Jamelia

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Jamelia

Background information
Birth name	Jamelia Niela Davis
Born	January 11, 1981 (age 26)
Origin	Smethwick, West Midlands, England
Genre(s)	R&B
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter
Years active	1999–present
Label(s)	Parlophone
Website	Jamelia.com

Jamelia Niela Davis (born 11 January 1981), known professionally as Jamelia, is an English R&B singer, songwriter and occasional model. She made her breakthrough outside of Europe in 2003, when her single "Superstar" went top ten in multiple countries, including number one in Australia and New Zealand.

1 Biography
2 Drama: musical beginnings
3 Thank You: international success
4 Walk with Me: critical highs
5 Discography
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Biography

Jamelia was born in Smethwick, West Midlands, England to a Jamaican mother and a Zimbabwean father^[1] and raised in the Winson Green area of Birmingham. She was signed to Parlophone at the age of fifteen, after impressing record executives with self-written a cappella songs.

Jamelia is now living in Wolverhampton.

[edit] Drama: musical beginnings

In 1999, Jamelia released her first single, "So High" in the UK, however the song failed to chart there. ^[2]. It wasn't until her second single released later in 1999, "I Do", that Jamelia scored her first entry inside the UK Singles Chart. In 2000, at the age of eighteen, she released her debut album, Drama, which peaked at number thirty-nine on the UK Albums Chart. The most successful single from the album was "Money", featuring a guest vocal from Beenie Man, which went top five. She was nominated for five MOBO Awards in 2000, winning one – "Best Video" for "Money". The album also spawned the successful follow-up single, "Call Me", and the final single, "Boy Next Door", which peaked just outside the top forty of the UK Singles Chart.

[edit] Thank You: international success

After the success of her debut album, she temporarily retired from the music business to give birth to a baby girl on 18 March 2001. While bringing up her daughter Teja, Jamelia made plans for a comeback and in 2003 her comeback single "Bout" was released, returning her to the UK top forty. In September 2003, her second album Thank You was released and peaked at number sixty-five. Prior to this, her fifth top forty hit, "Superstar", a version of Danish singer Christine Milton's song, was released. This song gave Jamelia her first taste of international success, especially in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. The single shot to number one in Australia and was certified Platinum. After the release of "Superstar", the album's third single, the title track "Thank You", was released and became Jamelia's highest-charting single in the UK to date, peaking at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Her album, Thank You, was later re-released and reached number four, including two new tracks which later became singles, the Chris Martin-penned "See It in a Boy's Eyes" and "DJ", both further UK top ten singles.

In 2004 Jamelia guest presented the music show Popworld.

In spring 2004 Jamelia was signed by the prestigious model agent ICM and became the face/legs of Pretty Polly in a high profile advertising campaign, shortly afterwards she was featured in a poster campaign for Reebok.

In the autumn of 2004, she was asked to contribute to the Band Aid 20's number-one single "Do They Know It's Christmas?". She sang a solo section of the hit along with veteran soul singer Beverley Knight. At the same time, she released the theme song for the film Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, "Stop", a cover of Sam Brown's 1988 "Stop!", which became her fifth top ten hit in the UK as a double A-side with the aforementioned "DJ".

In December 2004 Jamelia appeared on the front cover of British Elle magazine.

High sales of the album contributed with awards and nominations throughout the whole of 2004 and 2005. The 2004 MOBO Awards saw Jamelia take away three of the most prestigious awards and being the biggest artist of the night, whilst Jamelia received three Brit Award nominations in 2005.

During this period, Jamelia entered the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge, hosted by Jo Whiley. During this session she recorded her own version of the Linkin Park song, Numb. Many fans have hailed this as one of her best songs yet, and Jamelia has since performed her version during her 2004 UK Arena Tour.

For a period in 2005 Jamelia was the face of Jaguar Cars.

In September 2005 Jamelia became the face of the maternity wear company Seraphine in association with Tommy's, the baby charity.

On 21 October 2005, Jamelia gave birth to her second daughter, Tiani Byfield. Tiani's father is Millwall striker Darren Byfield, whom she is also engaged to.

In April 2006 Jamelia appeared on the front cover of Harpers & Queen magazine and in August 2006 the cover of British Cosmopolitan.

