Kiandra Richardson

With proper preparation and a whole lot of inspiration, everything happens at the right time. Kiandra “Kiki” Richardson certainly knows this. Tracing her journey as the daughter of a music minister in Warner Robins, GA to a key role on Empire and show-stopping performances alongside everyone from Kanye West to Beyoncé, the singer, songwriter, performer, and actress is headed towards her own artistic breakthrough sooner than later. 

As if meant to be, Kiki first saw Whitney Houston’s legendary Whitney – The Concert for a New South Africa as a child and realized her destiny. After repeated viewings nearly wore out the VHS tape, she “knew what [she] wanted to do” and continued to study Whitney as well as Michael Jackson and Beyoncé. At the same time, she spent countless hours in church singing, and listening to her dads solo music. Entering the pageant world at six-years-old, she garnered invaluable stage experience on her first performances. During her time at Northside high school, she made waves in musicals such as Cats, Pippin, Beauty and the Beast, All Shook Up, Once On This Island, and more, winning the title of the One Act competition’s Best Actress in both the region and state her senior year. 

Following SCAD: Savannah College of Art and Design, she started recording and cutting her teeth in the studio. A call from Bebe Winans changed everything though. As if bringing the story full circle, he asked Kiki to take on the role of Whitney Houston in Born For This: The BeBe Winans Story on stage. For the next two years, the show enchanted audiences in Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and Santa Monica. She stuck around in Los Angeles, relocating as of late 2017.

Over the next year, Kiki accompanied Tyler, The Creator during a seminal NPR “Tiny Desk” segment and sang backup at Beyoncé’s historic Coachella 2018 headlining set and joined the Queen on tour with JAY-Z for the next six months. 2019 saw her become a regular collaborator at Kanye West’s “Sunday Service” around the country. She also landed the role of Yana on Fox’s Empire and contributed the standout “Heaven” and 8 other songs to Empire’s Season 6. 

Post pandemic, Kiandra has been working alongside gospel giants like Kirk Franklin as she stars in the new BET original series Kingdom Business, playing the daughter of legendary gospel singer “Denita Jordan”, played by Yalonda Adams. 

“I want to reflect light, love, self-awareness, and honesty in my music. I’m excited about creating music that truthfully represents me” she goes on.

In the end, Kiki’s ultimately meant to share this feeling on the biggest stage possible.