Brandy Rayana Norwood was born on 11 February 1979, in McComb, Mississippi, the daughter of Willie Norwood, a gospel singer and choir director, and she started singing through her father's work as part of the local church choir. In 1983 her parents relocated to Carson, California, and her interest in music and performing increased after becoming a fan of singer Whitney Houston at the age of seven, entering talent shows by the time she was eleven, and performing at several public functions as part of a youth singing group. In 1990 she signed with Teaspoon Productions, and in 1993 her parents organized a recording contract with the Atlantic Recording Corporation after auditioning for Darryl Williams, after which her mother resigned from her job to become her manager , while Norwood herself dropped out of Hollywood High School, and was tutored privately from tenth grade on. During the early production stages of her debut album, she landed the role of the daughter of comedian Thea Vidale in the short-lived ABC sitcom 'Thea', later commenting that she was not sorry the show only lasted one season as the taping caused scheduling conflicts with the recording of her album. The self-titled debut album was released in September 1994 and peaked at number twenty on the U.S. Billboard 200, receiving positive critical reaction comparing her to Janet Jackson and Mary J. Blige. 'Brandy' went on to sell over six million copies worldwide, producing three top ten hit singles and earning her two Grammy Award nominations for Best New Artist and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance the following year. In 1996 she was offered her own sitcom 'Moesha', appearing alongside William Allen Young and Sheryl Lee Ralph, playing the title role of Moesha Mitchell, a Los Angeles girl coping with a stepmother as well as the pressures and demands of becoming an adult.
Originally bought by CBS, the program debuted on UPN in January 1996, and soon became their most-watched show, lasting six seasons on air, and gaining Norwood an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Youth Actor/Actress for her performance. In 1997 she was hand-picked by producer Whitney Houston to play the title character in Rodgers and Hammerstein's television version of Cinderella, with the two-hour 'Wonderful World of Disney' special garnered an estimated 60 million viewers. For her second album 'Never Say Never' she co-wrote and produced six songs, including her first number-one song on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 with 'The Boy Is Mine', a duet with singer Monica that has become the most successful song by a female duo in the music industry, and when it was released in June 1998 it became her biggest-selling album, selling over 16 million copies worldwide and reaching number two on the Billboard 200, and spawning seven singles, including her second number-one song 'Have You Ever?'. In 1996 she made her big screen debut in the slasher film 'I Still Know What You Did Last Summer', and in 1999 she co-starred with Diana Ross in the telefilm drama 'Double Platinum', as well as headlining VH-1's 'Divas Live '99', alongside Whitney Houston, Tina Turner, and Cher. After a lengthy hiatus following the end of 'Moesha', she returned to music in 2001, when she and brother Ray-J were asked to record a cover version of Phil Collins' 1990 hit 'Another Day In Paradise' for the tribute album 'Urban Renewal: A Tribute to Phil Collins', and when it was released as the album's first single it became an instant international success overseas, scoring top-ten entries on the majority of the charts it appeared on.
Her third album 'Full Moon' was released in February 2002, being composed of R&B and pop-oriented songs, and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, but media reception was generally lukewarm, and so she joined up with Robert "Big Bert" Smith and began writing and producing for other artists such as Toni Braxton, Kelly Rowland, and Kiley Dean, and she also began her foray into reality television with the MTV series 'Diary Presents Brandy: Special Delivery', which documented the final months of her pregnancy and the birth of her daughter Sy'rai. Returning from yet another hiatus, her fourth album 'Afrodisiac' was released in June 2004 to some critical acclaim, but was only a moderate seller, and so after eleven years with the company, Norwood asked for and received an unconditional release from Atlantic Records at the end of 2004, with the label releasing a compilation entitled 'The Best of Brandy' as their final album from her. In June 2006 she was cast as one of three talent judges on the first season of 'America's Got Talent', and the show was one of the most-watched programs of the summer, and concluded on 17 August 2006. She was originally slated to return for a second season in summer 2007, but eventually decided not to, and she was replaced by reality TV star Sharon Osbourne. Her fifth studio album 'Human' was released in December 2008, and marked her debut on Epic Records, and although well received by critics, it failed to match the success of its predecessors. While lead-off single 'Right Here (Departed)' was her biggest chart success since 2002's 'Full Moon', the album failed to impact elsewhere, resulting in lackluster sales in general and the end of her contract with the label. That brings us to this album, which is made up of out-takes from the 'Human' album, and despite the parent album not living up to the reputation of her earlier work, even off-cuts from one of her less successful records make a very listenable album.
Track listing
01 After the Flood
02 Drumlife
03 Freedom
04 Bring it Back
05 One Thing
06 List
07 Back & Forth
08 Keyed
09 Gonna Find My Love
10 Locket (Locked In Love)
11 Right Here
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