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Naturi Cora Maria Naughton (born May 20, 1984) is an American singer and actress best known for formerly being one-third of the Pop/R&B trio 3LW.

Career

Born and raised in East Orange, New Jersey, her musical talent first emerged at the age of 5 years old, when she joined the choir at her Baptist church. She attended St. Joseph's Catholic school for a brief period of time before being discovered. She has sung the national anthem at various events in New Jersey.

3LW

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 US. In the summer of 2001, the group went on the MTV TRL tour along with Destiny's Child, Dream, Nelly, Eve, and Jessica Simpson.

3LW spent the first half of 2002 in the studio, recording an album tentatively titled Same Game, Different Rules. The album and its intended lead single "Uh Oh" were presented to the label, who felt it did not have enough urban radio appeal. The tracks from Same Game, Different Rules were leaked to the Internet in MP3 format, and Epic considered dropping the band. A fan support campaign for 3LW named 'Never Let Go of 3LW' followed, and the act was retained. Recording a new set of tracks, 3LW returned in late summer of 2002 with the P. Diddy-produced single "I Do (Wanna Get Close To You)", featuring Loon.

By August, 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 of the group after attempting to for months and even degraded her. The problems reached a breaking point in August 2002 when Naughton left after a heated argument with Williams, Bailon, and their manager. Naughton had tried to settle with the group and give into their demands for months leading up to the argument, deciding it was not worth leaving the group after a few fights and that it would have been a shame to end a group that had so much hard work put into it. However, during the heated argument, Williams allegedly threw a hot plate full of KFC food at Naughton, proving to be the final straw.

After Naughton's departure, Bailon and Williams resumed as aasss sdmngmdbngmber group and released the single Neva Get Enuf, which did not feature Naughton's vocals. The single failed to make a dent on radio or the Billboard Hot 100. 3LW replaced Naughton with Jessica Benson, but have since disbanded. Bailon and Williams have now continued on as members of Disney's The Cheetah Girls.

Solo career

Naughton was collaborating with producers Full Force on a solo debut album. Some of the tracks she recorded for the album are as follows: "Real Chicks" (featuring Lil' Kim), "Stand Up", "What You Do" and "Your Girlfriend." However, in a recent interview with Naturi, she says that she is not currently working on an album right now, but instead focusing on her other passion,acting. With the right team and producers, she says she would definitely like to do her solo album some day.

Acting career

Naughton starred in the Tony Award winning Broadway musical Hairspray as Little Inez from 2005-2008. Naturi played rapper Lil' Kim, (which involed a nude scene) in Notorious, a big screen biopic on the late Notorious B.I.G. Notorious opened at #4 at the box office with over $21 million made opening weekend. Naturi has also done a commercial for Truth.com, titled "It Must've Been A Typo". More recently, Naughton has signed on to play a pianist named Denise in the upcoming remake of the 1980 movie and TV show musical Fame. That film is due out in theaters September 2009. is going out with puncho

Filmography

References

1. http://www.hairspraythemusical.com/hairspray_home.php
2. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1458081/20021011/3lw.jhtml
3. http://www.playbill.com/news/article/122227.html

External links

• Template:MySpace
• Naturi Naughton at IMDb

• African American singers
• American pop singers
• Baptists from the United States
• 3LW members
• 1984 births
• Living people