Erykah Badu

Known as the Queen of Neo-Soul, Erica Abi Wright, known professionally as Erykah Badu was born on Feb. 26, 1971 in Dallas, TX. Badu is known for her music’s mix of modern soul, R&B, hip-hop, pop, African music, and more. 

Badu was raised by her mother, godmother, and two grandmothers alongside her siblings Eevin and Nayrok, and was exposed to the arts since she was young as her mother and godmother both acted at the local theater. By seven years old, Badu had learned to play the piano and at 14 years old was freestyle rapping on a local radio station. 

Badu attended Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, studying theater and dance. While in school, Badu changed the spelling of her name from Erica to Erykah, with the “kah” meaning inner light in Egpytian as she wanted to shed her “slave name”, and then she changed Wright to Badu, which means “manifest light and truth” in Arabic. 

Badu then went on to attend Grambling State University starting in 1989, and she rapped over beats made by her cousin Robert “Free” Bradford, who studied music production in Chicago, Illinois. Her singing career began when Bradford’s production inspired her to sing instead of rap, and the two worked together as Erykah Free until Badu got an solo artist offer from a Universal Records division called Kedar Entertainment. 

In 1997, Badu had her first child, Seven. Seven years later, Badu had her second child, Puma Sabati, and then had her third child Mars Merkaba in 2009.

In the same year as Badu’s first child was born, she put out “On & On”, her first single and debut album in 1997. The single topped the Billboard’s R&B chart, and her album Baduizm rose to #2 on the pop album charts and went triple platinum. Both “On & On” and the album won Grammy awards, with the song also winning a Soul Train Music Award and the album earning an American Music Award, two NAACP awards, and three Soul Train awards. She has also acted in multiple films, such as The Cider House Rules in 1999 and House of D in 2004. Additionally, Badu is a certified doula, third degree Reiki master, and a certified holistic health practitioner. 

Badu’s music can be streamed on Apple Music, Spotify, Youtube, Tidal, and Pandora.