Queen Latifah Biography

Summary

"Dana Elaine Owens" (born March 18, 1970), better known by the stage name "Queen Latifah", is an American rapper, singer, and actress. Latifah's work in music, film and television has earned her a Grammy Award and five additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy Award nomination and an Academy Award nomination.

Biography

Early life

Latifah was born in Newark, New Jersey, the daughter of Rita, a schoolteacher who worked at Irvington High School, and Lancelot Owens, a policeman. Her parents divorced when Latifah was ten. Latifah performed the number 'Home' from the musical "The Wiz" in a high school play. Her stage name, "Latifah" (?????), meaning 'nice' in Arabic, was given to her when she was eight by her cousin. Latifah was raised in the Baptist religion, and, while in high school, was a power forward on her basketball team.

Music career

Latifah started her career beatboxing for the rap group "Ladies Fresh". Latifah was one of the members of the original version of the Flavor Unit, which, at that time, was a crew of emcees grouped around producer DJ Mark the 45 King. In 1988, DJ Mark the 45 King heard a demo version of Latifah's single 'Princess of the Posse' and gave the demo to Fab Five Freddy, who was the host of "Yo! MTV Raps". Freddy helped Latifah sign with Tommy Boy Records, which released Latifah's first album "All Hail the Queen" in 1989, when she was nineteen. That year, she appeared as Referee on the UK label Music of Life album '1989-The Hustlers Convention (live)'. Her debut managed to be both a critical and a commercial success and was followed by the albums "Nature of a Sista" and "Black Reign", which contained the Grammy Award winning hit single, "U.N.I.T.Y." In 1998, she released her fourth hip-hop album "Order in the Court". In 2004, she released the soul/jazz standards "The Dana Owens Album".

On July 11, 2007, Latifah made her singing debut at the famed Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles as the headliner act in a live jazz concert. Before an enthusiastic crowd of more than 12,400, she was backed by a 10-piece live orchestra and three backup vocalists, aka "The Queen Latifah Orchestra". In the concert, Latifah performed new arrangements of standards including "California Dreaming", first made popular by '60s icons The Mama's and The Papa's.

In 2007, Latifah released an album entitled "Trav'lin' Light". Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Joe Sample, George Duke, Christian McBride, Stevie Wonder made guest appearances on the project.

Acting career

From 1993 to 1998, Latifah had a starring role on "Living Single", a FOX sitcom; she also wrote and performed its theme music. She began her film career in a supporting role in the 1991 films "House Party 2", "Juice", and "Jungle Fever".

Latifah first attracted notice for her role portraying a lesbian in the 1996 box-office hit, "Set It Off" and subsequently had a supporting role in the Holly Hunter film "Living Out Loud" (1998). She played the role of Thelma in the 1999 movie adaptation of Jeffrey Deavers' "The Bone Collector", alongside Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. Although she had already received some critical acclaim, she gained mainstream success after being cast as Matron 'Mama' Morton in the Oscar-winning musical "Chicago", the recipient of the Best Picture Oscar. Latifah received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her role, but lost to co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones. In 2003, she starred with Steve Martin in the film "Bringing Down the House", which was a major success at the box office. Since then, she has had both leading and supporting roles in a multitude of films that received varied critical and box office receptions, including "Scary Movie 3", "Barbershop 2: Back in Business", "Taxi", "Kung Faux", and "Beauty Shop".

In early 2006, Latifah appeared in a romantic comedy/drama entitled "Last Holiday". Film critic Richard Roeper stated that 'this is the Queen Latifah performance I've been waiting for ever since she broke into movies'. Also in 2006, Latifah voiced Ellie, a friendly mammoth, in the animated film, "Ice Age 2: The Meltdown" (her first voice appearance in an animated film), and also appeared in the drama "Stranger Than Fiction".

She has starred in two movie remakes ("Taxi" and "Last Holiday"), four sequels ("House Party 2", "Scary Movie 3", "Barbershop 2: Back in Business" and "Ice Age 2: The Meltdown"), 1 Spinoff ("Beauty Shop"), 1 movie based on a book ("The Bone Collector"), and 2-screen adaptations of musicals ("Chicago") and ("Hairspray"). In regards to the difference between rap and musicals, Queen admits that she grew up watching musicals and singing in that style. 'What the hell was I going to do,' she revealed to CraveOnline, 'it wasn't like I was going to perform much of that... but now it's all paying off because here come the musicals again and I get a chance to have some fun with a lot of these songs'.

