Yahoo Finance Brandy To Star In ABC’s Hip-Hop Drama Pilot ‘Queens’
EXCLUSIVE: ABC’s Queens continues to assemble a killer lead cast. In her return to the network, Cinderella star Brandy has signed on as a co-lead opposite Eve and Naturi Naughton in the hourlong pilot from Zahir McGhee, Sabrina Wind and ABC Signature.
In Queens, written by McGhee, four estranged and out-of-touch women in their 40s — three of them played by Brandy, Naughton and Eve — reunite for a chance to recapture their fame and regain the swagger they had as the Nasty Bitches – their ’90s group that made them legends in the hip-hop world.
More from Deadline
Friday Ratings: The 'Shark Tank' Juggernaut Swims On To Top Evening's Demos
'The Wonder Years': Saycon Sengbloh To Star In ABC Reboot Pilot
Actress and Grammy-winning musician Brandy will play Naomi. Twenty years ago, Naomi was better known as Xplicit Lyrics — the highly skilled musical engine of the Nasty Bitches. A true artist with boundless musical talent — Naomi was certain she’d go on to mainstream success after the group’s demise. She hasn’t, singing and playing her guitar in crappy dive bars where all people want is her old persona. When the group gets back together, Naomi is reunited with the only man she ever loved, and the rival bandmate who stole that man from her. But what Naomi wants more than anything is to build a relationship with the daughter she was never really there for — if she only knew how.
2020-21 ABC Pilots & Series Orders
Like Eve, Brandy will record and perform original songs for the show as her character. McGhee and Wind executive produce.
Brandy, one of the biggest music and TV stars of the 1990s, is now reaching a new generation of young fans as ABC’s classic 1997 TV movie version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, in which Brandy starred with the late Whitney Houston, made a splashy debut on Disney+ last month.
On TV, Brandy Norwood headlined the popular 1996 sitcom Moesha, which ran for six seasons. Her acting credits also include the 1998 horror sequel, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer and BET comedy series The Game. She was also a judge on NBC’s America’s Got Talent. Brandy made her Broadway debut in the Tony Award-winning Chicago as Roxie Hart.
Brandy has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide (including the 5x-platinum selling Never Say Never) and is ranked one of the best-selling female artists in American music history by the RIAA, having sold over 11 million albums in the United States. She has won a Grammy, an AMA, two Soul Train Music Awards, two NAACP Image Awards, three Billboard Awards, four MTV Awards, six Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards, two Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, and three BMI Awards.
Recently, Brandy reunited with singer Monica in a Verzuz celebration of R&B, which garnered 6M views and 5B impressions on the virtual platform, making it the most-viewed Verzuz battle to date. She’s repped by CAA; Ryan Ramsey of Salxco and Sonja Norwood of Norwood & Norwood and Stephen Barnes of Morris Yorn Barnes.
Best of Deadline
Coronavirus: Movies That Have Halted Or Delayed Production Amid Outbreak
Hong Kong Filmart Postponed Due To Coronavirus Fears; Event Moves Two Weeks Before Toronto
Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
