People: Erykah Badu

Erica Abi Wright better known by her stage name Erykah Badu is an American recording artist, record producer and actress. Her work includes elements from R &B hip hop and jazz. She is best known for her role in the rise of the neo soul sub-genre, and for her eccentric, cerebral musical stylings and sense of fashion. She is known as the “First Lady of Neo-Soul” or the “Queen of Neo-Soul”. Early in her career, Badu was recognizable for wearing very large and colourful head wraps. For her musical sensibilities, she has often been compared to jazz great Billie Holiday. She was a core member of the Soullquarians and is also an actress having appeared in a number of films. Erykah Badu was born in South Dallas, Texas on February 26, 1971. Her Nigerian mother raised her and her brother and sister alone; their father, William Wright, Jr., had deserted the family early in their lives. To provide for her family, the children’s grandmother often helped to look after them while Erykah’s mother, Kolleen Maria Gipson performed as an actress in theatrical productions. Influenced by her mother, Erykah had her first taste of show business at the age of 4, singing and dancing with her mother at the Dallas Theatre Centre. By the age of 14, Erykah was free-styling for a local radio station .In her early youth, she decided to change the spelling of her name from Erica to Erykah, as she firmly believed her original name to be her slave name. The term ‘kah’ signifies the inner self. Badu is her favourite jazz scat sound and is also an African name for the 10th born child used for the Akan people in Ghana. Upon graduation, Badu went on to study theatre. Concentrating on music full-time, she left the university in 1993 before graduating and took on several minimum wage jobs to support herself. In 1997, Badu became involved with rapper Andrea of Outcast with whom she had a child, Seven Badu is also an activist in her hometown of South Dallas. Her charity organization, Beautiful Love Incorporated Non Profit Development, provides community-driven development for inner-city youth through music, dance, theatre and visual arts. Ends