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The name \u201cKandi Burruss\u201d is simply embedded in the pop-culture canon \u2014 and you might not even know why you recognize it. The woman behind the nomenclature is an impressive entertainment mogul. She initially burst into the public eye in 1992 as part of the girl group Xscape. Burruss is known throughout the music industry (and by anyone in the wider public who pays attention to credits) as the writer of songs like Destiny\u2019s Child\u2019s \u201cBills, Bills, Bills\u201d (for which she earned a Grammy Award nomination), TLC\u2019s \u201cNo Scrubs\u201d (for which she won a Grammy) and the more recent Ed Sheeran\u2019s \u201cShape of You.\u201d She was the first woman to be named ASCAP\u2019s Rhythm and Soul Songwriter of the Year. Burruss won Season 3 of \u201cThe Masked Singer\u201d and then starred in 14 seasons of \u201cThe Real Housewives of Atlanta.\u201d She is a business impresario as well as an artist and entertainer. And in 2021, she combined those skills and passions and became a Broadway producer.<\/p>\n
Burruss had performed on Broadway in 2018, taking on the role of Matron \u201cMama\u201d Morton in the long-running \u201cChicago\u201d revival. But the 2021 mounting of the new play \u201cThoughts of a Colored Man\u201d marked her Main Stem producing debut as a co-producer. Since then, Burruss has produced the 2022 revival of \u201cThe Piano Lesson,\u201d the 2024 revival of \u201cThe Wiz,\u201d the 2025 revival of \u201cOthello\u201d and the current revival of \u201cJoe Turner\u2019s Come and Gone,\u201d<\/u><\/a> which will conclude its limited run on July 26. Burruss told Broadway News of \u201cJoe Turner,\u201d \u201cEach one I felt something different, but this is the one that, at the end of the show, just really had me with the mouth drop.\u201d<\/p>\n Though it may seem based on this r\u00e9sum\u00e9 that Burruss came to theater later in life, that couldn\u2019t be further from the truth. Burruss grew up a theater kid. She attended Tri-Cities High School in East Point, Georgia, where she was part of the Visual and Performing Arts magnet program \u2014 concentrating in drama and musical theater. \u201cEverybody assumes that [I was on a music track],\u201d said Burruss. \u201cThe people I was in class with, they were happy for me when my career took off in music, but they were like, \u2018We really thought you were going to be an actress.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Burruss is proud of everything she\u2019s accomplished in the music business and was happy while making music, but she also noticed her fellow Tri-Cities alumni doing theater, naming actors Saycon Sengbloh and Aisha Jackson and sound designer Justin Ellington as those she kept an eye on. \u201cThey inspired me \u2014 even the ones that graduated after me,\u201d said Burruss. Now, she has two Broadway acting credits (\u201cChicago\u201d and \u201c& Juliet\u201d<\/u><\/a>) and five co-producing credits.<\/p>\n And Burruss is insistent on being a true creative producer. She is not solely a celebrity name on a show \u2014 though she does leverage her visibility to bring exposure to her productions. Here, she talks about her approach to marketing Broadway shows, diversifying Broadway audiences and investor pools and selecting the shows on her \u201cto produce\u201d list.<\/p>\n