[edit] Walk with Me: critical highs

Jamelia's third album, Walk with Me, was released on 25 September 2006. Collaborations on the album include Afrika Bambaataa, who was featured on and produced "Do Me Right", and Sway, who was featured on "Hustle". The first single from the album was the R&B/rock fusion "Something About You", released on 11 September 2006, which peaked at number nine on the UK Singles Chart in September 2006. The second single was "Beware of the Dog", released on 4 December 2006, which features a sample from Depeche Mode's 1989 "Personal Jesus", a song covered by many artists including Johnny Cash in 2002 and Marilyn Manson in 2004. "Beware of the Dog" has been criticised for its similarity to Rihanna's 2006 hit song "SOS" but nonetheless, it gave Jamelia her second top ten hit from the album in the UK. It was also featured on the 2006 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Another track, "No More", contains a sample from The Stranglers' 1981 "Golden Brown".^[3]

On 25 November 2006, Jamelia collapsed while filming a TV appearance in Spain. She was rushed back to the UK where she was diagnosed with an umbilical hernia before undergoing micro surgery at St Mary's Hospital in London.

On 30 November, she caused controversy calling Javine a "slag" on Never Mind the Buzzcocks.^[4] Javine responded by adding, "She's a fine one to talk, she has a baby to a different father after each album".^[5]

In December 2006, she performed "Dead Ringer for Love" with Meat Loaf at The Royal Variety Performance.

On 7 January 2007, Walk with Me re-entered the UK Albums Chart at number fifty-one due to many outlets including it in their cut-price post-Christmas sales. Wal-Mart owned supermarket chain ASDA are advertising the album at just £3. The following week the album rose again to number forty-five. There were reports that Jamelia had been dropped from Parlophone, but those reports were buried by Jamelia who said on her official forum that, "obviously a label investing in another single and album relaunch is not conducive to dropping an artist". Jamelia is set to release the third single, "No More", on 19 March and a new re-release of Walk with Me following afterwards ^[6] Despite this, however, no re-release of Walk with Me came into fruition and "No More" became the first single since "Boy Next Door" to miss the UK top forty.

In January 2007 Jamelia launched a new fragrance as part of a campaign to increase awareness of HIV and AIDS. Proceeds from the sale of every bottle of Rougeberry will be donated to MTV's Staying Alive Foundation. Jamelia has most recently been seen on the cover of Company magazine and in a high profile poster shot by Mary McCartney for the animals right charity PETA, she appears naked under the headline Be comfortable in your own skin and let animals keep theirs.

The campaign group released her image to coincide with the start of London Fashion Week. Jamelia appeared on an episode of Top Gear, broadcast on 4 March 2007, being chauffeured to the 2007 Brit Awards in a convertible stretch limousine by Richard Hammond. Davis has recently announced that she has been taking acting lessons and is considering a move into film or television.

[edit] Discography

Further information: Jamelia discography

[edit] Albums

Cover	Information
	Drama Released: 26 June 2000 Chart positions: #39 UK UK certification: —
	Thank You Released: 29 September 2003 Chart positions: #4 UK, #1 UK R&B, #16 NZ, #52 FRA, #56 GER, #62 AUT, #63 AUS UK certification: Platinum^[7]
	Walk with Me Released: 25 September 2006 Chart positions: #20 UK, #67 IRE UK certification: —

[edit] Singles

Year	Single	Chart positions								Album
Year	Single	UK	IRE	AUS	NZ	FRA	GER	SWI	EUR	Album
1999	"So High"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1999	"I Do"	36	—	—	—	4	15	—	—	Drama
2000	"Money" (featuring Beenie Man)	5	18	—	—	5	9	—	—
	"Call Me"	11	—	—	—	10	19	—	—
	"Boy Next Door"	42	—	—	—	56	50	—	—
2003	"Bout" (featuring Rah Digga)	37	—	—	—	16	17	—	—	Thank You
2003	"Superstar"	3	19	1	1	3	4	2	2
2004	"Thank You"	2	10	7	8	3	46	35	10
	"See It in a Boy's Eyes"	5	11	35	—	5	8	—	21
	"DJ"/"Stop"	9	11	37	—	26	56	36	38	Thank You Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason soundtrack
2006	"Something About You"	9	28	17	—	—	59	46	32	Walk with Me
2006	"Beware of the Dog"	10	48	—	29	—	63	—	68
2007	"No More"	43	TBR	TBR	TBR	TBR	TBR	TBR	TBR

[edit] Collaborations

Year	Single	Chart positions								Album
Year	Single	UK	IRE	AUS	NZ	FRA	GER	SWI	EUR	Album
2004	"Universal Prayer" (with Tiziano Ferro)	—	—	—	—	52	34	31	59	Unity: The Official Athens 2004 Olympic Games Album Thank You (international edition)