Erykah Badu

Erica Abi Wright, known professionally as Erykah Badu, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Born February 26, 1971, in Dallas Tx, Badu was influenced by R&B; NEO soul; hiphop;psychedelic soul; progressive soul. Badu became associated with the neo soul subgenre in the 1990's and 2000's. Her first album, Baduizm ,was released  in Febraury 1997. It spawned four singles : ''On and On'',  ''Apple Tree'',  ''Next Lifetime'', and ''Otherside of the Game.'' Badu voice has been compared to jazz singer Billie Holiday. Early in her career, Badu was recognize for her eccentric style, which often included wearing very large and colorful headwraps. Badu had her first taste of show business at the age of four , singing  and dancing at the Dallas Theater center and The Black Academy of Arts and Letters (TBAAL) under the guidance of her godmother , Gwen Hargrove, and uncle TBAAL founder Curtis King. By the age of 14, Badu was freestyling for local radio station alongside such talent as Roy Hargrove, an American Jazz Trumpeter. In her youth, she had decided to change the spelling of her name from Erica to Erykah, as she believed her original name was a ''slave name'' The term ''kah'' signifies the inner self. She adopted the surname ''Badu'' because it is her favorite Jazz scat sound; also among the Akan people in Ghana, it is the term for the 10th born child. After graduating from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and visual Arts, Badu went on to study theater at Gambling State University , a historically black University . During this time Badu took several minimum wage jobs to support herself. She taught drama and dance to children at the South Dallas Cultural Center. Thank you for your art, style, and grace.