Brandy Norwood helped reinvent the sound of R&B when she was just 15: Her self-titled debut as Brandy came out in 1994. She also starred in the television show Moesha and won a Grammy for " ," her 1998 duet with singer Monica. Brandy's most impressive distinction? She can honestly say that the late, great was her fairy godmother.
That's the role Houston played opposite Brandy in a television adaptation of Cinderella. But it also represents the way Houston became an idol and mentor to the young singer — a story that stretches back to the night a prepubescent Brandy attended her first Whitney Houston concert and deserted her assigned seat to try to meet her hero.
"I was determined," Brandy says. "I promised every usher ... that I would remember them when I became famous, and that I would pay all their bills and take care of them if they just let me down to the next section. I talked my way all the way backstage — but by the time I got there, the concert was over and Whitney had left. So my whole world was destroyed."
Brandy's new est album is called Two Eleven — the date of both her own birth and Houston's death. She discusses it here with NPR's Scott Simon.
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.