Throwback: Happy Black History Month!/Happy Belated 47th Birthday, Brandy!

Today is the twelfth day of Black History Month. Because the current administration is racist, fascist and wants to deny the existence and histories of anyone that isn’t cis-het and white, there are some important things everyone should remember during this month — and every single month: 

• You can’t love Black artists and their work, and not see them as people 
• Black lives — and Black art matters 
• Black culture is American culture 

As we go through the month, I’m going to talk about a collection of Black artists. It’ll be fairly comprehensive and eclectic list — although it won’t be a complete list. So far I’ve talked about the following: 

• Big Boi, who celebrated his 51st birthday on February 1
•  Rick James, who was born 78 years ago on February 1
• Sudan Archives, one of the most talented and dynamic artists performing out there today
• The Temptations‘ second and longest tenured lead vocalist Dennis Edwards who was born 83 years ago on February 3 
• Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter, bassist and JOVM mainstay Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner
• Bobby Brown, who celebrated his 57th birthday on February 5 
• The legendary Bob Marley, who was born 81 years ago on February 6 
• Natalie Cole, the daughter of the legendary jazz singer and pianist Nat King Cole, who was born 76 years ago on February 6
• J. Dilla, who was born 52 years ago on February 7
• The pioneering Sister Rosetta Tharpe
• The uncompromising and trailblazing Tracy Chapman
• The legendary Roberta Flack, who was born 89 years ago on February 10
• D’Angelo, who was born 52 years ago on February
• Bad Brains‘ founder and frontman H.R., who celebrated his 70th birthday on February 11

Acclaimed singer/songwriter, pop star and actor Brandy Norwood, better known as Brandy celebrated her 47th birthday yesterday. Norwood has sold over 40 million records globally, with a little under 9 million albums sold domestically. 1993’s self-titled debut sold o ver 6 million records alone. Her 1998 debut with Monica, “The Boy is Mine,” was the song of the summer and was one of the best-selling female duets ever — and earned her a Grammy.

Her sophomore album, 1998’s Never Say Never sold over 16 million copies globally. But for those of y’all, who forgot about that, you may know of her for her acting roles, including the UPN sitcom Moesha, 1997’s television film Cinderella, 1998’s I Know What You Did Last Summer, and BET‘s The Game. And she had a stint on Broadway. 

Happy belated birthday, Brandy!

Before I forget, I had the privilege of seeing her at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade a couple of years ago, and she’s just as gorgeous as I remembered her all of those years ago.

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