Erykah Badu

 

She grew up listening to '70s soul and '80s hip-hop, but Erykah Badu drew
more comparisons to Billie Holiday upon her breakout in 1997, after the release
of her first album, Baduizm. The grooves and production on the album are bass-
heavy R&B, but Badu's langurous, occasionally tortured vocals and delicate
phrasing immediately removed her from the legion of cookie-cutter female R&B
singers. A singer/songwriter responsible for all but one of the songs on Baduizm,
she found a number 12 hit with her first single "On & On," which pushed the
album to number two on the charts.
Born Erykah Wright in Dallas in 1972, Badu attended a school of the arts and
was working as a teacher and part-time singer in her hometown when she
opened for D'Angelo at a 1994 show. D'Angelo's manager, Kedar Massenburg,
was impressed with the performance and hooked her up with the singer to record
a cover of the Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell duet "Precious Love." He also signed
Badu to his recently formed Kedar Entertainment label, and served as producer
for Baduizm, which also starred bassist Ron Carter and members of hip-hop
avatars the Roots on several tracks. The first single, "On & On," became a
number one R&B hit in early 1997, and Baduizm followed it to the top of the
R&B album charts by March. Opening for R&B acts as well as rap's Wu-Tang
Clan, Erykah Badu stopped just short of number one on the pop album charts
in April. Her Live album followed later in the year. In 2000 she returned with
her highly anticipated second studio album, Mama's Gun, which was co-produced
by Badu, James Poyser, Bilal and Jay Dee and contained the hit single, "Bag Lady".

 

Year of release Album title
1997 Baduizm
1997 Live
2000 Mama's Gun