The summer of 2007 has brought Latifah triple success in the big-screen version of the Broadway smash hit "Hairspray", in which she acts, sings, and dances. The film has rated highly with critics and stars, among others, John Travolta and Christopher Walken. Also in 2007, she received an Emmy nomination for her work on the TV movie " Life Support".

Latifah produced the upcoming film "The Perfect Holiday" penned by Marc Calixte and Lance Rivera in Westfield, NJ. Along with producing the film Latifah stars alongside Terrence Howard, Morris Chestnut, Gabrielle Union, Charles Q. Murphy, Jill Marie Jones, and Faizon Love in the movie.

Other work

Latifah is a celebrity spokesperson for Cover Girl cosmetics, Curvation ladies underwear, and Pizza Hut. She has developed her own line of cosmetics for women of color called the (Covergirl Queen Collection) and has starred in several commercials for the line, as well as a commercial with fellow spokeswoman and singer Faith Hill. She had her own talk show, "The Queen Latifah Show", from 1999 to 2001.

Latifah is one of two hip-hop artists to receive an Academy Award nomination in an acting category (Best Supporting Actress, "Chicago", 2002). The other is Will Smith (Best Actor, "Ali", 2001, and Best Actor, "The Pursuit of Happyness", 2007).

Personal life

Latifah's older brother Lancelot was killed in 1992 in an accident involving a motorcycle that Latifah had recently bought him. Latifah still wears the key to the motorcycle around her neck, which can be seen throughout her performance in her sitcom "Living Single". She also dedicated "Black Reign" to him. In 1993, Latifah was the victim of a carjacking, which also resulted in the shooting of a friend. In 1996, she was arrested for possession of a small amount of marijuana and a fully loaded hand gun, resulting in a fine and two years' probation.

In her 1999 autobiography, "Ladies First: Revelations of a Strong Woman", Latifah discussed how her brother's death led to a bout of depression and drug abuse, from which she later recovered.

Because of her portrayal of a lesbian in "Set It Off" and her avoidance of discussing her romantic life, tabloid media have at times speculated on her sexual orientation. Latifah responded to these rumors in her autobiography by saying: 'It's insulting when someone asks, 'Are you gay?' A woman cannot be strong, outspoken, competent at running her own business, handle herself physically, play a very convincing role in a movie, know what she wants—and go for it—without being gay? Come on.'

In early 2003, Latifah had breast reduction surgery to relieve back pain. She also works out with a trainer and kickboxes.

Awards

Also try List of Queen Latifah's awards and nominations

Guest appearances

Andrea Martin - The Best Of Me

Big Bub - Need Your Love w/Heavy D

Black Sheep - Roll Wit The Flava (Remix) w/Treach, Kid Capri, Heavy D, D-Nice, Chip-Fu & Freddie Foxxx

Brandy - I Wanna Be Down (Remix) w/MC Lyte & Yo-Yo

Chaka Khan - Pop My Clutch

Channel Live - Temptations w/Black Rob

Coldcut - Find A Way

David Bowie - Fame 90 (Remix)

De La Soul - Buddy w/Q-Tip, Jungle Brothers & Monie Love

Erykah Badu - Love Of My Life Worldwdie w/Bahamadia & Angie Stone

Freddie Foxxx - So Tough

Jungle Brothers - Doin Our Own Dang w/A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul & Monie Love

Living Colour - Under Cover Of Darkness

Luther Vandross - Hit It Again

Meredith Brooks - Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)

Monifah - Fallin In Love

Naughty By Nature - Red Light

Naughty By Nature - Sleepin On Jersey

Naughty By Nature - Wickedest Man Alive

Organized Noize - Set It Off w/ Andrea Martin

Pat Benatar - Love Is A Battlefield (Remix)

Quincy Jones - Cool Joe, Mean Joe (Killer Joe) w/Tone Loc & Nancy Wilson

Salt N Pepa - Friends w/Mad Lion

Shabba Ranks - What 'Cha Gonna Do?

Sly & Robbie - Woman For The Job

Take 6 - Harmony

The 45 King - Flavor Unit Assassination Squad w/Lakim Shabazz, Apache, Double J & Lord Alibaski

Various - Freedom (Theme From Panther) w/TLC, Aaliyah, Zhane, SWV, MC Lyte, Mary J Blige, En Vogue, Salt N Pepa, Billy Lawrence, N'Dea Davenport, and more

Various - What's Going On (The Neptunes This Ones For You Mix) w/Mobb Deep, LL Cool J, Fabolous, Da Brat, N.O.R.E., Royce Da 5'9', Angie Martinez & Sonja Blade

Zhane - Request Line (Remix)