2:25 p.m.
Today I am starting a new topic that I will post on weekly. "What ever happened to..." will discuss those long forgotten stars from the past that you may or may not wonder "what ever happened to..." him or her. I hope that these will be informative and entertaining. If not, stop reading my blog, haters.
What ever happened to Cree Summer, a.k.a. Winifred "Freddie" Brooks from the show I used to watch every morning getting ready for high school, A Different World?
Well, before we get to where she is now, I want to take a look at where she came from...
Cree was born in LA in the summer of '69. Bryan Adams totally rocked that song about her. He was obviously a pervert if he was writing about a baby. Anyway, Cree grew up on an Aboriginal reserve in Saskatchewan. Her dad is Canadian actor Don Francks
and her mama is Lili Red Eagle, a member of the Plains Cree First Nations.
Her brother, Rainbow Sun Francks, is a former MuchMusic VJ and former cast member of the television show Stargate Atlantis.
Pretty cool. If you were Native American and lived on a reservation, what would your name be? Mine would be Ohoyo Hobachi (wise woman who mimics - not yo ho, or Habachi Ho - shut up).
You may have heard Cree before ever seeing her on screen and not even realized it. Cree voiced the lovable little precocious pigtailed niece on Inspector Gadget.
She also voiced characters in The Care Bears Movie and Ewoks.
We finally got to see the bright smiling face and crazy hair when Cree was cast as "Freddie" Brooks on A Different World.
Remember the episode where Freddie has a crush on Hillman's star baseball player? He's like this big stud and Freddie totally digs him, but Dwayne Wayne hears him talking smack about some girl he tried to get with and it really bothers him. D.Wayne goes to ask Walter what he should do. After hearing the story, Walter tells him it's Date Rape. Later on in the show, a dance takes place, and Garth goes with Freddie alone somewhere, and he tries to get up on her. Lucky enough, Dwayne comes and beats down Garth. After that, Garth tells Walter what happened, and Walter takes him to jail for what he did to Freddie, and the other woman that he had tried to get freaky with. Ooh. Note: Never fall for a guy named Garth.
After a few years on A Different World, Cree went back to doing cartoon voices. In fact, she has voiced over 70 characters. Her most famous include: Tiny Toon Adventures (1990) as Elmyra Duff and Mary Melody (which she reprised for Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain), Aka Pella in Histeria!, Susie Carmichael in Rugrats and its spin-off All Grown Up!, Dulcy the dragon in Sonic the Hedgehog, Princess 'Kida' Kidagakash for Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Valerie Gray in Danny Phantom, Numbuh 5 and Cree Lincoln in Codename: Kids Next Door and Miranda from As Told by Ginger.
Like a lot of actors and actresses, Cree tried her hand at singing. In 1990, she sang background vocals on two tracks for fellow A Different World cast member Jasmine Guy's self titled LP. In 1993 she released an album with her band Subject to Change. In 1999, Summer released her solo album Street Faërie produced by and featuring guest artist (and friend) Lenny Kravitz, but the album was not hugely successful. Although Summer toured as Kravitz's opening act, her label dropped her and a planned spot with Lilith Fair was canceled. The label continued to promote the album, however, sending out a four-track sampler to radio and issuing remix singles of the track "Revelation Sunshine" in Europe, with a special single specifically for Austria.
Wanna hear some songs from her album Street Faërie?
Source: Wikipedia
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