated for a MTV Video Music Awardfor Best R&B Video ("Have You Ever?").
Brandy was hospitalized for dehydration in California and Moesha filming was temporarily delayed for a few weeks.
Brandy hit the Top 40 with "U Don't Know Me (Like U Used To)."
Never S-A-Y Never was certified 5x platinum.
Brandy was nominated for an American Music Awardfor Favorite Female Soul/R&B Artist.
Brandy talked about her hospitalization last November: "It took me 5 years to get sick. It took me 5 years to get off track. Dehydration is crazy when you don't realize what you are doing and you are working all the time... No... I wasn't addicted to anything."
Brandy was nominated for a Grammy Awardfor Best R&B Vocal Performance - Female ("Almost Doesn't Count").
Brandy was nominated for a Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Female Singer.
Brandy was honored with a Governors Award in LA.
Rolling Stone & MTV: 100 Greatest Pop Songs includes "The Boy Is Mine" (with Monica) at # 90.
Brandy's TV series Moesha was cancelled.
Brandy's voice could be heard in the film Osmosis Jones and on the soundtrack with the track "Open."
# 18 Singles Artist of the Year
Brandy hit the Top 40 with "What About Us?"
Brandy announced she was secretly married since the summer to a producer/songwriter and expecting their first child.
Brandy's next LP, Full Moon, was released. The LP debuted at # 2 on the Billboard 200 Album chart selling over 155,000 copies in its first week.
Brandy hit the Top 10 with "What About Us?"
Full Moon topped the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
Full Moon was certified platinum.
Brandy hit the Top 40 with "Full Moon"
Brandy gave birth to a baby girl. Her pregnancy was chroniclized on the MTV show Brandy's Special Delivery.
Brandy hit the Top 10 with "Full Moon"
Brandy's video for "What About Us?" was nominated for a MTV Video Music Award for Viewer's Choice.
Brandy could be heard on the soundtrack for The Wild Thorberrys Movie with "Dance With Us."
Brandy was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album (Full Moon).
It was announced that Brandy and her husband had separated.
Brandy could be heard on Timbaland & Magoo's LPUnder Construction, Pt. II on the track "N 2 Da Music."
Brandy released her next LP, Afrodisiac.
Brandy topped the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales chart with "Talk About Our Love"
Brandy hit the Top 40 with "Talk About Our Love."
It was announced that Brandy was engaged.
The video for "Talk About Our Love" was nominated for a MTV Video Music Awardincluding Best R&B Video.
Afrodisiac was certified gold.
Brandy appeared as Gladys Knight on the NBC drama American Dreams.
Brandy left Atlantic Records.# 51 on the Top Pop Artists of the Past 25 Years chart.
Brandy was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album (Afrodisiac).
Brandy released The Best Of Brandy.
Brandy could be seen as a judge on the NBC series America's Got Talent.
Brandy could be heard on Diddy's LP Press Play with "Thought You Said."
Brandy was involved in a car crash in Los Angeles that resulted in the death of another motorist. The family of the motorist filed a $50 million lawsuit against Brandy.
# 84Singles Artist of the Year
Brandy could be heard on the John Legend LP Evolver on the track "Quickly."
Brandy hit the Top 40 with "Right Here (Departed)."
Brandy topped the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart with "Right Here (Departed)."
Brandy released her next LP Human.
Brandy topped the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart for a week with "Long Distance."
Brandy could be heard on the Snoop Dogg LP Malice N Wonderland on the track "Special."
Brandy could be heard on the Monica LP New Life on the track "It All Belongs To Me."
Brandy released Two Eleven.
Brandy topped the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart with Two Eleven.
- September 16: Brandy could be heard on the Chris Brown LP X on the track "Do Better."
- October 16: Brady could be heard on the LeAnn RimesLPToday Is Christmas on the track "Silent Night."
- January 26: Brandy was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance ("Love Again" with Daniel Caesar).
- July 31: Brandy released B7.
- November 10: Brandy released the holiday LP Christmas With Brandy.
