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About
Singer known for her interpretations of African American music. She performed in the 2005 film Hustle & Flow. She portrayed a church choir lead singer and performed one of her own rearranged songs "Change Muh Name." She has been a featured soloist for orchestras including the Nashville Symphony, the Colorado Symphony and the Waterbury Symphony.
Before Fame
She started to sing in eighth grade and played the piano since age four. She is a graduate of the University of Colorado and the Cornish Institute of Music in Seattle.
Trivia
In 1998, she portrayed Serena and Bess in the San Francisco Symphony's presentation of Porgy and Bess in New York. A year later, she performed with the Memphis Symphony during celebrations of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. She sang African American spirituals, including "Oh, What a Beautiful City" and "Wade in the Water," with the Philharmonic Baroque Orchestra. She performed in China, Russia, Egypt, Japan and Germany.
Family Life
She was born in San Francisco and raised in the East Bay. She had four children but lost two children to illness.
Associated With
Her costars in Hustle and Flow included Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard.
