Jamelia Niela Davis (born 11 January 1981), known professionally as Jamelia, is an English R&B singer. She made her breakthrough outside of Europe in 2003, when her single "Superstar" went top ten in multiple countries, including number one in Australia and New Zealand.
Jamelia was born in Smethwick, West Midlands, England to a Jamaican mother and a Zimbabwean father and raised in the Winson Green area of Birmingham. She was signed to Parlophone at the age of fifteen, after impressing record executives with self-written a cappella songs. In April 1999, Jamelia released her first single, "So High", although it was not until her second single, "I Do" that she charted inside the UK Singles Chart for the first time. In 2000, at the age of eighteen, she released her debut album, Drama, which peaked at number thirty-nine on the UK Albums Chart. The most successful single from the album was "Money", featuring a guest vocal from Beenie Man, which went top five. She was nominated for five MOBO Awards in 2000, winning one – "Best Video" for "Money". The album also spawned the successful follow-up single, "Call Me", and the final single, "Boy Next Door", which peaked just outside the top forty of the UK Singles Chart.
After the success of her debut album, she temporarily retired from the music business to give birth to a baby girl on 18 March 2001. While bringing up her daughter Teja, Jamelia made plans for a comeback and in 2003 her comeback single "Bout" was released, returning her to the UK top forty. In September 2003, her second album Thank You was released and peaked at number sixty-five. Prior to this, her fifth top forty hit, "Superstar", a version of Danish singer Christine Milton's song, was released. This song gave her her first taste of international success, especially in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. The single shot to number one in Australia and was certified Platinum. After the release of "Superstar", the album's third single, the title-track "Thank You", was released and became Jamelia's highest-charting single in the UK to date, peaking at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Her album, Thank You, was later re-released and reached number four, including two new tracks which later became singles, the Chris Martin-penned "See It in a Boy's Eyes" and "DJ", both further UK top ten singles.
In the autumn of 2004, she was asked to contribute to the Band Aid 20's number-one single "Do They Know It's Christmas?". At the same time, she released the theme song for the film Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, "Stop", a cover of Sam Brown's 1988 "Stop!", which became her fifth top ten hit in the UK as a double A-side with the aforementioned "DJ".
On 21 October 2005, Jamelia gave birth to her second daughter, Tiani Byfield. Tiani's father is Millwall striker Darren Byfield, whom she is also engaged to.
Jamelia's third album, Walk with Me, was released on 25 September 2006. Collaborations on the album include Afrika Bambaataa, who was featured on and produced "Do Me Right", and Sway, who was featured on "Hustle". The first single from the album was the R&B/rock fusion "Something About You", released on 11 September 2006, which peaked at number nine on the UK Singles Chart in September 2006. The second single was "Beware of the Dog", released on 4 December 2006, which features a sample from Depeche Mode's 1989 "Personal Jesus", a song covered by many artists including Johnny Cash in 2002 and Marilyn Manson in 2004. "Beware of the Dog" has been criticised for its similarity to Rihanna's 2006 hit song "SOS" but nonetheless, it gave Jamelia her second top ten hit from the album in the UK. It was also featured on the 2006 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Another track, "No More", contains a sample from The Stranglers' 1981 "Golden Brown".
On 25 November 2006, Jamelia collapsed while filming a TV appearance in Spain. She was rushed back to the UK where she was diagnosed with an umbilical hernia before undergoing micro surgery at St Mary's Hospital in London.
On 30 November, she caused controversy calling Javine a "slag" on Never Mind the Buzzcocks.[3] Javine responded by adding, "She's a fine one to talk, she has a baby to a different father after each album".
In December 2006, she performed "Dead Ringer for Love" with Meat Loaf at The Royal Variety Performance.
On 7 January 2007, Walk with Me re-entered the UK Albums Chart at number fifty-one due to many outlets including it in their cut-price post-Christmas sales. Wal-Mart owned supermarket chain ASDA are advertising the album at just £3. The following week the album rose again to number fourty-five.
According to recent reports, Jamelia has been dropped by Parlophone due to low sales of her latest album, Walk with Me. However, this news has not been confirmed by her record label and seems inaccurate as she is to shoot a video for the third single from Walk with Me, "No More", in the end of January 2007. Jamelia announced using her own personal account on her message board, that there will be a repackaged version of Walk With Me to follow shortly. She has been nominated for "Best British Female Solo Artist" at the 2007 Brit Awards.
source: wikipedia.org |
