Brenda Edwards

Brenda Claudina Susan Edwards (née Artman; born 2 March 1969)[1] is an English singer, actress, television personality and presenter. In 2005, she finished in fourth place in the second series of The X Factor. As of 2019, she is a weekly panellist on Loose Women. In January 2021, she became a presenter on the BBC One programme Songs of Praise.[2]

Brenda Edwards
Born
Brenda Claudina Susan Artman

(1969-03-02) 2 March 1969
Luton, Bedfordshire, England
Occupations
  • Singer
  • actress
  • television personality
Television
Children2, including Jamal
Musical career
Genres
Years active1990s–present
Websitebrendaedwardsglobal.com

Early life

Brenda Claudina Susan Artman was born in Luton, Bedfordshire, to an Afro-Caribbean family. Edwards and her older brother Rodney were raised by relatives following the death of their parents in a car crash on 22 December 1974. Her grandmother, who was a member of the local Pentecostal church, encouraged her granddaughter to attend when she was eight, and Edwards soon discovered a love of music and singing, which led to joining Sunday school junior choir, and soon became the choir mistress, as well as a member of the Pentecostal Collective Church of God in Christ (COGIC) mass choir.[3]

Edwards eventually made the move from gospel to secular music, and at 18 she sang at local night clubs, weddings, funerals and bar mitzvahs. Prior to finding a successful entertainment career, Edwards worked full-time in accounts.[3]

The X Factor

Edwards appeared in the second series of The X Factor in 2005. She was in the Over-25s category alongside Andy Abraham, Chico Slimani and Maria Lawson, and mentored by Sharon Osbourne. The first live show saw Edwards singing "Son of a Preacher Man". This was followed by performances of "Rescue Me" and "Midnight Train to Georgia". Performances of "I'm Outta Love" and "I'll Never Love This Way Again" won her a place in the semi-final, where she was voted out after her renditions of "Respect" and "Without You" with just 23 votes separating her and the act in third place.

Music career

1990s

Having provided vocals for a number of unsigned and small label recordings, Edwards then found some success on the 1996 track "Wiggly World Part Two" by Junior Jack (as Mr. Jack).[3]

2007–09: Musicals

After The X Factor, Edwards was chosen to play the role of Mama Morton in the hit West End musical Chicago, and her run in the show continued until March 2007.[4] She was invited back to play Mama Morton over the Christmas period 2007–08, between 10 December 2007 and 26 January 2008. She returned to play Mama Morton once again in November 2008, continuing in the role into early 2009.

In 2007, Edwards was cast as Pearl – a role created specifically for her – in a West End production of Carmen Jones at the Royal Festival Hall, from 25 July until 2 September 2007.[5] That same year, she won the Favourite Reality Star award at the 2007 Screen Nation awards.[6] In 2009, Edwards toured the UK in the Queen musical We Will Rock You as Killer Queen.[7]

On 21 June 2010 she started her role as Killer Queen in the West End production of We Will Rock You replacing Mazz Murray, who was on maternity leave. Edwards took two weeks off to appear in another West End musical, and then returned.

2010–present

In 2010 Edwards announced she would release her debut album in 2011. The first single from the album is titled "You Know How To Love Me", taken from the musical When Midnight Strikes by Charles Miller and Kevin Hammonds. It received its radio premiere on BBC Radio 2 and was released on 15 November 2010.

In 2012 Edwards appeared as blues singer Bessie Smith in a workshop of a musical about her life.

Edwards played Mrs Johnson in The Wright Way, a sitcom on BBC1.

In summer 2014 she played a commentator only seen as a giant pair of lips in the Alan Carr interactive gameshow The Singer Takes It All.[8]

In 2015/16 Edwards toured the UK and Ireland in the musical Hairspray, playing Motormouth Maybelle. In 2017 she returned to tour the UK and Ireland again with Hairspray, reprising her role as Motormouth Maybelle.

In February and March 2019, Edwards was a guest panellist on ITV's Loose Women. She was then brought in as a regular panelist to fill in for Linda Robson. Linda returned in early 2020 and Edwards has since stayed on making weekly appearances.

In July 2019 it was announced that Edwards would be playing the lead role of Delores Van Cartier in the forthcoming UK tour and West End revival of Sister Act: The Musical, with Whoopi Goldberg confirming that the part was being revised specifically to allow Brenda to play the role after being rejected from the original UK casting for being "too old". (The original versions had Delores as a 23-year-old, contrary to the older character portrayed in the movie from which the musical was based.)

Personal life

Edwards had two children, Jamal (1990–2022) and Tanisha, from a previous relationship. Jamal was the creator of SB.TV and owned Just Jam, a subsidiary Sony record label, until his death in 2022. She told Coleen Nolan that he died holding her hand.[9] In 2011, Edwards and Jamal featured in an advert for Google Chrome.[7]

Edwards has had stage III breast cancer,[10] and survived domestic violence at the hands of a former partner.[11]

References
  1. @brendaedwards (2 March 2013). "Happy Birthday to me!!!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. "Brenda Edwards joins BBC One's Songs Of Praise". BBC Media Centre. Undated. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  3. "PEOPLE: Bubbly Brenda is X-Factor favourite". Luton Today. 26 October 2005.
  4. "Brenda Edwards on the X Factor (Series 2)". Xfactorwatch.co.uk. 20 February 2008.
  5. "20 Questions With ... Brenda Edwards", WhatsOnStage, 13 August 2007.
  6. Principals – "Killer Queen" Brenda Edwards, We Will Rock You UK Tour. Archived 26 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. Brenda Edwards and Johnathan Wilkes Archived 5 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine OK Magazine.
  8. "'The Singer Takes It All' (Channel 4) Review". UKTVReviewer. 2 August 2014.
  9. "Brenda Edwards says she was holding son Jamal's hand when he died". ITV News. 25 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  10. "Brenda Edwards: "I'm cancer free!"". ITV News. 26 August 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  11. Yeates, Cydney (25 January 2021). "Police are called as Loose Women's Brenda Edwards shares domestic abuse ordeal". Metro. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
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