Ella Mai

Ella Mai Howell (born 3 November 1994) is an English R&B singer.

Ella Mai was born on 3 November 1994 to a Jamaican mother and an English-Irish father in London.

H.E.R. mother, a lover of American jazz music, named H.E.R. after Ella Fitzgerald.

Mai moved from London to New York City at the age of 12 when H.E.R. mother took on a teaching job there.

Mai's transition to life in New York City was difficult because she was often bullied for H.E.R. accent.

Mai graduated from Queens High School of Teaching in Glen Oaks, Queens, before returning to England aged 17.

H.E.R. musical career began at London's British and Irish Modern Music Institute in 2014, during which time she auditioned as part of a trio on the 11th season of The X Factor.

Ella Mai's singing career began studying at the British and Irish Modern Music Institute London (BIMM London) in 2014.

During that time she competed on series 11 of The X Factor as part of a trio, 'Arize', but didn't advance beyond the initial audition for the judges.

The group broke up shortly thereafter.

In 2015, she released H.E.R. debut four-track solo extended play (EP), Troubled in October of that year.

The EP and H.E.R. performances on social media were discovered by American record producer DJ Mustard, who then signed Mai to his record label 10 Summers Records, an imprint of Interscope Records.

In 2015, Mai uploaded a four-track solo EP of original recorded songs to SoundCloud titled Troubled.

After its release, Mai was discovered on Instagram and signed to American hip hop producer DJ Mustard's label, 10 Summers Records, which operates as apart of Interscope Records.

From 2016 to 2018, she released three additional EPs on the label, including Time, Change, and Ready.

In February 2016, she released Time, the first in H.E.R. EP trilogy.

The six-track EP included the single "She Don't", which featured Mustard's frequent collaborator, singer Ty Dolla Sign.

She released H.E.R. second EP, Change, in November 2016 and third, Ready, in February 2017.

"Boo'd Up", which was featured on the EP, rose in popularity on social media as well as in nightclubs over the next few months.

Ella Mai toured with Kehlani on H.E.R. SweetSexySavage World Tour.

H.E.R. self-titled debut studio album (2018) was preceded by the singles "Boo'd Up" and "Trip", which peaked at numbers five and 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively.

After Mai served as the opening act on Kehlani's tour, H.E.R. music reached a bigger audience and the song grew on radio airplay in the spring of 2018.

On 26 April 2018, she released a music video for "Boo'd Up" after it started to gain popularity.

The song became H.E.R. first top ten song in the US in the following month, deeming it H.E.R. "breakthrough hit."

Rolling Stone wrote that the single is "one of the biggest singles by a breakout female R&B singer in the past 10 years."

The single peaked at number five on the US Billboard Hot 100, and broke the record for the most weeks at number one of any song by a woman on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart.

On 14 August, she joined Bruno Mars on the 24K Magic World Tour after Cardi B dropped out.

On 3 August, she released the single "Trip", with an accompanied music video releasing on 18 September.

The song peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Ella Mai released H.E.R. self-titled debut album, a 16-track set featuring "Boo'd Up", on 12 October 2018, with guest appearances from Chris Brown, John Legend, and H.E.R. The album sold 69,000 album-equivalent units with 17,000 coming from pure sales.

On 22 October 2018, Mai announced H.E.R. debut tour set to begin in January 2019.

In November, she made two guest appearances on JID's song "Tiiied", along with 6lack and on Meek Mill's song "24/7", on the albums Dicapiro 2 and Championships respectively.

On 18 November, she performed on Saturday Night Live with Jezebel describing Mai as "Pure '90s R&B Heartthrob".

Mai was also nominated for two Grammy Awards: Best R&B Song and Song of the Year with "Boo'd Up", winning for the former.

The former won Best R&B Song and a nomination for Song of the Year at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, while Mai herself was a nominee for British Breakthrough Act at the Brit Awards 2019.

That same year, she won three awards at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards, including Top R&B Artist.

H.E.R. second studio album, Heart on My Sleeve (2023) failed to reach the UK Albums Chart, but performed moderately on the US Billboard 200.

"Boo'd Up" would go onto to win the 2019 Billboard Music Award for Top R&B Song.

In 2019, Mai won the Billboard Music Awards for Top R&B Artist and Top Female R&B Artist.

Apart from H.E.R. music, Mai also performed a sketch on Nickelodeon's All That (which aired on 27 July 2019) called "Boo'd Up", a paranormal parody of The Dating Game, in which she played herself as a contestant looking for a ghost to haunt H.E.R. family home, but instead of choosing the three suitors offered, she chose H.E.R. former ghost who came back and she forgave him.