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About Mika
Singer songwriter Mika
was born Michael
Holbrook Penniman on 18
August 1983 in Beirut,
Lebanon. He was the
third of 5 children,
with a Lebanese mother
and American father. The
family moved to Paris
when he was just 1 and
then to London when he
was 9. After leaving
school, he attended the
Royal College of Music
after which he was
signed by Casablanca
Records and went off to
record his first album.
His radio debut was on
Dermot O’Leary’s show on
Radio 2, with TV
appearances on Later
With Jools Holland and
The Friday Night Project
soon after.
Mika’s first single was
Relax, Take It Easy
which made it onto Radio
1’s playlist and was
chosen by Scott Mills as
Record of The Week. He
released an EP single
entitled Dodgy Holiday,
followed by the huge hit
single Grace Kelly which
reached number 1 on the
UK Singles Chart and
sold 3 million copies
worldwide.
The album Life In
Cartoon Motion came out
on 5 February 2007. The
songs on the album deal
with the transition from
child to adult and many
of them are
autobiographical. The
cover art for the album
was painted by his
sister Yasmine who works
as an artist under the
name Dawack. Life In
Cartoon Motion has sold
5 million copies to
date.
Mika released a limited
edition EP called Songs
for Sorrow in June 2009
and his second album in
September 2009. The Boy
Who Knew Too Much was
recorded in Los Angeles,
with themes that follow
on from his first album.
Producer Greg Wells, who
had worked on Life In
Cartoon Motion also
worked on this album as
well.
The first single to be
released from The Boy
Who Knew Too Much was We
Are Golden which entered
the UK Singles Chart at
number 4. The track
features the Andrae
Crouch Choir who sang on
Madonna’s Like A Prayer.
To celebrate the release
of We Are Golden, Mika
used Twitter to invite
fans for a drink at his
local pub. Over 300
turned up, and as
promised Mika bought
them all a drink – which
cost him approximately
£25,000!
Mika has been no
stranger to awards
ceremonies having
received a 2008 Grammy
nomination in the Best
Dance Recording category
for the song Love Today
and being nominated in 4
categories at the Brit
awards the same year;
eventually winning the
award for Best British
Breakthrough Act. He has
also been honoured with
an Ivor Novello award.
Media speculation often
focuses on whether or
not Mika is gay, a
subject on which he
refuses to be drawn. He
tends not to embrace the
celebrity lifestyle.
Having already toured
the world twice over,
Mika is currently
promoting his latest
album with a tour
planned for 2010.
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