Tanya Blount

Tanya Blount is an African American actress, author and musician. She was born September 30, c. 1973 or 1974 in Washington, D.C. She studied at Potomac High School in Oxon Hill, Maryland, Duke Ellington School of the Arts and Morgan State University, where she majored in psychology and sang in the university choir. She secured a major recording deal with Polydor (now Island/Def Jam Records) at age 19 and by 20 was featured in the film "Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit", where she performed a memorable duet of "His Eye Is on the Sparrow" with Lauryn Hill. Her first album, Natural Thing, was released in 1994. The album's single "Through The Rain" peaked at #20 on the Billboard charts and earned her a nomination for The Soul Train Awards Best New Artist 1995. Blount has had a consistent musical theatre career in productions including "What Every Woman Wants", "Sneaky", "Preacher's Kids", "Born to Sing!" and "Christmas in Washington". One of the first appearances of Tanya’s recent works, "Right Here", was in the 2008 Tyler Perry film "The Family That Preys".