Brandy

Coming from a musical family (her father ran a gospel choir and her cousin is rapper Snoop Dogg), Brandy was born in Mississippi but raised in California, where she first started singing in choirs at the age of six. She went on to become a back-up singer with boy-band Immature, which led to her own debut single I Wanna Be Down, a Number 1 in the US R&B charts in 1993. Brandy's emotional range helped her self-titled debut album sell over 4 million copies as she became one of America's hottest new stars; she also starred in the successful sit-com Moesha and was often compared to Janet Jackson. She collaborated with Lenny Kravitz, on the soundtrack music for the Batman Forever movie, and Rodney Jerkins on her second album Never Say Never. This went on to sell over 14 million and included the Number 1 hit The Boy Is Mine, a duet with Monica. Brandy managed to juggle her singing with acting roles in the movies I Still Know What You Did Last Summer and Cinderella and continued her success with the albums Full Moon (2002) and Afrodisiac (2004). However, her 2008 album Human did less well, but her extraordinary vocal range is still cited as a big influence on many singers.