Description

Shola Ama (born Mathurin Campbell, 8 March 1979, in Paddington, London) is an English singer who scored her biggest hit in 1997 with a cover of Turley Richards' "You Might Need Somebody". Ama was born in Paddington, London of a white father (Scottish and Irish) and St Lucian mother. She attended Quintin Kynaston School in the early 1990s. At 15 she was singing to herself on a platform at Hammersmith tube station, and was overheard by Kwame Kwaten, a producer at the FreakStreet record label. In 1995 an unknown independent label released a single titled "Celebrate", which was a ballad produced by D'Influence. Although the single was not a commercial success, it did draw attention to Ama as an artist. On her 16th birthday she signed a record deal with WEA. The single "You're The One I Love" was her first single release for WEA in 1996, although it barely made an impact on the charts, only managing to reach #85. Her second WEA single "You Might Need Somebody" remains her biggest hit. This Randy Crawford cover reached #4 in the UK charts.[3] It remained in the top 40 for almost 2 months, becoming one of 1997's biggest hits. A re-release of "You're The One I Love" followed and reached #3[3]. At 18 Ama released her debut album Much Love (1997). On the success of the album Ama won a Brit award for 'Best British Female' and two MOBO awards for 'Best Newcomer' and 'Best Female Vocals In 1999 Ama released her second album In Return. The project saw her working with top producers Fred Jerkins III, Stargate, Shaun Labelle, Full Crew, D-Influence Productions and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (formerly of A Tribe Called Quest). Co-writers included Angie Stone and Babyface with David Foster. Despite having huge amounts of capital being injected into it by her record company, "In Return" was a commercial flop. The disappointing sales of In Return and low self-esteem knocked Ama into a depression that saw her drinking alcohol heavily and becoming addicted to drugs. In late 2000 WEA, looking at the poor sales of In Return and negative press about her drink and drug dependence, dropped her. Following this, Ama took a break from recording. In 2002 she was ennobled as a Legend in the World Music Awards. Post-World Music Awards career In 2003 she went back into the studio to record her third album, Supersonic. Unable to obtain a major label deal, she instead formed a distribution deal with Pony Canyon. In 2004, she featured on the track "You Should Really Know", a response in song to Mario Winans' "I Don't Wanna Know". In late 2005 it was believed that Ama was heading back into the studio to record her fourth studio album. The album was expected to be released in mid 2007; however no news was heard on a release date. It had been reported the album's delayed release was down to the fact no major label was interested in picking up the album and signing Ama. She is also currently mentoring her sister Sadie Ama, who has recently signed a recording development and is expected to release an album some time in 2010 at the earliest. In April 2010, Shola was a guest judge for a girl group on the show Pineapple Dance Studios. Due to positive reviews, she is now pursuing other tv work. Shola is the featured vocalist on the new Perempay & Dee single "DJ Play". The song was officially released in October 2009 and got heavy rotation on the radio. Shola has also been featured in one of the London rapper Giggs's song Cut Above The Rest and later featured on his album Let Em Have It on a song called Blow Em Away.

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