Kandi Burruss

Kandi Burruss, born May 17, 1976, in College Park, Georgia, is a singer, songwriter, actress, television personality, and Broadway performer. The daughter of Reverend Titus Burruss Jr. and Joyce Jones, she grew up in the Atlanta area and attended Tri-Cities High School in East Point, Georgia, graduating in 1994. She had an older brother, Patrick Riley, born in 1968, who died in a car crash in 1991. Her first public appearance came at age 15 on the BET series Teen Summit.

Burruss rose to prominence in 1992 as a founding member of the R&B vocal group Xscape, which formed while she and LaTocha Scott's sister Tamika were students at Tri-Cities High School. The group eventually added Tameka "Tiny" Cottle and came to the attention of producer Jermaine Dupri, who signed them to So So Def Recordings. Xscape released their debut album, Hummin' Comin' at 'Cha, on October 12, 1993, which peaked at number seventeen on the Billboard 200 and number three on the Top R&B Albums chart, was certified platinum, and produced two top ten singles. Their second studio album, Off the Hook, followed in 1995 and also went platinum. The group's third and final studio album, Traces of My Lipstick, debuted at number twenty-eight on the Billboard 200 and sold over one million copies in the United States. After a series of hiatuses and regroupings, Xscape reunited in 2017 for the four-episode Bravo miniseries Xscape: Still Kickin' It, which premiered on November 5, 2017.

Following the initial disbanding of Xscape, Burruss concentrated on songwriting and production. In 1999, working alongside Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, she co-wrote three major hit songs: "No Scrubs" for TLC, "Bills, Bills, Bills" for Destiny's Child, and "There You Go," the debut single for Pink. "No Scrubs" was also co-written by her former groupmate Tameka "Tiny" Cottle. In 2000, Burruss won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for her work on "No Scrubs." That same year, she received the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Songwriter of the Year award in the Rhythm and Soul category, becoming the first African-American woman to win that honor. The 2017 Ed Sheeran single "Shape of You," one of the most commercially successful singles of all time, drew lyrical comparisons to "No Scrubs," resulting in Burruss, Cottle, and Briggs receiving co-writing credits on the track.

Burruss launched her solo recording career with the 2000 debut album Hey Kandi..., which produced the single "Don't Think I'm Not," reaching number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100. Her debut single, along with "4, 5, 6" by Solé and E-40's "U and Dat" featuring T-Pain, all reached the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. She released a second album, Kandi Koated, in December 2010, following a deal with Asylum Records, and also formed the duo Peach Candy with Atlanta rapper Rasheeda.

On television, Burruss joined the Bravo reality series The Real Housewives of Atlanta in its second season, which began airing in July 2009, replacing DeShawn Snow. She appeared in every subsequent season through the fifteenth, making her the series' longest-serving cast member and placing her among the longest-serving full-time cast members in the entire Real Housewives franchise. She has also appeared in six Real Housewives spinoff and companion series, beginning with The Kandi Factory in 2012 and continuing with Kandi's Wedding in 2014, Kandi's Ski Trip in 2015, Xscape: Still Kickin' It in 2017, and Kandi & the Gang in 2022. She additionally appeared as a guest in Kim Zolciak's 2012 wedding special Don't Be Tardy for the Wedding. Beyond the Real Housewives universe, Burruss held a recurring role as Roselyn Perry in the third season of the Showtime drama series The Chi, placed fifth on the second season of Celebrity Big Brother on CBS, and won the third season of the Fox competition series The Masked Singer, becoming the show's first female champion.

Burruss has maintained a parallel career on Broadway, with credits including the plays Julie and Chicago, spanning appearances from 1996 to 2022. Her production work on the 2022 Broadway staging of The Piano Lesson earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Revival of a Play. That production also received the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play in 2023.