Who is Andra Day and Does She Have A Husband?

Cassandra Monique Batie, professionally known as Andra Day, is an American songwriter, singer, and actress who reached the heights of musical fame at the 2016 Grammy Awards.

Andra is not married but she is believed to have been romantically involved with Don Bowie. However, she has never publicly revealed anything about her romantic life.

In 2015, her album, Cheers To The Fall debuted across the US, reaching millions of people who instantly fell in love with her voice and message. By 2016, her popular single, Rise Up had been nominated in the Best R&B performance category while the Cheers To The Fall album made it to the nominated list of the Best R&B Album category at the Grammy Awards.

In promoting the hit track, Rise Up, Andra Day did a live performance on The View. That performance would eventually go on to earn her a Daytime Emmy Award nomination. She has featured on numerous high-profile ads and billboards and quickly joined the most sought-after artists among radio listeners in America and around the world.

By 2021, Cassandra Monique Batie had gone into the movie industry, starring in the film, The United States Vs Billie Holiday, where she played the lead as Billie Holiday.

Consequently, she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama Category) the same year while she was also nominated for the Academy Award in the Best Actress Category. Cassandra Monique Batie’s adopted professional stage name was inspired by the nickname of the character she portrayed in the movie, ‘Lady Day’.

Quick Profile Summary of Andra Day

  • Real Name: Cassandra Monique Batie
  • Stage Name: Andra Day
  • Age: 39 years old
  • Date of Birth: December 30, 1984
  • Place of Birth: Edmonds, Washington
  • Nationality: American
  • Educational Qualification: University graduate
  • Occupation: Pop singer, song writer, and actress
  • Instagram/Twitter: @andradaymusic

Andra Day’s Passion For The Performing Arts Began At An Early Age

Andra Day was born in Edmonds, Washington on the 30th of December 1984. At the age of 3, she moved to San Diego, California, with her family which was also where she spent most of her childhood. Andra’s first foray into music happened in Chula Vista, California, at the First United Methodist Church while she also took dancing lessons from the tender age of 5. She also credits her elementary school period at Valencia Park in California, as one of the key motivators of her music career.

However, just before Day became a teenager, her music began to be influenced by sounds of jazz artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington as well as Billy Holiday. Andra Day applied and was accepted into the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts in Paradise Hills. She graduated on the 11th of July 2019 and gained honorary induction into the Delta Sigma Theta sorority soon after.

Details of Andra Day’s family background are not publicly known. Although we can safely assume she has a large family as they came all out to support her when she received her Golden Globe Award for Best Actress.

Andra Day Has Had A Successful Career

Upon completion of high school, Andra Day reportedly worked different jobs; from entertaining children to working at a strip mall. It is reported that Kai Millard, the then-wife of American music icon, Stevie Wonder, noticed Andra Day’s performance at a strip mall and told her husband of the talent. Soon after, Stevie reached out to Day, and about a year later, he introduced her to music producer, Adrian Gurvitz, and so began her professional career.

She signed a talent development deal with Jeffery Evans of Buskin records in 2011 and by 2013, he became her manager. The duo soon earned a record deal with Warner Bros Records mainly as a result of her song mashups and original covers of numerous songs on her YouTube Channel. She had performed covers of songs such as Lose Yourself by Eminem, Uprising by Muse, Mama Knows Best by Jessie and loads of others.

At this time, Andra Day also started working with Adrian Gurvitz on her original songs reported to be around 40. Questlove, Raphael Sadeeq, DJ Jazzy Jeff, The Dap-Kings as well as James Poyser also came on as contributors in different capacities to what eventually became Andra Day’s first studio album.

She Has Worked With Top Personalities In The Industry

After a remarkably amazing performance at the Sundance festival, Andra Day came on the radar of Spike Lee, a veteran director with a repertoire of serial blockbuster movies under his belt, and he offered to direct the video for Forever Mine, Andra Day’s hot new single at the time. She also went on to perform at the closing ceremony of the Special Olympics of 2015, as well as the BET Awards of 2015. She has also featured on Good Morning America, as well as Jimmy Kimmel Live TV Show and a host of other TV Shows.

On the 28th of August 2016, Andra Day released her debut studio album, Cheers to the Fall’. In the words of Katie Presley, who did a review for the album, Andra Day’s voice has “Eartha Kitt’s unflappable confidence, Amy Winehouse’s effortless grasp of classic jazz, Billie Holiday’s access to raw emotion and Adele’s range and pop sensibility”.

The album later went on to gain a Grammy nomination after it rose to number 48 on Billboard’s Top 200 list. September 2015 saw Andra begin her first national tour and by the next month, she performed her hit single ‘Rise Up’ at the United States presidential villa, The White House. In November 2016, her official ‘Cheers to the Fall’ promotional tour took place. And by the end of 2016, Andra Day had been awarded the Powerhouse Award at the Billboard Women in Music event.

A year later, Andra featured on the song Stand Up For Something alongside veteran rapper and actor, Commons. The song was featured as an original song in the film Marshall. The track, Stand Up For Something, went on to nick a nomination in the Best Original Song category at the Academy Awards. The duo later performed the song in March of the following year at the 90th edition of the Academy Awards.

Soon after, Day made her transition into Hollywood where she played a major role in the biopic drama, United States vs Billie Holiday, starring as renowned singer Billie Holiday. She was rewarded with the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress (Drama Category).

Andra Day Was Once In A Relationship With Don Bowie

Generally, most celebrities like to be secretive and private when it comes to their love life. In the case of Andra Day, there is very little information available in the public space about her relationship history. However, being a renowned celebrity places one in the spotlight, and with fans eager to know what their superstar is up to, some tidbits of private information are always bound to pop out.

Andra Day was reportedly in a relationship with Don Bowie, a professional high-altitude climber, and alpinist from Alberta, Canada. It is reported that the pair were a couple up until 2015. The relationship, however, did not result in marriage as they both remain unmarried to this day.

The veracity of this information on Andra’s relationship or to what degree it is accurate is still uncertain at this time. However, as soon as we have details from verifiable sources, this column will be duly updated.

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fadamana
A bit of a perfectionist, Fadamana often tends to exceed expectations. As a lifelong movie buff, she is either bingeing on new movies during leisure, or giving someone a whopping on the latest FIFA edition

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