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Who is Brittany Howard? Meet the Alabama Shakes guitarist almost blind in one eye who came out as a lesbian at 25

The singer had attracted some very famous fans, including Paul McCartney and Barack and Michelle Obama. Howard came out as a lesbian at the age of 25

Alabama Shakes frontwoman Brittany Howard is almost blind in one eye, but that has not stopped the singer-songwriter from earning her accolades and then some. 

Known for being the lead vocalist, guitarist, and main songwriter of rock band Thunderbitch and Bermuda Triangle as well, Brittany Howard’s work as part of Alabama Shakes since 2009, has bagged as many as four Grammy wins and nine nominations. Her solo act lapped up nine nominations. Here’s what you need to know about the burly yet tender voiced Howard, who lived out loud in 2020.

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Who is Brittany Howard?

Howard grew up in Athens, Alabama, in a junkyard that once burned down due to a lightning strike. She began playing the guitar at the age of 13 and later attended East Limestone High School, where she met future Shakes bassist Zac Cockrell.

Before Brittany Howard was paid to make music, she did a variety of odd jobs to get by. Her tasks included making pizzas at a Domino’s, bagging groceries at a Kroger, frying eggs at a Cracker Barrel, selling used cars and delivering mail along a rural route in northern Alabama, where she lived. She practiced with her rock band, Alabama Shakes, whenever she could, working 13 hours at the post office, and then rushing to rehearsal, she told the New York Times.

In 2012, Alabama Shakes released their debut album, ‘Boys & Girls’ which received critical acclaim and eventually sold over a million copies in the United States. Soon, the singer had attracted some very famous fans, including Paul McCartney and Barack and Michelle Obama. Howard came out as a lesbian at the age of 25. In 2018, she married Jesse Lafser, her bandmate in the Bermuda Triangle Band. If reports are to be believed, the couple got divorced in 2020.

Solo debut

Howard’s solo debut, 'Jaime', an ambitiously soulful, synthed-out psychedelic funk record received universal acclaim. It was named after her older sister, Jaime, who taught her to play piano and write poems, and died of eye cancer in 1998. Howard herself suffered from the same affliction, due to retinoblastoma, but survived with partial blindness in one eye.

"She was a creative person all around," Howard remembers in a report by the NPR. "And when I came into the world, my sister kind of took me by my hand and was like, 'OK, you know, our family doesn't have a lot of money but this is how you have fun,' and just showed me how to use my imagination; how to be creative."

The record, which released in 2019 had grappling lyrics that dealt with her past, where she talked about sexuality, family tragedy, religious guilt and more. In December last year, Howard dropped a trio of art-house 'Jaime' remixes. 

What is her net worth?

'Jaime' notched six Grammy nominations, including for Best Rock Song for her blissful track 'Stay High'. The pandemic kept Howard from touring 'Jaime', and the album was released mid-2019. She continued to work the album, like she had done in the past, multitasking through a slew of late-night talk shows and other TV features.

She discussed taking up weightlifting as a hobby and gushed about her longtime passion for fishing, all the while pondering on her life's duality, from being poor and rich, gay and trying to be straight, and being part White and part Black. If net worth aggregators are to be believed, her fortune is amassed between $1 million to $5 million.

Check out 'Stay High' here: