Singer and Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kandi Burruss has transformed from a young
girl full of ambition into a grown woman with serious industry clout. So just how did she
get to where she is today? Keep watching to witness her stunning transformation.
As a child growing up outside of Atlanta, Georgia, Burruss didn't exactly come from a
family with a lot of money. But that didn't dampen her innate entrepreneurial spirit,
which she nurtured from an early age. In a 2018 interview with Money, she explained,
"I was a saver as a kid. That was my thing - I always wanted to make
sure I had something [stashed away], you know?"
That budget-savvy instinct would come to benefit her later in life.
Burruss also has fond memories of spending time with her mother while both of them imagined
what it would be like to be rich. They drove around wealthy neighborhoods with
large homes and wondered what life like that could be. As Burruss told Money,
"We’d ride around all the time and dream - like, 'Oh, one day we’re going to have
a house like that.' It’s really crazy to me now that I can afford any of those houses."
Sometimes dreams really do come true!
While Burruss' early childhood was pretty normal, things took a turn when she was a teenager.
Her family was struck by a sudden tragedy when her brother Patrick passed away.
Burruss had just turned 15 when Patrick got in a car accident in Mexico.
He was only 22 years old. Burruss was naturally devastated. But just because
her brother had passed on, that didn't stop her from continuing to talk to him
as often as possible. On an episode of Xscape Still Kickin' It, she reminisced,
"When I would say my prayers before I would go to bed, I would just ask God,
'Would you please allow me to talk to Patrick?' And sure enough, he would appear in my dreams."
Burruss would also pretend that Patrick was still at school instead of having passed away,
which helped her cope with the pain of her loss. As an adult, she often wonders
what her big brother would've been like had he lived, and if they would have worked together.
It's no stretch to say that Kandi Burruss was destined to become famous from an early age.
In fact, when she was still just a teenager, she became a founding member of the girl group Xscape,
which was quickly discovered by producer Jermaine Dupri. As she explained to Forbes in 2019,
"We started our group when I was in the ninth grade.
We got our record deal when I was in the 11th grade. Our first single dropped the
summer before my 12th-grade year and we immediately had a hit."
Thus began the adventure that would make Xscape one of the top R&B groups of all time,
with all three of their albums becoming platinum hits. Thanks to their success,
along with that of their peers like OutKast, Atlanta became a musical hub.
Despite Xscape's early success, tensions eventually flared within the group,
as the members' ambitions began to clash. That made Burruss quite concerned. As she told Forbes,
"One of the group members wanted to go solo. I felt like it was the end of the world."
Burruss had just purchased her first home and was facing bills to pay, even though she was
only 19. At that moment, the future was looking a little unpredictable. Fortunately with a lot
of talent and a little luck, she was able to calculate the next step that would be her best
option for future success. In fact, some of her greatest accomplishments were still to come.
Once Xscape was dissolved, Burruss and her fellow Xscape member Tameka "Tiny" Cottle
decided to go into business making demo songs for record labels. That was when their manager
introduced them to famed producer Kevin Briggs, and things really started falling into place.
He played them a track, and they asked if they could take it and re-write the song for it.
Thus was born the iconic 1999 feminist anthem "No Scrubs." Once the song was recorded, it found its
way into the hands of legendary record executive L.A. Reid. As Burruss explained to Forbes,
"I met him at a party and he told me that he was going to make this the biggest hit of my career.
I took for granted what he was saying. He was right, though. It ended up being
the biggest song of my career. It was a blessing. It just kind of fell into my lap."
"No Scrubs" went on to be recorded by TLC, one of the biggest girl groups of all time.
It spent four weeks at the top of Billboard's Hot 100, won Burruss a Grammy for Best R&B Song,
and has enjoyed a legacy as one of the most iconic songs of the 90s.
In 2002, Burruss celebrated another joyful first in her life, as she gave birth to her
daughter Riley. Unfortunately though, Riley's father, Russell Spencer, didn't take a very
active role in his daughter's life. As Burruss revealed in a 2016 interview with E! News,
"Riley's dad and I, we never co-parented. He never was involved. We would hear from him
for a little while. Then you wouldn't hear from him again for like a year."
"Then he'll call again. 'Oh, you know, how's she doing?'
And then you wouldn't hear from him again. So that has been the situation her whole life."
Burruss decided this wasn't a good situation for her daughter and quietly dealt with the
situation privately. Fortunately for Burruss, she eventually found love again. She was engaged
for a while to Ashley "A.J." Jewell, who took an active interest in Riley's life.
Sadly, though, he passed away in 2009 from an injury he sustained during
a fight in an Atlanta parking lot, which devastated Riley. As Burruss told Xappeal,
"She cried so hard when I told her he passed. He was the dad she didn't have,
because her father really isn't in her life, so for her it was like losing a dad."
