Jamelia

Jamelia Niela Davis (born 11 January 1981) is a British singer, actor and television personality.

She has released three studio albums, each of which has reached the Top 40 in the UK, which collectively have spawned eight UK top-ten singles.

In addition, Jamelia has won four MOBO Awards, a Q Award and has received nine BRIT Award nominations.

Jamelia's professional music career began in 1999, when she released her debut single, "So High", followed by a more successful single, "I Do".

In late 1999, Jamelia recorded the single "So High", a collaboration with fellow R&B vocalist Rosita Lynch.

The single failed to chart in both the UK and mainland Europe, and did not appear on any of Jamelia's subsequent albums.

Following the poor sales of the single, Jamelia left Capitol Records, but was quickly signed up with record company Parlophone, a branch of EMI.

She then released her debut full-length studio album, Drama, in June 2000.

Jamelia went on to release further successful singles, including "Superstar" which charted at number three on the UK Singles Chart and number one in Australia, where it became platinum certified.

Taking some time to record her debut studio album, Drama (2000), Jamelia returned to the music scene in 1999 with the single "I Do", which became her first commercially successful single in the UK and mainland Europe, making the UK Top 40 and holding Top 20 positions in France and Sweden.

The single's mediocre chart success, however, led to the delay of the release of Money.

Jamelia's third single, "Money" (featuring rapper Beenie Man and co-written by UK The X Factor finalist Daniel De Bourg), was released in February 2000.

The single was the singer's breakthrough in the UK, peaking at number five and spending nine weeks in the UK Top 75; it later won a MOBO Award for Best Video in 2000.

Despite the success of Money, Drama did not make a major chart impression in the UK, where it peaked at number 39.

The third single from the album, "Call Me", reached number 11, and the fourth single, "Boy Next Door", peaked at number 42.

Recognition for the singer's early success came in late 2000 and 2001 at the BRIT Awards.

Jamelia was nominated for Best British Newcomer, Best British Video and Best British Female.

Jamelia recorded her second studio album, Thank You, in 2002 and early 2003 following the birth of her daughter Teja in 2001.

The first single lifted from Thank You was the R&B-influenced "Bout", on which she collaborated with American rap star Rah Digga; it debuted at number 37 in the UK.

She went on to further release another two studio albums, Thank You (2003) and Walk with Me (2006), before leaving Parlophone following a dispute with executives over the release of "No More", the third offering from Walk with Me.

The second single, the much poppier "Superstar", became Jamelia's highest peaking at the time when it peaked at number three, and earned the spot of the 26th best-selling of 2003 in the UK.

It remains Jamelia's only single to receive a BPI certification.

Parent album Thank You, released shortly after "Superstar", was widely expected to replicate the single's success, but entered the UK chart at number 65.

Subsequently, a number of record producers worked with Jamelia on a re-release of the album that featured new artwork and track listing, including two new songs: her collaboration with Coldplay's Chris Martin and DJ K Staveley, "See It in a Boy's Eyes", and "DJ".

Promoting the re-release, title track "Thank You" was issued shortly before.

Known to be Jamelia's favourite of her releases, the song became her highest-charting single to date in the UK, where it peaked at number two and received the 2004 MOBO Award for Best Single and a BRIT Award nomination in the same category.

The fourth single "See it in a Boy's Eyes" was released in mid-2004 and became Jamelia's third consecutive top five hit, winning a MOBO Award for Best Video and a Q Award for Best Single.

The success of Thank You resulted in five BRIT Award nominations for Jamelia in 2004 and 2005 for Best British Female, Best British Single, Best Female Solo Act, and Best British Urban Act.

The album became the 36th best-selling of 2004 and was certified double platinum by the BPI in recognition of 600,000 copies shipped to retailers.

Jamelia also contributed a cover version of Kool and the Gang's "Straight Ahead" for their remix/covers album The Hits: Reloaded.

In mid-2004, Jamelia collaborated with Italian singer Tiziano Ferro on "Universal Prayer" for the 2004 Olympic Games soundtrack.

Her filmography also includes her own TV documentaries, including Jamelia: Whose Hair Is It Anyway (2008), her own edition of the popular Channel 4 show, The House That Made Me and in 2011, her own BBC Three documentary, Jamelia: Shame About Single Mums.

Jamelia's ten-year-successful career span has led her to becoming a judge on shows such as Move Like Michael Jackson in 2009.

In 2010 she signed a new record deal with All Around the World Productions.

She was a panellist on the ITV magazine show Loose Women from 2013 until 2016.

Jamelia was born in Handsworth, Birmingham, to single mother Paulette Davis.

Both her parents are Jamaican; her father is from Spanish Town and her mother is from Westmoreland.

She grew up in nearby Hockley and attended a local primary school, Brookfields Primary School and then later attended the CTC Kingshurst Academy, formerly known as the City Technology College.

Jamelia was signed to Capitol Records at 15 after record producers heard recordings of her self-written a cappella songs that she had made on a karaoke machine.