Queen Latifah is a stage name of Dana Owens, a very popular and respectable American rapper, actress and music producer.
She is also a very prominent feminist in hip-hop.
Early years
She was born as Dane Elaine Owens on March 18, 1970, in the town of Newark, in New Jersey, United States.
Her mother is Rita Lamae, a high school teacher while her father Lancelot Amos is a member of the police.
She was a student at Essex Catholic Girls’High School located in Irvington but eventually, she was a graduate of Irvington High School.
She was only ten years old when her parents decided to split and filed for divorce. It eas a very stressful time for Diana since she couldn’t understand why her parents stopped loving each other.
Dana’s parents were Baptist so she has also been raised in their faith. That is why she attended a Catholic school because her parents wanted her to follow the Catholic belief.
Dana was the one who gave herself the nickname Latifah since she was the one to found the word “Latifah” in a book which consisted of Arabic names.
She liked the sound of this name and was very pleased with its meaning. The name “Latifah” stands for “very kind and delicate” and since she was sensitive she liked it very much.
Dana was very tall from an early age so she was focused on basketball a lot. With the height of 1,78 m, she was a valuable member of her high school’s basketball team. She was also pretty strong so she played on the position of a power forward. If she hadn’t found herself in music she would become a great female basketball player.
She was also interested in acting so she was a member of the school’a drama section.
She was especially into musicals and since she had a very good voice she sang in a lot of plays during her time in school.
Dana performed a musical number “Home” in a school play named “The Wiz”.
After she graduated and finished high school she became a student at Borough of Manhattan Community College.
As time past by, Dana saw herself only in music so she began beatboxing alongside “Ladies Fresh”, a hip hop group she encountered.
She was also a part of the Flavor Unit, a crew of MC’s and DJ’s from New York and Jersey. They were also known as simply the Unit.
In the beginning, the group was lead by 45 King, who was their producer but later Queen Latifah took over. 45 King struggled with drug abuse issues and couldn’t handle producing anymore.
Career development
Queen Latifah made a demo for her single “Princess of the Passe” and eventually, the tape made it to an important man in “Tommy Boy Music” record label named Dante Ross who wanted Queen Latifah to join their label.
They signed a contract and her first single was released in 1989, under the name “Wrath of My Madness”.
Dana was always a feminist and she wanted to speak about women in her songs.
Most of the things she mentioned in her rapping were about black women, their position and problems. She often rapped about serious matters such as domestic violence and harassment and tries to pinpoint the biggest problems woman encounter every day.
After Queen signed a contract with Tommy Boy Records (owned by Tom Silverman) and they released her very own first album named “All Hail The Queen”. It was in 1989 and she was only 19 years old.
She continued making music and in 1992 she has received a Candace Award for a black role model from an organization called the National Coalition of 100 Black Women.
In 1998, Queen Latifah has released the 4th album named “Order in the Court” but it was released by Motown Records and made in production with Ro Smith.
This album showed her transition to other kinds of music, mostly soul and jazz.
In 2004 she made her dream come true so she released “The Dana Owens Album” of soul/jazz genre.
In the summer of 2007, she was very honored to sing as the main act in a jazz concert at the Hollywood Bowl. She performed alongside the Queen Latifah Orchestra made of three vocals.
The same year she had released “Trav’lin’ Light” album with guest appearances from various notable performers such as Stevie Wonder and Erykah Badu. This album received a Grammy nomination in the category of the “Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album” and was very well received amongst critics.
In 2008 she decided to release a hip-hop album which she made in a longer period of time.
It was titled “All Hail the Queen II”. In 2009, she made another album named “Persona”. She also made a collaboration with Missy Elliot on this album.
In 2011 she was asked to make a duet with Tony Bennet for a single “Who Can I Turn To” on his album “Duets II”.
In 2012 she appeared in an episode of “106 & Park” alongside Dolly Parton, a famous country star.
As for her TV and film career, it became quite serious after she gained a starring role in a Fox Tv sitcom called “Living Single”.
She played the part from 1993 until 1998. Other than starring in it, she has also made music for the series. It was also a kind of a family project since she invited her true mother Rita to play the role of her on-screen mother.
She started appearing in movies, first just in supporting roles. It was in movies like “House Party 2”, “Juice” and “Jungle Fever”.
In 1999 she started airing her own TV show called “The Queen Latifah Show” which stopped airing in 2001 because of low ratings.
In 1991 and 1992 she appeared in one episode of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” which was aired on NBC.
In 1993 she starred in “Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper”, a sitcom produced by Warner Bros.
In 1996 she was a member of a crew in the hit movie “Set It Off” with Jada Pinkett and Vivica A. Fox. She gained great critics for her role.
In 1998 she gained a small role in “Living Out Loud”. One year later she got an opportunity to star in a hit movie “The Bone Collector”.
