With nearly three decades of experience under her belt, Kandi Burruss has remained one of music’s most steadfast and prolific songwriters. The Atlanta native has added a number of hats throughout her career, including businesswoman, entrepreneur, actress, TV personality and proud mother of four.

Burruss entered the music industry at age 14 when she co-founded the all-female R&B group Xscape. They’ve released three Platinum-selling albums (1993’s Hummin’ Comin’ at ‘Cha, 1995’s Off the Hook, 1998’s Traces of My Lipstick) and have sold over 7 million albums worldwide, while simultaneously putting Atlanta’s musical creativity and talent on the map. After achieving success with Xscape, the group members decided to take a hiatus to pursue various ventures. From there, Burruss solidified her legendary status in music as a songwriter, solo singer (she’s released her debut Hey Kandi… in 2000 and followed up with Kandi Koated in 2010), and producer.

Her credits include Destiny’s Child’s GRAMMY-nominated “Bills, Bills, Bills,” Pink’s “There You Go,” Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You”, Ariana Grande’s “Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored”, *NSYNC (“It Makes Me Ill), and TLC’s GRAMMY-winning “No Scrubs”. In 2000, she became the first woman to be honored with ASCAP’s Rhythm & Soul Music Award for Songwriter of the Year.

But Burruss had her eyes set on expanding her empire beyond an unpredictable music industry. “We started our career when I was 16 when we signed our deal with So So Def. My mom put this in my head: ‘Don’t put all your eggs in one basket!’” Burruss recalls. “So I used to read all these books about finances. The main thing they always say is you need to have multiple sources of income in order to become and stay a millionaire.”

Since 2009 she’s starred in 12 seasons of Bravo’s pop culture juggernaut The Real Housewives of Atlanta, where she used the reality TV franchise to not only transform into a household name but to showcase her musical accolades as well as a platform to launch her ever-growing businesses.

“It’s more personal. Fans feel more connected. They’ve been able to see inside my life for the last ten years. Now, though, I do think that people learned to respect me for what I’ve done as a songwriter,” Burruss previously said of joining the series as an artist. “They’ve witnessed what I have written and produced for some of the other people on the show. From there, they figured out what else I have done, be it Xscape or TLC or other artists I’ve worked with.”

Burruss has since launched two restaurants with husband Todd Tucker (Old Lady Gang and Blaze Steak & Seafood Restaurant), made her Broadway debut in the long-running, Tony Award-winning revival of Chicago in 2018, landed a recurring role on Showtime’s acclaimed drama series The Chi in 2020 and scored her first feature film role in Lifetime’s Envy: A Seven Deadly Sins Story that is based on Bishop TD Jakes’ “Seven Deadly Sins” series of books.

As she continues to blossom as a businesswoman, Burruss’ love for music is never too far behind. In 2020, she won the third season of the Fox competition series The Masked Singer. And in 2021, Xscape participated in the Verzuz series alongside fellow popular ‘90s girl group SWV.