Jamelia Pictures

Jamelia was born Jamelia Davis in Birmingham, England on January 11 1981. She was signed to Parlophone at the young age of 15, after impressing record executives with self-written a capella songs. In 2000, at age 18, she released her first album Drama. The most successful single was “Money” which featured guest vocals from Beenie Man which went top 5. She was nominated for five Mobo Awards which celebrate music of black origin in 2000, winning one.

Afterwards she retired (temporarily) from music business to give birth to a baby girl in March 2001. While bringing up her daughter Teja, Jamelia made plans for a comeback and in 2003 her sophomore album Thank You was released. The album went top 5 in the UK and sold over half a million copies. It featured her fifth top 40 hit, “Superstar”, a cover of Danish singer Christine Milton’s song, which gave her international success in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The single shot to #1 in Australia and was certified “platinum”. Follow up single “Thank You” went to number 2 in the UK and the track “See It In A Boy’s Eyes” which was co-written with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin also entered the top 5.

That year Jamelia won a record breaking three MOBO awards, winning all of the awards that she was nominated for and she was also one of the nominees for the Mercury Music Prize which celebrates the best of British music.