Erykah Badu

Erykah Badu Artistfacts

  • February 26, 1971
  • She has three children. Here's the breakdown:

    1997 - son Seven with Andre 3000 of Outkast
    2004 - daughter Puma with rapper The D.O.C.
    2009 - daughter Mars with rapper/producer Jay Electronica

    She describes her relationships with the fathers as "mini-marriages," telling Rolling Stone, "The only difference is I didn't go to Vegas to get married."
  • She is a certified doula who has assisted with the births of over 40 children. She keeps in touch with these children, who know her as their "dadoula." Badu is a proponent of natural childbirth, and had each of her own children at home.
  • Erykah Badu's mother, Kolleen Maria Gipson, was the inspiration for Outkast's iconic hit "Ms. Jackson." The lyrics are a message from Andre 3000 that he is not as bad a father as has been portrayed.
  • She started off as a rapper, performing on the Dallas radio station KNON when she was a teenager. Later, she was part of a rap trio where she performed under the name MC Apples.
  • Her birth name is Erica Wright (her mother is the stage actress Kolleen Wright).
  • In the early '90s, she formed a duo with her cousin, Robert "Free" Bradford, called Erykah Free. They got gigs opening for Method Man, Mobb Deep and A Tribe Called Quest; Mobb Deep's manager helped her get a record deal.
  • Her debut album, Baduizm, earned her international acclaim. In 1998 (the year after it was released), Badu won two Grammy Awards, two BRIT Awards and an American Music Award.
  • Badu taught herself how to play the guitar before college but ended up playing it wrong. "I just laid it on my lap like a harpsichord," she told Rolling Stone. "My hands were so little that I couldn't really get around, those hands got to be able to stretch on that neck, and I didn't have fingers for that, so I had to lay it on my lap and play it. I ended up playing both a guitar and a drum at the same time. I only knew about three chords, and I wrote about 12 songs."

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