Durand Bernarr

Durand Bernarr grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, the only child of a mother who worked as a music teacher and vocal coach and directed music at the church where he sang, and a father who worked as an audio engineer for artists including Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Jill Scott and Whitney Houston. At sixteen he traveled as a production assistant on an Earth, Wind & Fire tour with his father. He counts Erykah Badu, Rick James and Little Richard among his biggest influences.

Beginning in 2008 he posted YouTube videos mixing singing, dancing and comic commentary, including covers of Kanye West, Amy Winehouse and Gnarls Barkley, and self-released a mixtape along with an EP of Erykah Badu covers. Badu heard the EP, reached out to him, and hired him in 2011 as a background vocalist in her band. He has since sung behind or alongside artists including Anderson .Paak, Kaytranada, the Internet, Thundercat and Ari Lennox.

His music sits in R&B and funk, built on gospel-trained phrasing, a wide vocal range and dense, playful harmony stacks. Live, he moves between serious singing and comic asides, treating banter with the audience as part of the show rather than filler between songs.

In 2019 he competed on BET's reality series The Next Big Thing, both rapping and singing his way to a top-three finish. His solo albums include DUR& (2020) and En Route (2024), the latter earning his first Grammy nomination, along with the EP Wanderlust (2022), during which he began DJing under the name DJ TBD aka Bra Coley.

His 2025 album BLOOM, centered on his platonic friendships, won the Grammy Award for Best Progressive R&B Album. He followed it with an album titled Bernarr, named after his father, featuring guests such as Raphael Saadiq, Big Sean and Khalid.