Naturi Naughton

Naturi Cora Maria Naughton (born May 20, 1984) is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, and actress. Naughton is formerly one-third of the R&B trio 3LW and is perhaps best known for her roles in Fame, Notorious, and The Playboy Club. Naughton was a series regular in season one of the Lifetime television drama series The Client List as Kendra. --- Naughton was born and raised in East Orange, New Jersey, the daughter of Brenda, a part-time paralegal, and Ezra Naughton, a retired accountant. Her musical talent first emerged at the age of five years old, when she joined her church choir at New Hope Baptist Church in East Orange, New Jersey. She attended St. Joseph's Catholic school, and later attended Immaculate Conception High School in Montclair, New Jersey. It was soon after that time, Naughton was discovered. She has sung the national anthem at various events in New Jersey and attended Seton Hall University. In 1999, at age 15, Naughton joined Adrienne Bailon and Kiely Williams to form the group 3LW. Their first single, "No More (Baby I'ma Do Right)", was released in the fall of 2000. "No More" was a success and was followed by the second single, "Playas Gon' Play" in early 2001. The group's debut album, 3LW, was released on December 5, 2000. The album went platinum, selling 1.3 million copies in the U.S. In the summer of 2001, the group went on the MTV TRL tour along with Destiny's Child, Dream, Nelly, Eve, and Jessica Simpson. By August 2002, the group was set to release its newest LP, A Girl Can Mack, when Naughton announced that she was no longer a member of the group. Naughton says that the other two girls and their management had forced her out. The problems reached a breaking point after a heated argument with Williams, Bailon, and their manager, which allegedly ended with Williams throwing a hot plate full of KFC food at Naughton. Epic Records then ended their relationship with both 3LW and Naughton. Despite Naughton's departure both Bailon and Williams resumed as a duo for a short amount of time and later Jessica Benson became Naughton's replacement. The group has since disbanded. Naughton recorded five tracks for the Fame soundtrack which was released on August 25, 2009. The following month Naughton scored her first solo chart entry ever with her cover of Fame peaking at No. 33 on the UK Singles Chart. The single also reached the Top 20 in Finland, Portugal and Norway. --- Throughout 2005 to 2008, Naughton starred in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Hairspray as Little Inez. In March 2008 Naughton was cast to portray Grammy Award-winning rap artist Lil' Kim in Notorious, a biopic film based on the late The Notorious B.I.G. The film was released in January 2009 to mixed reviews and went on to make over $43 million worldwide. Despite the mixed reviews, Naughton in particular received positive reviews from critics for her portrayal. The film marked Naughton's first and only role which required nudity and sexuality. Naughton was cast as Demise in the Lionsgate remake of the 1980 film of the same name Fame. Filming took place in both New York City and Los Angeles in November and December 2008. Naughton portrayed the role of Denise an aspiring singer. The film was released in September 2009 and opened No. 3 at the U.S. box office in its opening weekend despite negative reviews from critics. The film went on to make $77 million worldwide.