Melanie Fiona

She is the daughter and second child of Guyanese immigrant parents, who immigrated to Canada in the late 1970s.

Her parents are of Afro-Guyanese, Indo-Guyanese, and Portuguese descent.

Her father was a janitor before working in finance, and her mother worked in banking.

Fiona began writing songs at age 16.

Living in a music-filled household, Fiona says she always knew music was her passion.

Her father was a guitarist in a band and would allow her to sit on the stage when she was younger as he would play.

Melanie Fiona Hallim (born July 4, 1983) is a Canadian singer and songwriter.

She was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario.

Melanie Fiona Hallim (who goes by Melanie Fiona professionally) was born on July 4, 1983, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

She began her career in 2002 as part of a Canadian R&B trio X-Quisite, who was nominated for a Juno Award for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year for their self-titled album (2004).

She went on to form the duo The Renaissance with hometown native Drake, although they released no albums.

In 2002, Fiona was part of a girl group called X-Quisite alongside Nicole Holness and Nirvana Savoury.

Signed to Warner Music Canada, the group released their self-titled debut studio album X-Quisite in 2003.

At the 2004 Juno Awards, the group was nominated as one of five finalists for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year for the album X-Quisite.

The group had a number of singles from the album, notably "Bad Girl" and "No Regrets".

The group disbanded in 2005.

She was also in a group called The Renaissance with rapper Drake.

Early in her career, she would perform at nightclubs in Toronto.

In 2005, Fiona traveled to Los Angeles, in search of a recording contract.

According to Fiona, record labels "loved" the way she looked and sung, but she "knew that the minute I worked with them or would have signed with them, they would have tried to change me into someone else completely different. That was something that I didn't want to do."

She went on to co-write songs for recording artists Rihanna and Kardinal Offishall, working with, amongst others, super producer Mike City.

Entrepreneur Steve Rifkind discovered and signed Fiona to SRC Records and Universal Motown through Title 9 Productions in 2007.

She went on to tour with Kanye West in his Glow in the Dark Tour Prior to completing her debut album, Fiona met with recording artist Jay-Z and his friend Tyty.

She played them some of her music and was then signed to be managed by Roc Nation.

Fiona also recorded the reggae song "Somebody Come Get Me" under the stage name Syren Hall, which was included in the Reggae Gold 2008 compilation album.

Hallim's debut studio album, The Bridge (2009), was preceded by her debut single, "Give It to Me Right", which peaked at number 20 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart and number 41 on the UK Singles Chart.

Her follow-up single, "It Kills Me,” became her breakout song on the US Billboard Hot 100 where it entered the top 50, peaked on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Her next single "Monday Morning" became her biggest hit in Europe to date. The Bridge also earned her a NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding New Artist.

She released her debut album, The Bridge, in June 2009, which has sold 248,000 copies in the United States.

Beyond Race Magazine ranked Fiona among "50 Emerging Artists" of 2009.

Other singles that were released were "Sad Songs" was released in April 2009 in the UK only as a digital download, with the reggae-tinged songs "Somebody Come Get Me" and "Island Boy" as B-sides.

"Sad Songs" did not chart in the UK.

"Give It to Me Right" was the first official single from The Bridge.

The song peaked at #41 in the UK but failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.

It did, however, reach #57 on the U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

"Monday Morning" charted in Switzerland and Poland at number 1 and in Austria at number 5.

It was released as the third U.S. single, however, "Bang Bang" was sent to radio as the second Canadian single for Canadian top 40 & hot AC play.

Due to "Priceless" not being released in Canada, "Monday Morning" served as the fifth single in Canada, due to hot adult contemporary radio station CKZZ-FM (Virgin Radio 953) in Vancouver having the song on its playlist.

Several singles were released from the album, including "It Kills Me", which topped the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for 10 weeks and earned her a Grammy Award nomination at the 52nd Grammy Awards for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

Hallie’s second studio album, The MF Life (2011), peaked at number 7 on the US Billboard 200.

The same year, Hallim won two Grammy Awards for Best Traditional R&B Performance and Best R&B Song for her song "Fool for You" with CeeLo Green.