Rappin' Granny

Infobox musical artist
Name=Rappin' Granny Marie Anne Lovion


Img_capt=Rappin' Granny on "America's Got Talent"
Background=solo_singer
Birth_name= Marie Anne Lovion
Alias=
Born=1933
Origin=Castaic, California, U.S.
Instrument=Guitar
Genre=Hip hop
Occupation=Musician
Actor
Years_active=1989–present
Label=
URL=

Vivian Smallwood (born 1933), known by her stage name Rappin' Granny, is a grandmother who performs hip-hop music. She lives in Castaic, California, near Los Angeles.

Smallwood was a contestant on the NBC television series "America's Got Talent" who qualified August 16, 2006 season finale for the one-million-dollar grand prize.

Background

In 1989 she released a little-known, self-titled music video called "Rock-n-Soul". The video can be seen here. [http://music.yahoo.com/ar-297469-videos--Rappin-Granny]

Acting credits

Smallwood has been a working Hollywood actress since the mid '90s. She has appeared in numerous television shows with small parts and a few feature films. Some of her credits include, "Everybody Hates Chris", "Malcolm in the Middle", "The Shield", and "The Ladykillers". In "Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood" (1996) she is even credited as Vivian 'Rappin Granny' Smallwood. [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0806614/] Also to her credit, she has played "Nano", in "Big Bad Beetleborgs", a show on the former Fox Kids network.

Rapping

According to an interview that aired on "America's Got Talent", Smallwood began rapping at the insistence of her son, who noticed her dancing across the room while hip-hop music was playing in the background. After a number of private performances in front of family members, Smallwood auditioned for the new talent contest co-created by famous music executive Simon Cowell.

"America's Got Talent"

In her audition, Rappin' Granny gave a performance that was very popular among the crowd and the judges, all of whom (Brandy, David Hasselhoff, and Piers Morgan) advanced her to the next round by way of a unanimous vote.

Smallwood then returned for the semifinal episode that aired July 26, 2006. After another crowd-pleasing song , the judges again put her through to the next round, by another unanimous vote.

However, the final round was not kind to Smallwood; not only did she not win the million-dollar prize, she finished in the bottom half of the public vote that determined the winner, as announced by host Regis Philbin.

Family

Smallwood has 14 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Sources

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* [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=FB&p_theme=fb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EAE8206A2FCE74A&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM Fresno Bee article]
* [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SJ&s_site=mercurynews&p_multi=SJ&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB72DF0D254A9D5&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM San Jose Mercury News article]
* [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-2356240.html Columbus times article]