Live reached #4 on the Billboard charts, selling double platinum, and spawned another R&B hit single in "Tyrone," a song chiding a selfish, cheap, and inattentive boyfriend. Badu recorded her first live album, Live, while pregnant with Seven, and the release of the recording coincided with the birth to her child. Their relationship ended sometime in the late 90s. Baduizm eventually went triple platinum and, along with "On & On," won Grammy Awards at the 1998 ceremonies.ĭuring that year, Badu became involved with rapper Andrae 3000 of OutKast, with whom she had a child, Seven, who was born in 1997. Her sophisticated style of singing drew many comparisons to Billie Holiday. Badu received notice for her introspective lyrics and jazzy, bass-heavy sound, and was hailed as one of the leading lights of the burgeoning neo soul genre.
Lead single "On & On" reached #12 on the singles charts in both the U.S. Working and touring with her cousin, Robert "Free" Bradford, she recorded a 19-song demo, Country Cousins, which attracted the attention of Kedar Massenburg, who set Badu up to record a duet with D'Angelo, "Your Precious Love," and eventually signed her to a record deal with Universal Records.īaduizm, Badu's highly acclaimed debut album, was released in early 1997 and debuted at #2 on the Billboard charts. She taught drama and dance to children at the South Dallas Cultural Center. Concentrating on music full-time, she left the university in 1993 before graduating and took on several minimum wage jobs to support herself. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Badu went on to study theater at the historically Black college Grambling State University. Additionally in a letter written to Erykah from her father, "Badu in Arabic means truth and light.good choice kid."
Badu is also an African name for the 10th born child used for the Ashanti people in Ghana. The term 'kah' signifies the inner self, which, when translated from Arabic, means 'can do no wrong'. In her early youth, she decided to change the spelling of her name from Erica to Erykah, as she firmly believed her original name to be her 'slave' name. By the age of 14, Erykah was free-styling for a local radio station alongside such talent as Roy Hargrove. Influenced by her mother, Erykah had her first taste of show business at the age of 4, singing and dancing with her mother at the Dallas Theatre Centre.
To provide for her family, the children's grandmother often helped in looking after them while Erykah's mother, Kollen Maria Gipson (Wright), performed as an actress in theatrical productions. Her mother raised her and her brother and sisters alone, since their father, William Wright, Jr., had left the family early in their lives. Erykah Badu was born Erica Abi Johnson in South Dallas, Texas, on February 26, 1971.