A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was unveiled Monday honoring Brandy for a more than three-decade career that has made her one of the best-selling female singers of all time.
Singer/music producer Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds and actress, writer and producer Issa Rae joined Brandy in speaking during the 11:30 a.m. ceremony at 6201 Hollywood Blvd., near Argyle Avenue.
Edmonds wrote and produced “Sittin’ Up in My Room,” which brought Brandy a best female R&B vocal performance Grammy nomination in 1997.
Rae has said she was inspired by Brandy’s 1996-2001 UPN comedy “Moesha.”
The ceremony came one day before the release of Brandy’s memoir “Phases.”
The star is the 2,839th since the completion of the Walk of Fame in 1961 with the initial 1,558 stars.
Brandy’s career
Born Brandy Rayana Norwood on Feb. 11, 1979, in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Carson, Brandy began singing when she was 2 years old. She released her self-titled debut album in 1994. It sold 6 million copies worldwide. Its U.S. sales of 2.1 million gave it four-time platinum status, according to the trade group, the Recording Industry Association of America.
Brandy received the first two of her 13 Grammy nominations in 1996 for best new artist, which was won by the rock band, Hootie & the Blowfish, and best female R&B vocal performance for “Baby.”
In addition to her nomination for “Sittin’ Up in My Room,” she was also nominated in 1997 for best pop collaboration with vocals for “Missing You,” when she was a late replacement for Mary J. Blige, in joining Tamia, Gladys Knight and Chaka Khan for “Missing You.”
Brandy won her lone Grammy in 1999 for best R&B performance by a duo or group with vocal when she teamed with Monica for “The Boy is Mine.”
The nomination was one of four for Brandy that year. She was also nominated for best R&B song and record of the year for “The Boy is Mine” and best R&B album for “Never Say Never,” her second album, which included “The Boy is Mine.”
“Never Say Never” sold 4.6 million copies in the U.S., achieving five-time platinum status.
Brandy was nominated for best female R&B vocal performance in 2000 for “Almost Doesn’t Count”; best contemporary R&B album in 2003 for “Full Moon” and in 2005 for “Afrodisiac.”
Her most recent Grammy nominations came in 2019 for best R&B performance for “Love Again” and in 2024 for best pop duo/group performance for a remix of “The Boy is Mine” with Ariana Grande and Monica.
Brandy received a Black Music Icon Award from the Recording Academy on Jan. 29. The award recognizes Black music creators “whose artistry, innovation and service have shaped the industry and inspired generations around the world,” according to the academy.
Brandy became the first African American to play the role of Cinderella in the 1997 ABC made-for-television movie. She reprised the role in the 2024 Disney+ musical teen fantasy comedy film “Descendants: The Rise of Red” and will return to the role in “Descendants: Wicked Wonderland,” set to premiere this summer on Disney Channel.
Her other acting credits include the 1998 slasher film “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer,” the BET comedy-drama “The Game,” the 2016 BET comedy “Zoe”; the Fox musical drama “Star”; and the 2021-22 ABC musical drama “Queens.”
The Walk of Fame ceremony
Dozens of fans lined up to attend Brandy’s Walk of Fame ceremony in Hollywood Monday, some with T-shirts and signs bearing the star’s name and image. NBC Los Angeles spoke with fans waiting in line; some had been there as early as 6 a.m.
When Rae took the stage to speak about Brandy’s cultural influence, she touched on Brandy’s music in the 1990s and her titular role on “Moesha,” a sitcom Rae said paved the way for so many other TV shows.
“The first time I saw Brandy, I had no idea how much I needed to see Brandy,” Rae said, recalling buying Brandy’s “I Wanna be Down” single with her own money in the fourth grade.
Rae called Brandy’s transition to acting a “game-changer.’
“It was really ‘Moesha’ that made me understand what was possible,” Rae explained. “It was the first show that I had ever seen told from an ordinary Black teenage girl’s point of view, set in LA, the same city I was born in and would move back to that same year it premiered.”
“Brandy made Moesha someone I wanted to befriend, the girl I wanted to be, at a time when beauty standards on television looked nothing like us,” Rae continued. “Brandy was the standard. The smile, the eyes, the braids, the way she carried herself; she was cool without trying and beautiful without apology.”
Babyface then took the podium, recalling the first time he met Brandy while he was touring with Boyz II Men. He remembered the first time he heard her sing.
“The voice that I heard — I didn’t know that so much soul and so much good feeling could come out of someone so young,” he said. “It’s like you had already been here before.”
He called Brandy’s voice “one of the best” he’s ever heard.
“There’s always heart with everything that you sing. You put your whole heart into it,” he added.
Finally, it was Brandy’s turn to take the podium.
“So, this really happened, huh?” Brandy said, smiling. “Wow. This is mind-blowing. Guys, I’m from McComb, Mississippi. Let that sink in.”
Brandy recalled how she moved to Hollywood in the seventh grade as a “little girl with a big dream.”
Seeing the stars on the Walk of Fame lit something in me. It made me believe. It made me affirm over my own life, ‘I’m gonna sing my way onto one of these stars.’ And I did.
Brandy
“Growing up in Hollywood made those dreams feel close enough to touch,” Brandy said. “Seeing the stars on the Walk of Fame lit something in me. It made me believe. It made me affirm over my own life, ‘I’m gonna sing my way onto one of these stars.’ And I did. That is what makes this moment so profound for me. So full circle. So sacred.”
Brandy said the Walk of Fame honor feels like “the definition of legacy” and “cements your story.”
“It is a symbol that says, ‘You didn’t just arrive, you endured,’’” she added. “‘You didn’t just dream, you became.'”
The singer thanked everyone who has supported her along the way.