There she had made a collaboration with Angelina Jolie and Denzel Washington which was a great honor for her since she respected Denzel Washington very much.
Her big success, when she received wide critical acclaim was when she starred in a musical film Chicago.
She had a role of Matron “Mama” Morton in the musical and gained great reviews for it.
This movie received the Oscar for Best Picture and Queen Latifah was nominated in Best Supporting Actress Category.
She is one of just five hip-hop artists that was nominated in the category of acting which was great for her.
In 2003 she starred in another hit movie, alongside Steve Martin, titled “Bringing Down the House”.
After that, she made a lot of movie appearances: in “Scary Movie 3”, “Taxi”, “Beauty Shop” and more. They were all successful at the box offices and she garnered not only attention but also money.
In 2006 she starred in “Last Holiday”, a romantic comedy-drama with LL Cool J and Gerard Depardieu.
In 2006, she gave her voice to Ellie the mammoth in a big animated hit titled “Ice Age: The Meltdown”. This was her first voice appearance in a cartoon and she was very excited about it.
In 2007 she had a huge hit “Hairspray” with John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, and many other famous actors.
In 2007 she received her very first Golden Globe Award for the role in “Life Support”, a story about an HIV-positive woman. She was nominated for Emmy too. She said that this movie made a huge impact on her and that she wishes that it had made an impact on viewers too.
In 2006 she was given a great honor to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In 2007 she has starred and produced a movie “The Perfect Holiday”.
In 2008 she starred in “Mad Mony” with Diane Keaton, Katie Holmes, and Ted Danson.
In 2009 he was a presenter at the Academy Award which was a big honor for her. Latifah was also the host at the 2010 People’s Choice awards.
In February 2010 he was honored to sing “America the Beautiful” at the Super Bowl.
In 2012, she appeared in “Joyful Noise” alongside Dolly Parton.
In 2015 she gained a nomination for Emmy in Best Actress category for her role in an HBO movie called “Bessie”.
In 2017 she became an executive producer of the TV series “Scream”.
She was influenced by a lot of performers when she was young from LL Cool J, Public Enemy to Bessie Smith.
Queen Latifah garnered a large net worth not only through her work in music and film but also through endorsement deals.
She is a spokesperson for “Covergirl” and “Pizza Hut”. She has developed and released her own cosmetic line “Covergirl Queen Collection”.
She has a perfume line “Queen” and “Queen of Hearts” which can be also bought online.
In 1996 she began a feud with another American female rapper named Foxy Brown.
Two years later she has released a record named “10% Dis”. Latifah answered to it with her own record “Name Callin’ Part II”, Foxy returned with “Talk To Me”. They made peace in 2000 and Brown even appeared on her talk show with her song “Na Na Be Like”.
Personal life
She was raised alongside her older brother Lancelot who tragically died in 1992 in a motorcycle accident. This was a tremendous shock for her, especially because she was the one that bought him the motorcycle.
She has released her autobiography “Ladies First: Revelations of a Strong Woman” where she confessed that her brother’s death leads her to depression and even to drug abuse that she later recovered from.
In 1995 her car was carjacked and her boyfriend Sean Moon was shot after the incident.
In 1996 she got herself arrested for the possession of marijuana and a handgun.
In 2002, she was driving under the influence and was arrested for it. She received a three years probation conviction.
She likes to work out, especially kickboxing but doesn’t worry too much about food or what she’s eating.
In 2018, her mother Rita died of a heart failure which was also a big issue for her and made her feel lonely.
Queen Latifa is bisexual and doesn’t hide her choice.
In early 90’s she was rumored to be dating Debbie Allen, an actress.
In 1995, she saved her boyfriend’s life (Sean Moon-bodyguard and boyfriend) by taking him to the hospital after he was shot by carjackers.
From 1992-2001 she was in a relationship with Martin Kendu Isaacs, a music producer.
In 2001 she began her relationship with a famous Hollywood trainer named Jeanette Jenkins. They were extremely inseparable and even bought a house in Beverly Hills together. They separated because Jeannette was often worried that Latifah was cheating on her.
In 2011 Latifah fell in love with Ebori Nichols, a professional dancer on the “Dancing with Stars” who became the probable cause of her split with Jeannette. They separated in 2015.
In 2016 it was rumored that she is dating Paula Patton.
Ahe is a big fan of yoga and swimming. Her favorite food is Haitian. She likes to read Science Fiction books.
One of her first jobs was at the Burger King when she was at college.
Before becoming a singer she had a childhood dream of becoming a biologist.
She likes tattoos but not too much: she has butterflies tattooed on her body. She was one of the writers of the book “Put On Your Crown” which is a self-help book.
Quick summary
Full name: Dane Elaine Owens
Date of birth: March 18, 1970
Birthplace: Newark, New Jersey, United States
Age: 49
Profession: actress, singer, songwriter
Height: 178 cm
Weight: 91 kgs
Net Worth: $60 million