Heather Headley is different from the rest. You won’t find her shaking her booty or conforming to the current rules of the pop music industry.

The R&B singer from Trinidad and Tobago recently released her sophomore album after a four year layoff titled ‘In My Mind.’ And Headley can do more than cut an album. She’s already made a name for herself on Broadway as the lead in Elton John’s 'Aida' and later won a Tony for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical.

Headley took 5 Questions with Black Voices and discussed everything from illegal immigration to a possible return to Broadway in the near future.

‘In My Mind,’ your sophomore effort and your 2002 debut ‘This Is Who I Am,’ have both been commercial successes yet you've managed all that without much exposure on the pop landscape and certainly without having to project a booty shaking pop persona. What's your secret?

I think coming from the Broadway side, I had this mentality that I had done some things before and if I couldn’t do the albums a certain way then I could just say, “OK, I’ll walk away.” And also there is my spiritual side. I just kind of said “Look, I don’t want it to be this way.” I don’t want people to say what is Heather thinking? I wanted it to be a commercial success and I do want it to cross over to as many markets as possible but at the same time I wanted to maintain who I was and what I believe in.

Will there be a post ‘Aida’ return to Broadway for you anytime soon? Any film or TV projects coming up?

Yes. I do want to go back to Broadway. I had such a great time doing the show. So right now we are just looking for the right project. As soon as we get that, I will go back and do it. I really hate when people go “Oh, she left.” That’s not it. I’m just doing something different.

As a self defined "Triniamerican" what are your thoughts on the whole illegal immigration debate?

I’m very much in the middle I guess on that one. I am an immigrant and we are people who did it the right way. We went through the system. It was tough but it was done and my family migrated to the States. We have our papers. We are citizens. I do think people have to do things the right way. I don’t think we can just come into a country and demand they take us on that end. And any country has to have rules about people coming to their country. If all of us decided to go to Canada, something happened in the States and a bunch of Americans just decided “Hmm, we will all go to Canada.” Canada would be like “Hey! No!” Especially after 9/11, why should they make it easier?

You have said about your husband that when you found out he couldn't sing and wasn't in the entertainment biz that was one of the reasons you felt you could marry him. Why do you think that's so important -- that he not be in the same field as you?

The competition. I think a lot of times, we are competitive. The drama. You have seen couples that have been in the business together and there are few of them that make it. I watch with Faith Hill and her husband and I root for them. I think they have a grasp on it.

It’s just more fun if he doesn’t sing. I love hearing him sing in the bathroom and going “Gosh, that’s awful!” I love hearing him just kind of being excited about music and hearing great music and not being a critic. A lot of times he will come to me and say you could have sounded better or you did a great job.

If you could play any recording artist in a bio-pic who would it be and why?

That’s tough. There’s Ella Fitzgerald who I have loved for all my life. I was introduced to her by this guy in Trinidad who had a jazz band. And at 11 years old, he gave me her and Sarah Vaughn’s records and said I need you to learn this. And it took me two weeks to even learn how to sing it. It was completely above my head. But I thank him for introducing me to her. Now I think Ella Fitzgerald has one of the greatest voices ever. Her musicianship and her notes and her tone, for me, that’s everything.