Hello, I'm Timbedirmius, and you're listening to NPR's Book of the Day.

Today, memoirs by two icons.

In a minute, we'll hear from late-night legend Arsenio Hall.

But first, Brandy.

The R&B singer is among my favorites.

In fact, her 1994 self-titled debut album is one of the first CDs I ever bought as a kid.

And through the 90s and early 2000s, Brandy would go on to make her mark in television and film

and gain millions of fans in the process.

But it came at a cost.

She writes about them in her new memoir, phases.

She spoke about it with Morning Edition

host, A. Martinez. This week, Brandy Norwood, better known to fans as simply Brandy, was

honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Today is Brandy Day in Hollywood.

In a new memoir titled Fases, the singer, songwriter, and actress pulls back the showbiz

curtain on what it was like to grow up while the world watched.

To learn more about her book and her upbringing, I started by listing some of the many

cultural moments she's given us since the 1990s.

Because I got to admit, Brandy, when I look back

and I remember back on your career, let's just start with 1994. Let's just start with your self-title

album, Brandy. I mean, right after that, in 1996, you star in the television series Moesha that lasted

until 2001. And then in 1997, Rod Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella comes out.

You become the first Black Disney princess and then never say never comes out in 1998.

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