It's just been such a great honor to be a part of it. And they found a little hole in my contract and said, "Hey, we'd like you to come audition and it's The Lion King." And I remember seeing it and being like, "I don't know if this is going to work, I just don't know if this show is going to work." And here it is.
When I got that audition to go in, I was actually understudying Audra McDonald. And here's the deal, if I ever tell you that your show is not going to be a hit, it's going to be a big hit.
On being selected for Lion King while still at Northwestern and if she had any idea it become a phenomenon It's been a beautiful journey to be back here. I come back with a sense of awe for what we do here in New York. I think the Heather of 15 years ago - when you saw Aida - she talks to me every now and then and says, "Remember this? Remember these streets? Remember walking here? Remember how you felt?" So I come back with a sense of gratitude, incredible gratitude. It has been an extraordinary time an extraordinary process, coming back in to the show and coming back here to New York. On what it's like being back on Broadway after the "15-year intermission" Interview highlights contain web-only extended answers. Now that she's returned to theater, Headley recently joined us in our New York City bureau, where she told NPR's Michel Martin about how it feels to be back on Broadway and more. And in 2010, she won her first Grammy award for best contemporary R&B gospel album for Audience of One. Headley also featured heavily with classical singer Andrea Bocelli on his American and international tours, his Live in Tuscany PBS special and his Under the Desert Sky live concert DVD. Two songs, the single "He Is" and the album track "I Wish I Wasn't," both emerged as top five rhythm and blues and dance chart hits.
Her focus on music and away from Broadway reaped success on the pop charts with her 2002 debut album on RCA Records, This Is Who I Am, which featured productions by several top-flight producers including the team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, as well as Shep Crawford. They have two sons, John David, 6, and Jordan Chase, who turns 2 in August. Well, sort of - she took a break to focus on music and family.īut this summer, Headley is back on Broadway and wowing fans and critics anew in her role as nightclub singer Shug Avery in the revival of The Color Purple, where she replaced singer Jennifer Hudson.ĭuring what The New York Times describes as her "15-year intermission," Headley married fellow Northwestern alum Brian Musso, an investment adviser who played briefly for the New York Jets. In the U.S., Headley continued to hone her skills in the arts and on leaving Northwestern University made a splash on Broadway, first as Nala in the original Lion King in 1997, then as the title character in the Elton John and Tim Rice musical Aida, for which - at just 26 years old - she won a Tony for best actress. She moved with her family to the United States in the early '90s. Headley is a native of the twin-island republic Trinidad and Tobago in the South Caribbean, where she started singing and playing the piano in church at a very young age. One such example is singer and actress Heather Headley, who epitomizes this in ways few others do. After all, for many people, there are indeed second acts. Scott Fitzgerald quote that goes, "There are no second acts in American lives." Some may beg to disagree.