Music is My Life: Episode 057

Kamilah Marshall on Broadway Credits and Starting Berklee Online with BFFs

Kamilah Marshall is a seasoned Broadway performer whose credits include Rent, Disney’s The Lion King, and the original Broadway cast of Hairspray. From there, she toured with Bette Midler, Matthew Morrison from Glee, and is currently a backup singer for Taylor Swift. Check her out below, shaking it off with Taylor on ellen.

Being under contract with T-Swift, this interview instead focuses more on Kamilah’s time at Orange County School of the Arts, her journey to Broadway, her friends in the industry (like Leslie Odom Jr.), and banding together with her two musical theater besties to enroll at Berklee Online.

Kamilah even shares a pre-Berklee story about them being onset with Sarah Jessica Parker during the filming of Sex and the City 2. Even though their scene was cut, their cover of “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered” made it to the movie soundtrack.

With the live entertainment industry shut down for the past year, Kamilah decided this was the perfect time to focus on her songwriting. In 2020, she released a spoken word track titled “Both Sides” with Forest Blakk, best known for his hit “If You Love Her.”

Her love for music all started in her hometown of Orange County California, where she grew up influenced by the music of Jimi Hendrix, Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and more.