You might be tempted to think that Kandi Burruss would only get one chance at fame and that she
peaked in the 90s. But that couldn't be further from the truth! Fame came calling once again when
she was selected to be one of the stars of the Bravo reality series Real Housewives of Atlanta,
which was a big surprise for her. In a 2019 interview with Variety, she confessed,
"When I first joined the Housewives ten years ago,
I did not know it was going to be as big of a deal as it was, and is, for me. I
definitely didn't think that it was going to be something that would take up years of my life."
In fact, Burruss was coming at it from a musician's perspective, unaware that she
was about to become a bona fide reality TV star. She thought she was just going to do the show
for a year. But instead, it turned out to be a completely life-changing experience. It also made
her very rich, thanks to a salary of $450,000 and all the increased visibility it gave her.
After many years and several heartbreaks, Burruss finally found true love with producer Todd Tucker.
They met in 2011, got engaged in 2013, and tied the knot the following year in Atlanta,
much to Burruss' delight. In an interview with In Touch, she gushed,
"This is one of the best days of my life! I never imagined that I would marry my best friend.
Todd’s been that to me. And to have just had the wedding of my dreams, it's all been so beautiful."
Burruss and Tucker spared no expense on their wedding day.
They reportedly forked over a whopping $400,000 for the event, which was designed as an homage
to the classic Eddie Murphy film Coming to America. Burruss wore a $20,000 Reco Chapple gown,
paired with crystal-studded stilettos designed by Christian Louboutin.
Even the cake was jewel-encrusted, with a price tag of $2,500. Talk about decadent!
Burruss has lately been busy running her businesses, raising a family,
and starring on a successful reality TV show.
But when the opportunity came along to once again go on tour with Xscape,
she couldn't say no. Doing so rekindled a flame that had dwindled. She told Variety,
"When Xscape came back together for a tour in 2017, and all of our shows were selling out,
it made me miss being on stage and producing music on a regular basis.
That's what I did for most of my life. And it was just as amazing, now, as it was when we first had
hits. I don’t know why I stopped that focus, but doing that tour made me re-focus on music."
With the energy of the stellar reunion freshly under her belt, Burruss decided
she needed to return to her musical roots. All she needed to do was figure out the next step.
In 2018, Burruss made the next big step in her career,
as she starred as Matron "Mama" Morton in the wildly popular Broadway musical Chicago,
which was a lifelong dream come true for her. She told Broadway.com,
"I have been wanting to do Broadway all my life, since I was in high school,
I always wanted to do it. For whatever reason, I didn't pursue it as hard as I should have."
"Now, the opportunity has come, and I'm so excited."
Interestingly enough, the way that Burruss was offered the role was a bit of a fluke.
She made an audition tape for a TV musical, choosing the Chicago number "When You're Good
to Mama" as her audition song. Her agent liked it so much that he passed it along to the Chicago
company, and they asked her to come in for an audition. Obviously she nailed it, and she then
wowed Chicago audiences for a three-month run in 2018 from January through March.
"I feel like I have a little oomph that you guys haven't seen yet, and I plan on giving it to you."
On January 6, 2016, Burruss and her husband Todd Tucker welcomed into the world their first
child together. A boy named Ace, he weighed seven pounds, six ounces after a safe and
successful delivery. That wasn't a certainty, as the pregnancy was considered high risk.
When Tucker and Burruss decided to have a second child together,
they made headlines for their decision to use a surrogate.
Initially, their choice wasn't met with much enthusiasm, both from family members and the
general public, as there was an assumption that Burruss was doing it for cosmetic purposes.
But she put that rumor to rest during an interview with Tamron Hall, as she declared,
"Come on, honey. I got money to get my body back together if I need to. It's not a vain decision!"
This pregnancy also had a happy ending, as little Blaze Tucker made her grand entrance
on November 22, 2019, arriving into the world weighing eight pounds, one ounce.
Before Kandi Burruss was a reality star, she was famous for her vocal stylings. But over the years,
she put music on the back burner, partly because she was chasing other pursuits and partly because
of what people were saying about her. In an interview with The Grio, she confessed,
"I kind of lost confidence in my voice because I'd be seeing people posting and tweeting 'Oh,
she can't sing. I hate her voice' and, you know, making jokes about me as far
as like my vocals or whatever. And so that stuff kind of plays into my head."
Despite all those doubts, an opportunity came knocking that Burruss couldn't refuse,
as she was invited to compete on the third American season of The Masked Singer in 2020.
She accepted, taking on the identity of "Night Angel." Not only did she crush it with all of
her performances, she beat out all the other disguised contestants to finish in first place!
"Oh my god! I'm so excited. I cannot stop smiling!"
Kandi Burruss has truly undergone a stunning transformation,
from a teenager with big dreams to a woman with an empire, and we're glad to have witnessed it!
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