Keke Palmer to sing in Fox’s ‘Grease: Live’

Keke Palmer, the accomplished 21-year-old singer and actress from south suburban Robbins, will play one of the sassy Pink Ladies in Fox’s live TV presentation of “Grease,” the network announced Thursday.

As Marty Maraschino, the flirty teen played by Dinah Manoff in the 1978 “Grease” movie, Palmer will appear alongside Julianne Hough as Sandy and Vanessa Hudgens as Rizzo in the Jan. 31 broadcast, Fox’s first attempt to duplicate the success of NBC’s live adaptations of “The Sound of Music” and “Peter Pan.”

Palmer recently made Broadway history as the first African-American and youngest actress to star in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s iconic 1957 musical, “Cinderella.” On TV, she starred on Nickelodeon’s “True Jackson, VP” and Showtime’s “Masters of Sex” and as Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas in the VH1 film“CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story.” Her big-screen credits include “Barbershop 2: Back in Business,” “Akeelah and the Bee” and “Joyful Noise.”

She’ll appear on Fox this fall in the cast of the comedy horror series “Scream Queens.”