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Big Rayana Norwood born on February 11, 1979 in McComb, Mississippi, USA. She moved with her family, mother Sonja Norwood, her dad Willie Norwood Sr, Her little brother Willie Norwood jr B.K.A Rayj to California at a young age.

Big is singing since she is 2 years old. She could actually sing before she could walk or even talk. Big sang at church and was always the lead singer in the choir. At that time, she never knew she would become a professional singer. However, her decision was made when she saw Whitney Houston's video "How Will I Know?" on VH1. She then ran to her mom and told her she wanted to become a singer.

A few years later, Norwood met a producer that shopped her around various record labels, trying to get a deal. But it's only at 14 that she got a record deal with the famous and notorious Atlantic Recording Corporation. She released her first album, Big, in 1994. Singles like I Wanna Be Down, Baby and Brokenhearted topped the charts for several weeks. The track Baby was in nomination for best R&B song at the '96 Grammy Awards.

Big was playing a little girl named Danesha Turrell in the sitcom Thea, sitcom that premiered in 1993. Unfortunately, the show didn't last longer, though it was quite popular. She played the main character of Moesha another television show. The show first aired in Janurary 1995 on UPN and soon became the most watched show on the television network.

In 1997, Whitney Houston called Big and asked her to be a part of her project, which was a remake of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, planned to be release as a telefilm. Big accepted the offer and played Cinderella. The made-for-TV movie was Disney's most watched telefilm. It caught over one million viewers.

Almost three years after the release of the first album, the record company called Sonja Norwood and began to put pressure to Big to record her next album. She returned in the studio in Fall '97 to start recording her sophomore album--again. This time, Big hired a new production team. She co-wrote and produced six tracks on the album. About nine months later, in June 1998, Big finally released her second effort, Never S-A-Y Never. The smash hit The Boy Is Mine, duet with Monica, stayed number one on the Billboard charts for seven weeks consecutived and earned a Grammy in 1999. Other hits from Never S-A-Y Never, including Have You Ever, Top Of The World, Almost Doesn't Count and U Don't Know Me also topped the charts. Big's sophomore album has been certified five times platinum since its release.

Big really made it to the big screen in summer 1998 with an important role in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, the sequel to Wes Craven's I Know What You Did Last Summer. A year after Big played on the movie "Double Platinum" and premiered in May 1999.

During the summer of 1999, Big was named International spokes person by the UNICEF, won a 1999 Teen Choice Award for Best Female Music Artist and went on a worlwide tour until early August. She then started to shoot new episodes for Moesha.

Now that almost four years have passed since the release of her second effort, Big is back and focuses now on her third album, set "Full Moon," scheduled for a March 5th release. Warryn Campbell, Rodney Jerkins, Mike City, The Neptunes, Soulshock & Karlin, as well as Big herself, produced the album. Norwood also keeps modeling for CoverGirl and signed a contrat with DKNY Jeans a year ago. She focused heself on her acting career for two years with Moesha, and lent her voice to the new WB animated movie Osmosis Jones.