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Mıa Marie Harrison (born October 10,
1978), known professionally as Mıa or Mıa Harrison, is
an American R&B and pop singer, songwriter, record
producer, dancer, actress, and model who rose to fame
during the late 1990s. She is best known for hits such
as "It's All About Me", "The Best of
Me", "Case of the Ex", a 2001 version of
"Lady Marmalade" (for which she won a Grammy
Award), and "My Love Is Like...Wo", as well as
appearances in films such as Chicago (2002) and Cursed
(2005).
Early life: Mıa was born and raised in
Greenbelt, Maryland, near Washington, D.C.. She has two
younger brothers named Chaz and Nigel and a younger
sister Jasmine. Her father is African American and her
mother is Italian-American. Mıa studied both singing
and tap, at one point taking lessons in New York City
from Savion Glover. As a teenager, she appeared as a
dancer on BET's Teen Summit talk show. Mıa taught dance
for several years before and after she became famous.
She attended Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt,
where she graduated at age sixteen. Discovered her
passion for dancing after seeing Michael Jackson's
"Thriller".
Mıa: In 1997, Mıa signed a recording contract
with Haqq Islam's University Records, after being
brought to the label by her friends an 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 Mıa
eponymous debut album, Mıa. 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 da Shocker.
Both songs reached top ten on the U.S. Billlboard
R&B/Hip Hop chart while "It's All About
Me" also reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot
100 singles chart. The videos for these two songs and
for her third single "My First Night With You"
were MTV staples through 1998. Mya received 2 Soul Train
Music Awards nomination for Best R&B/Soul or Rap New
Artist for Movin' On and Best R&B/Soul Album Mıa
(both beaten by Erykah Badu). The album was certified
platinum on October 1, 1998. To date Mya's self titled
debut album has sold over 2 million copies in the US
alone.
In addition to her solo work, Mıa was also a featured
artist with Ol' Dirty Bastard on Pras' 1998 grammy
nominated hit, "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You
Are)", from the Bulworth soundtrack. During the
same year, Mıa also scored another hit as a featured
vocalist on BLACKstreet's "Take Me There" from
the The Rugrats Movie soundtrack, which also featured
guest raps from Ma$e and Blinky Blink.
Fear of Flying: On April 25, 2000, Mıa released
her second album, Fear of Flying. The album debut at
number 15 on the Billboard 200 album charts with first
week sales of 72,000 copies. Its first single, "The
Best of Me", was an urban R&B song that
featured rapper Jadakiss and had an even more urban hip
hop remix which featured rapper Jay-Z. The song and its
remix were hits at urban radio but did not crossover to
mainstream radio. Mıa's biggest pop hit came with the
second single, "Case of the Ex". The song
reached #2 in the U.S. and its music video performed
well on MTV's TRL.
Following the success of "Case of the Ex",
Interscope re-released Fear of Flying on November 7,
2000 with a revised track listing containing two new
songs, including the third single "Free".
(which was previously on the Bait soundtrack) and a new
track titled "Again and Again".
"Free" was even more pop-friendly and became
quite successful at MTV's TRL and pop radio. "Fear
Of Flying", landed Mıa a Soul Train Music Award
nomination for R&B/Soul album. Eventually Fear of
Flying went platinum on March 28, 2001 selling more than
1.2 million copies giving Mıa her second platinum album
in the US. Although Fear Of Flying was received with
mixed reviews, the album still became a huge commercial
success for Mıa launching her career into superstardom.
Fear of Flying hit nearly as hard as Mya's debut,
remaining on Billboard 200 for a combine 52 weeks.
Lady Marmalade: In May 2001, Mıa collaborated
with Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, and P!nk on a remake
of 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 single sold 5.5 million copies becoming the
most successful airplay-only single in history.
The song's success was driven by its
sexually suggestive video, which featured the four
singers dressed in burlesque outfits. P!nk and Mıa
later described that the immodest concept almost
prevented the video from being filmed; nonetheless, the
video was a huge hit on MTV, VH1, and MTV2, and
collected several MTV Video Music Awards nominations in
2001.
The song was also one of the year's biggest at pop,
rhythmic, and even adult top 40. Mıa along side
Christina Aguilera, Lil'Kim, and P!nk not only performed
at the Grammys, but also won a grammy for Best Pop
Collaboration. "Lady Marmalade" went on to
collect numerous awards including 2 MTV Video Music
Awards for Video Of The Year and Best Video From a Film.
Moodring: After the release and success of Fear
of Flying, Mıa began to dabble in acting with a
supporting role in the 2002 Academy Award-winning
musical film, Chicago, in which she would win a Screen
Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance.
In the following years, she continued appearing in films
such as Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004), Shall We
Dance? (2004), and Cursed (2005).
In 2004, Mıa appeared as a Bond girl in the video game
James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing; she also sang the
video game's theme song, "Everything or
Nothing". Mıa also went on to become a
spokesperson for the Coca Cola company along side Common
with their ad campaign Real Compared To What.
In July 2003, Mıa released her third long awaited
studio album, Moodring. In the U.S., it peaked at #3 on
the Billboard 200 albums chart selling more than 113,000
in its first week of sales, making it Mıa's highest
first week sales ever. The first single, the Missy
Elliott-produced "My Love Is Like... Wo",
became a top twenty hit in the U.S. due to its success
on mainstream radio. The video featured Mıa acting as a
"one woman circus", performing various circus
tricks throughout the song. "My Love Is
Like...Wo" was nominated for 2 MTV awards(one for
Best Dance Video which was beaten by Justin Timberlake
and one for Best Choreography in a Video which was
beaten by Beyoncé). The album's second single,
"Fallen" (which samples "Saudade Vem
Correndo" by Stan Getz, as does "Runnin'"
by The Pharcyde), was not as successful only managing to
peak at #51 on the Billboard 100 single charts. Moodring
was certified gold as of September 25,2003.
In 2003, Mıa posed for Maxim magazine; her pictorial is
featured on their Girls of Maxim gallery. She was also a
model for King magazine. Mıa has also appeared in
various print ads. She signed a six figure contract with
Ford Models in 2005.
Liberation: Myá has been working on her fourth
studio album on and off since 2004. Originally conceived
as a project called Control Freak, the album's first
version was actually scheduled for a summer 2005 release
and involving main production by Scott Storch, Dr. Dre,
Lil Jon, Rockwilder and songwriter Sean Garrett.
She founded the MYA ARTS FOUNDATION in
2005. Although she intended to release a dance track
called "Let It Go" at a particular time, the
singer eventually decided to leave A&M Records in
fall 2005 before signing a new contract with Motown
Records.
Mıa began consulting a few other producers to
collaborate on the album, renamed Liberation, including
Bryan Michael Cox, Tim & Bob, Jonathan
"J.R." Rotem and Tricky Stewart. In mid-2006,
however, a buzz single entitled "Ayo" was
leaked onto the internet but due time-consuming
"litigations, court, transitioning from label to
label, teaching kids and building a studio"
Liberation was bumped from the schedule numerous times.
On March 5, 2007 the album's first single "Lock U
Down," a Storch-produced collaboration with Lil
Wayne, was sent to U.S. radios. The song failed to chart
or sell noticeably, and thus the album was delayed once
again, with no set release date. A second single
entitled "Ridin'" was released in July 2007. |
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