In 1999, she appeared in the Encores! staged concert production of Do Re Mi, with Nathan Lane, Randy Graff, and Brian Stokes Mitchell. Headley’s performance was well received, and she then originated the title role in the Broadway adaptation of Aida, earning the Tony Award for Best Actress in 2000. Her breakthrough came the following year when she originated the role of Nala in the Broadway musical The Lion King. Headley’s stage career began in 1996 when she was cast as a member of the ensemble in the original Toronto production of the musical Ragtime where she was an understudy for Audra McDonald in the role of Sarah. She is featured in their song “How Great Is The Love” and “All Glory”. Headley regularly performs with Vertical Church Band, the worship team from Harvest Bible Chapel. In April 2019, the couple welcomed a third child, a daughter. Headley had her second son Jordan Chase August 18, 2014. On December 1, 2009, they welcomed their first child John David. In 2003, Headley married Brian Musso, an investment advisor who briefly played for the New York Jets.
Aftergraduate from Northrop High School, Headley attended Northwestern University from 1993 to 1996, to study communications and musical theater until the last day of her junior year, when she made the decision to become a part of the musical Ragtime and drop out of school.
Headley attended Northrop High School, and was a member of their resident show choir, Charisma, and starred as Fanny Brice in the school’s production of Funny Girl. In 1989, she moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana in the United States at the age of fifteen with her mother and brother Eric Junior when her father was offered a job as pastor of McKee Street Church of God with headquarters in Anderson, Indiana. Headley was born in Trinidad, the daughter of Hannah and Eric Headley (Barbadian).