Queen Latifah Tickets

About Queen Latifah

She started her career beat boxing for rap group Ladies Fresh. Local DJ Mark the 45 King heard a demo version of Latifah's single "Princess of the Posse" in 1988, gave the demo to Fab Five Freddy, who was then host of Yo! MTV Raps, and Fab 5 Freddy helped Latifah get signed to Tommy Boy Records, which released Latifah's first album, All Hail the Queen (1989), when she was 18. This debut was critically acclaimed as one of the best hip hop albums of all time and was followed by Nature of a Sista, another well-reviewed album. From 1993 to 1998 Latifah starred on Living Single, a FOX sitcom; she also wrote and performed its theme music.

By the time her second album Nature of a Sista' came out in 1991, Queen Latifah had begun investing in small businesses in her neighborhood, and acting both in television and movies (including Spike Lee's Jungle Fever, 1992). These successes were marred by contract conflicts that caused her to leave Tommy Boy, and by her brother's tragic death in a motorcycle accident in 1992.

After signing with Motown in 1993, Latifah released her third album, Black Reign, and with her newfound clout, founded Flavor Unit Records and Management, which primarily handles rap and new-style rhythm and blues groups. "U.N.I.T.Y," the album's first single, denounced sexist attitudes and violence against women. Latifah also landed a regular spot on the highly rated television sitcom, Living Single, which lasted five seasons.

Over the next few years, the Queen went on to more film roles, including the critically acclaimed portrayal of Cleo, a lesbian bank robber in 1996's Set It Off. She also produced and guest-starred on various musical projects, managed Flavor Unit artists, and worked for numerous causes, including antidrug campaigns.

In 1997 Queen Latifah was awarded the Aretha Franklin Award for Entertainer of the Year at the Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards. She released her fourth album, Order in the Court, in 1998.

Her older brother Lance was killed in 1992 in an accident on a bike that Latifah had just bought him. She still wears the key to the bike around her neck. Latifah released an album dedicated to him, Black Reign, which was a hit partly because of a hit single, U.N.I.T.Y. In 1995, she was the victim of a carjacking, in which a friend of hers was shot. In 1996 she was arrested in possession of a small amount of marijuana and a gun; she was fined and sentenced to two years probation.

In 1998, she made an album entitled Order in the Court. In 2003, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Matron "Mama" Morton in the movie musical Chicago. In 2003, she co-starred with Steve Martin in the marginally well received comedy Bringing Down the House, as a woman who is "mismatched" through a legal advice chat room with Martin's character. Other recent movies Latifah has appeared in are Scary Movie 3, Barbershop 2: Back in Business, Taxi, and Beauty Shop. In April 2003 she had breast reduction surgery.

She stands 5'9". Her stage name Latifah, meaning "delicate" and "sensitive" in Arabic, was given her when she was eight by her cousin