Song:The Boy Is Mine
Album:Never Say Never
The Boy Is Mine topped the charts in 1998. Brandy Norwood and Monica Brown were successful individually. But this duet was the bigger than any of either's solo singles. Brandy was also a successful actress especially on the sitcom Moesha. She was born Feb. 11, 1979 the daughter of gospel singer Willie Norwood. Her brother is singer/actor Ray J. The family moved to Los Angeles in 1983. Brandy signed with Atlantic Records at age 14. She also appeared in the ABC sitcom Thea. It only lasted one season. But it led to the UPN sitcom Moesha which ran from 1996-2001. So she's trying to balance that with recording her 1994 album Brandy. That album was produced by 21 year old Keith Crouch and the R&B group Somethin' For The People who were unknown at the time. Crouch is the nephew of legendary gospel artist Andrae Crouch. I Wanna Be Down and Baby were both top ten hits. The album was certified 4XPlatinum. The single Sittin' Up In My Room from the 1996 film Waiting To Exhale reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. And Brandy starred in the 1997 TV production of the musical Cinderella with her idol Whitney Houston. She was hot at the time. She needed to record new music but she had what she called "sophomore album jitters". She kept delaying going to the recording studio. And then she didn't like the songs that were given to her. Atlantic hired David Foster as a consultant and he hired Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins. Jerkins had worked with Mary J. Blige among others. But he hadn't had a big hit yet as a producer. It was a big risk but Jerkins clicked with Brandy and the 1998 album Never Say Never was a huge success. Brandy came up with The Boy Is Mine while watching The Jerry Springer Show. They were inspired by The Girl Is Mine by Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney to turn the song into a duet. Brandy didn't know Monica but Arista owner Clive Davis agreed to loan her out. Apparently the two didn't get along in the studio. So Jerkins brought in TLC producer Dallas Austin to referee. He got a full production credit so he was a big factor in the song's success. And The Boy Is Mine topped the charts. Never Say Never was certified 5XPlatinum. The Boy Is Mine appeared on Brandy's album Never Say Never and Monica's album The Boy Is Mine. It does not appear on Monica's comp CD and Atlantic's Brandy comp is too expensive. Never Say Never is available as a budget CD. Brandy's single Have You Ever also topped the charts. Her music hasn't been as successful since then. After two more albums, Brandy left Atlantic in 2004. She has recorded for Epic and RCA. She is still acting and Brandy will be a regular on the Fox show Star in the upcoming season. She has also done a lot of reality TV. I doubt she can revive her music career to where it was in 1998. Here's the video for The Boy Is Mine by Brandy featuring Monica.
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