Mya (singer)

:This article is about the R&B singer Mya. For other uses, see Mya (disambiguation).

Biography

Growing up in the Baltimore/D.C. area, Mya studied both singing and dancing as a child, at one point taking lessons in New York City from Savion Glover. As a teenager, she appeared as a panelist on BET's Teen Summit talk show.

Related Topics:
Baltimore - New York City - Savion Glover - BET

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In 1997, Mya signed a recording contract with Haqq Islam's University Records, after being brought to the label by her friends in the R&B group Dru Hill. The four members of the group, Tamir "Nokio" Ruffin, Mark "Sisqó" Andrews, Larry "Jazz" Anthony', and James "Woody" Green, wrote and produced half of Mya's eponymous debut album. The first two singles, "It's All About Me" and "Movin' On," were co-written by Sisqó; the former song also featured Sisqó on guest vocals, while the latter featured rapper Silkk Tha Shocker. The third single, the love ballad "My First Night With You", was written by Diane Warren. Although the singles all had substantial airplay on urban and rhythmic radio, they all also failed to cross over onto pop radio. Nevertheless, the videos for all three songs were MTV staples through 1998.

Related Topics:
1997 - Dru Hill - Tamir "Nokio" Ruffin - Mark "Sisqó" Andrews - Larry "Jazz" Anthony - James "Woody" Green - Silkk Tha Shocker - Diane Warren - 1998

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Besides her own work, Mya was a featured artist (she sang the chorus), with Ol' Dirty Bastard, on Pras' smash summer 1998 hit, "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)". During the fall of the same year, she also scored a pop hit as a featured vocalist on Blackstreet's "Take Me There", which also featured guest raps from Ma$e and Blinky Blink.

Related Topics:
Ol' Dirty Bastard - Pras - 1998 - Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are) - Blackstreet - Ma$e

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In 2000, Mya returned to the music scene with her second album, Fear Of Flying. Its first single, "Best Of Me," was an urban R&B song that featured rapper Jadakiss and had an even more urban hip-hop remix, which featured Jay-Z. Once again, the song and its remix were huge on urban radio, but did not have any pop success. Mya's first big pop hit came with the second Fear Of Flying single, "Case Of The Ex". The song's video was also huge on MTV's TRL. Following the success of "Case Of The Ex," Interscope re-released Fear Of Flying with a revised track order and two additional songs, including Mya's third single, "Free." "Free" was even more pop-friendly and also became quite successful on MTV, TRL, and pop radio.

Related Topics:
2000 - Jadakiss - Jay-Z - MTV - TRL - Interscope

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In spring of 2001, Mya joined forces with Lil Kim, Pink, and Christina Aguilera, on a remake of Patti LaBelle's "Lady Marmalade". The track was produced by hip-hop producers Missy Elliott and Rockwilder and was featured in Baz Luhrman's Moulin Rouge. The song's success was driven by its sexually suggestive video, which featured the four singers dressed in burlesque. Pink and Mya later described that the immodest concept almost prevented the video from being filmed (Mya appeared with a whipping switch in the video's opening scene); nonetheless, the video was a huge hit on MTV, VH1, and MTV2, and collected several MTV Video Music Awards in 2001. The song was also one of the year's biggest at pop, rhythmic, and even adult top 40--an unlikely supporter of any song at all urban-leaning--radio stations, receiving a dizzying 120+ plays per week at some American radio stations during the peak of its success. Though all four performers have had at least one subsequent mainstream hit, none of them has since achieved the same magnitude of chart success as they did with "Lady Marmalade".

Related Topics:
2001 - Lil Kim - Pink - Christina Aguilera - Patti LaBelle - Lady Marmalade - Missy Elliott - Rockwilder - Baz Luhrman - Moulin Rouge - VH1 - MTV2 - MTV Video Music Awards - Adult top 40 - Radio

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Around the same time, Mya also began to dabble in acting. She had a supporting role in the 2002 musical film, Chicago, and most recently in 2005's Cursed.

Related Topics:
Chicago - Cursed

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In the summer of 2003, Mya released the video for "My Love Is Like... Wo", the lead single from her third album, Moodring. The song was arguably Mya's poppiest solo song yet, which necessitated a more urban remix that sampled Black Rob's "Whoa"; despite lackluster support from the hip-hop crowd, the song managed to become a top 20 hit in the U.S. due to its mainstream pop success. The follow-up single was "Fallen", a poppier song still that was not commercially successful but whose video remains in fairly heavy rotation to this day on VH1 Soul. The concept for the video for "My Love Is Like...Wo" was developed by Mya herself; it is notable for a break in the middle which features Mya doing a tap dance.

Related Topics:
2003 - Remix - Sampled - Black Rob - Hip-hop - Pop - VH1 Soul - Tap dance

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Mya has recently collaborated with Australian R&B singer and Australian Idol winner Guy Sebastian, performing a duet with him on an album track from his second album, Beautiful Life.

Related Topics:
R&B - Australian Idol - Guy Sebastian

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