Brenda has a long history with CHICAGO, having made her West End debut as “Mama” Morton in 2006, and she is thrilled to be returning to the show once again. Theatre credits include Killer Queen in We Will Rock You (original UK Tour & West End); “Mama” Morton in CHICAGO (UK Tour/West End/10th Anniversary gala); Nettie Fowler in Carousel (London Coliseum); Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray (UK Tour); Woman 2 in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (London Coliseum); Esta in Moby Dick! (The Union Theatre); Diane & Beautiful Music in The Human Comedy (The Young Vic); and Pearl Pastor in Carmen Jones (Royal Festival Hall). This year Brenda made her directorial debut with Hairspray (UK Tour), having had a long history with the production playing Motormouth Maybelle.
Screen credits: Mrs. Johnson in Ben Elton’s The Wright Way and The Lips in Alan Carr’s The Singer Takes It All. Television: “Get Britain Singing,” “The Big Narstie Show,” “Rolling in It,” ITV’s “Carols at Christmas,” “Celebrity Beat the Chasers,” “Celebrity Catchphrase,” “I’m a Celebrity…,” “The Daily Drop,” “The Last Leg,” “The Weakest Link,” “The Wright Stuff,” “Sing if You Can,” “The X Factor,” GMTV. Brenda is a Loose Woman for ITV and a presenter for “Songs of Praise” on BBC.
In 2022, to continue her son’s legacy, she and her daughter Tanisha set up the Jamal Edwards Self Belief trust with the objective to support causes that mattered most to Jamal. Brenda’s work with the trust targets three key interrelated areas: combatting homelessness, supporting people with mental health issues, and providing young people with essential life skills and paid internship programmes.