BrandyReleased: September, 1995 US: 4x Platinum Billboard peak: # 20 Tracks: "Movin' On" - "Baby" - "Best Friend" - "I Wanna Be Down" - "I Dedicate (Pt. 1)" - "Brokenhearted" - "I'm Yours" - "Sunny Day" - "As Long As You're Here" - "Always On My Mind" - "I Dedicate (Pt. 2)" - "Love Is On My Side" - "Give Me You" - "I Dedicate (Pt. 3)" | |
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Never S-A-Y NeverReleased: June, 1998 US: 5x Platinum Billboard peak: # 2 Rolling Stone review: Tracks: "Angel In Disguise" - "The Boy Is Mine" (with Monica) - "Learn The Hard Way" - "Almost Doesn't Count" - "Top Of The World" (with Mase) - "U Don't Know Me (Like U Used To)" - "Never Say Never" - "Truthfully" - "Have You Ever?" - "Put That On Everything" - "In The Car Interlude" - "Happy" - "One Voice" - "Tomorrow" - "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" | |
Full MoonReleased: March, 2002 US: Platinum Billboard peak: # 2 Rolling Stone review: Tracks: "Full Moon" - "I Thought" - "When You Touch Me" - "Like This" - "All In Me" - "Apart" - "Can We" - "What About Us?" - "Anybody" - "Nothing" - "It's Not Worth It" - "He Is" - "Come A Little Closer" - "Love Wouldn't Count Me Out" - "WOW" - "Die Without You" | |
AfrodisiacReleased: June, 2004 US: Gold Billboard peak: # 3 Tracks: "Sadiddy" - "Who Is She 2 U" - "Talk About Our Love" - "Cool (Thought I'd Be)" - "Afrodisiac" - "Where You Wanna Be" - "Focus" - "How I Feel" - "Say You Will" - "Come As You Are" - "Necessary" - "Should I Go" - "Turn It Up" | |
The Best Of BrandyReleased: April, 2005 Billboard peak: # 27 Tracks: "Baby" - "Best Friend" - "I Wanna Be Down" - "Brokenhearted" - "Angel In Disguise" - "The Boy Is Mine" (with Monica) - "Almost Doesn't Count" - "Top Of The World" (with Mase) - "U Don't Know Me (Like U Used To)" - "Have You Ever?" - "Full Moon" - "What About Us?" - "He Is" - "Afrodisiac" - "Who Is She 2 U" - "Talk About Our Love" - "Sittin' Up In My Room" - "Rock With You" - "I Wanna Be Down" (remix) - "Another Day In Paradise" | |
HumanReleased: December, 2008 Entertainment Weekly: B Tracks: "Human Intro" - "The Definition" - "Warm It Up (With Love)" - "Right Here (Departed)" - "Piano Man" - "Long Distance Interlude" - "Long Distance" - "Camouflage" - "Torn Down" - "Human" - "Shattered Heart" - "True" - "A Capella (Something's Missing)" - "1st & Love" - "Fall" | |
Amazon.mp3 | Two ElevenReleased: October 16, 2012 Billboard peak: # 3 Tracks: "Intro" - "Wildest Dreams" - "So Sick" - "Slower" - "No Such Thing As Too Late" - "Let Me Go" - "Without You" - "Put It Down" (featuring Chris Brown) - "Hardly Breathing" - "Do You Know What You Have" - "Scared Of Beautiful" - "Wish Your Love Away" - "Paint This House" - "Can You Hear M e Now" - "Music" - "What You Need" - "Outro" |
iTunes Amazon.mp3 vinyl | B7Released: July 31, 2020 Billboard peak: # 12 Tracks: "Borderline" - "Saving All My Love" - "Lucid Dreams" - "No Tomorrow" - "Bye BiPolar" - "Rather Be" - "All My Life, Pt. 2" - "Baby Mama" - "All My Life, Pt. 3" - "I Am More" - "Say Something" - "All My Life, Pt. 1" - "Unconditional Oceans" - "Love Again" - "High Heels" |
Christmas With BrandyReleased: November 10, 2023 Tracks: "Feels Different" - "Somebody's Waiting" - "Christmas Party For Two" - "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" - "Santa Baby" - "Christmas Gift" - "Shine Out Your Light" - "The Christmas Song" - "Someday At Christmas" - "Jingle Bells" - "Deck The Halls" |
Note: Song title and position links lead you to the song's Top 40 chart run (from the ARC Weekly Top 40) and LP links take you to Amazon.com for that LP (often including track listings and sound samples). |
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