Heather Headley extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia

Heather Headley
Born	October 5, 1974 (1974-10-05) (age 33) Barataria, Trinidad and Tobago
Genre(s)	R&B, soul
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, record producer, actress
Voice type(s)	Mezzo-soprano
Years active	1997–present
Label(s)	RCA
Website	www.heatherheadley.com

Heather Headley (born October 5, 1974) is a Trinidadian R&B and soul singer, songwriter, record producers, and actress. She has won one Tony Award and received two Grammy Award nominations.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Career 2.1 Musical 3 Discography 3.1 Albums 3.2 Singles 4 Other 5 Awards 5.1 Acting 5.2 Music 6 External links

Biography

At age four, Headley began playing the music of her native Trinidad, including calypso, reggae, and soca.^{citation needed} In 1989 she moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana in the United States at the age of fifteen with her mom Hannah and brother Junior, when her father was offered a job as pastor of McKee Street Church of God (Anderson).

After graduating from Northrop High School, Headley attended Northwestern University to study communications and musical theatre until the last day of her junior year, when she made the difficult decision to become a part of the musical Ragtime and drop out of school.

On 6 September 2003^{citation needed}, Headley married Brian Musso, formerly of the New York Jets.

Career

In 1997, she played Nala in The Lion King, the Broadway musical. Headley's performance was well-received and she then originated the title role in the Broadway adaptation of Aida, earning the Tony Award for Best Actress in 2000. She also starred in a concert version of the musical Dreamgirls alongside Audra McDonald.

In the autumn of 2006, Heather sang a rendition of "I'll Never Fall In Love Again", from the musical Promises, Promises. The song was written by Hal David & Burt Bacharach for the play by Neil Simon (1968). The occasion for her performance was "The Kennedy Center Presents: The 2006 Mark Twain Prize", honoring playwright Neil Simon, and was televised on PBS.

Musical

Headley released her debut album, This Is Who I Am, in October 2002 on RCA Records. Although its first single, "He Is", was not very successful, the second single, "I Wish I Wasn't", achieved moderate success. Headley earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and for Best New Artist.

Her second album, In My Mind, was delayed due to the various executive shake-ups associated with RCA parent BMG's merger with Sony. Headley joked that it should have been called Caught Up instead^{citation needed}.

Under BMG North America chairman/CEO Clive Davis for the first time, Headley released her second album In My Mind in January 2006. The title track "In My Mind" ( produced by India.Arie collaborator Shannon Sanders ) was released as the first single; and its music video was directed by Diane Martel. The song reached number-one on the U.S. Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. The second single "Me Time" was released to Urban AC outlets only. An album track, "Am I Worth It", served to promote Headley's New March of Dimes Educational Campaign "I Want My 9 Months".

Discography

Albums

Year	Album	US	US R&B
2002	This Is Who I Am (Certified: Gold)	#38	#14
2006	In My Mind (Certified: Gold)	#5	#1

She also appears on The Lion King Original Broadway Cast Recording CD (released in 1997), most notably singing lead on the track "Shadowland", and on the recordings for Aida. She was called again to another project related to The Lion King; Headley performed the single version of the song "Love Will Find a Way" with Kenny Lattimore for the sequel The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride in 1998.

She has a brief appearance in the 2002 film Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights as a singer of the Rosa Negra. Also, she performs one of the movie's songs, "Represent Cuba".

Singles

Year	Song	US Hot 100	US R&B	US Dance	Album
2003	"He Is"	90	38	4	This Is Who I Am
2003	"I Wish I Wasn't"	55	15	5	This Is Who I Am
2005	"In My Mind"	75	16	1	In My Mind
2006	"Me Time"	-	35	-	In My Mind

Other

Name of the Song	Year	Album
Shadow Land	1998	The Lion King on Broadway Soundtrack
I Just Can't Wait To Be King	1994	The Lion King

Awards

Acting

Year	Category	Role	Result
Tony Awards
2000	Best Actress in a Musical	Aida	Won
Sarah Siddons Award
2000	Sarah Siddons Award	Work in Chicago theatre	Won

Music

Year	Category	Recording	Result
Grammy Awards
2003	Best New Artist	N/A	Nominated
2003	Best Female R&B Vocal Performance	"I Wish I Wasn't"	Nominated
Billboard Music Awards
2003	R&B/Hip-Hop New Artist of the Year	N/A	Nominated
NAACP Image Awards
2003	Outstanding New Artist	N/A	Nominated
2003	Outstanding Female Artist	N/A	Nominated
Soul Train Awards
2002	Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist	"He Is"	Nominated
Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards
2003	R&B/Soul Album of the Year - Solo	"This Is Who I Am"	Won
2003	Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist - Solo	"He Is"	Won
2003	Best R&B/Soul Single - Solo	"He Is"	Nominated
BET J
2006	Cool Like That Award	N/A	Nominated

Awards
Preceded by Bernadette Peters for Annie Get Your Gun	Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical 2000 for Aida	Succeeded by Christine Ebersole for 42nd Street

External links

• Official website
• Heather Headley at the Internet Movie Database