Mya (singer)
Mya Marie Harrison, known professionally as Mýa, is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actress. She was born in Washington D.C. and studied ballet, jazz, and tap dance as a child. Her career began in television as a dance posse member on BET's Teen Summit. She signed with University Records, an imprint of Interscope Records to release her first album Mya. The album was led by her first single, "It's All About Me", which peaked within the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. Her subsequent collaborative singles, "Ghetto Supastar " and "Take Me There", were also met with commercial success.
Her second studio album, Fear of Flying, peaked at number 15 on the Billboard 200 and received platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America ; all three of its singles — "The Best of Me", "Free" and "Case of the Ex," — entered the Billboard Hot 100, the latter of which peaked at number two. Released the following year, her cover of the song "Lady Marmalade" —recorded for the 2001 musical film Moulin Rouge!—peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100, along with twelve international charts, and won Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards. Mýa was granted wider creative control of her third studio album, Moodring. The album spawned the singles "My Love Is Like...Wo" and "Fallen" and received gold certification by the RIAA.
Mýa signed with Universal Motown Records for her fourth studio album, Liberation. The album only received a limited release and she left the label the following year. In 2008, under the mentorship of J. Prince, Mýa established her own label, Planet 9, on which she released her fifth and sixth studio albums, Sugar & Spice and K.I.S.S. . Beginning in 2014, she released three R&B–rooted extended plays : With Love, Sweet XVI, and Love Elevation Suite. In 2016, her seventh album, Smoove Jones received a nomination for Best R&B Album at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards. Its follow-up, T.K.O. , commemorated the twentieth anniversary of her debut album.
Mýa has also ventured into acting across film, television, broadway, and gaming. She made her cinematic debut in the thriller In Too Deep. She has since appeared in roles in films including Chicago, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, Shall We Dance?, Cursed, Girls Cruise, and House Party. In 2009, Mýa competed in Dancing with the Stars season nine, finishing second place in the competition. Mýa has sold 3.2 million albums in the U.S. and 20 million records worldwide. Her accolades include a Grammy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award and two MTV Video Music Awards. Billboard listed her in their the Hot 100 Artists of the 2000s and Top 100 Women of the 21st Century lists.
Early life
Mya Harrison, a native of Washington, D.C., is the eldest of three children. Her father Sherman "Hajji" Harrison is a singer and performs in an R&B band, Jump Street and her mother Theresa worked as an accountant. She grew up in Prince George's County with her two younger brothers Chaz and Nijel. In her youth, Mýa dealt with bullying growing up as a biracial young person with a Black father and a white mother.She started ballet classes shortly afterward 1982, followed by tap and jazz, but lost interest when she was eight. At 12, she found videos of her dancing and her interest in dance was rekindled.
Mýa studied tapes of Tony Award winner Savion Glover until she learned his routines and then joined the group T.W.A.. She was solo before heading to New York to study with Glover in a residency with the Dance Theater of Harlem. Soon after, she earned a reputation for improvisation and Glover gave her a solo spot during a Kennedy Center performance.
Mýa subsequently appeared on BET's Teen Summit and began to teach dance to children when she was 14. She also had taken violin lessons since the fourth grade. Her strict upbringing emphasized the value of school and working hard to get good grades. When her father first heard her sing, he had her record demo tapes and took them to a club where he was playing. There he met A. Haqq Islam, President and CEO of University Music. Islam agreed to come to Mýa's home, where she sang him two En Vogue songs. Impressed with her audition, Islam signed her to a deal via his label and negotiated a distribution deal through Interscope Records.
After graduating from Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Maryland at 16, she enrolled in the University of Maryland in speech communications. Mýa left college after one semester to focus on preparing her debut album.
Career
1996–1999: Debut with ''Mya''
After signing with Interscope Records, Mýa spent the next two years recording her debut studio album. Islam hired a team of collaborators to work with her including Missy Elliott, Babyface, Diane Warren, Dru Hill, Darryl Pearson and Silkk Tha Shocker, while the staff at Interscope had envisioned to market Mýa as their main female R&B artist, competing with fellow teen singers Aaliyah, Brandy Norwood and Monica. Released in April 1998 to generally favorable reviews, Mya peaked at number 29 on the US Billboard 200 and sold 1.4 million copies domestically. It received a platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America, denoting shipments to US retailers of over 1,000,000 units. In total, the album sold two million copies worldwide. Mya yielded three successful singles, including her debut single, "It's All About Me" featuring fellow R&B singer Sisqó, which became a top-ten hit on the US Billboard Hot 100, as well as "Movin' On" and "My First Night with You".The album earned her several accolades including two Soul Train Music Award nominations for Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist and Best R&B/Soul Album – Female and an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding New Artist. In addition to her solo work, Mýa, along with Blackstreet, Blinky Blink, and Mase, was featured on "Take Me There" from the soundtrack of the Nickelodeon animated feature film The Rugrats Movie. It reached number one in the New Zealand Singles Chart and became a top twenty hit in several nations, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, and United States. Mýa also appeared with rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard on Pras' single "Ghetto Supastar", recorded for his debut solo studio album, Ghetto Supastar. A worldwide number-one hit, the song topped the charts in more than a dozen nations and earned Mýa her first Grammy Award nomination in the Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group category. "Ghetto Supastar" was also featured on the soundtrack for the political satire film Bulworth. In 1999, Mýa made her acting debut in the crime thriller film In Too Deep, directed by Michael Rymer. In the film, she played a young woman named Loretta starring opposite LL Cool J and Omar Epps.
2000–2002: ''Fear of Flying'' and ''Lady Marmalade''
In late 1999, Mýa began production of the album that would eventually become Fear of Flying with a variety of producers, including Rodney Jerkins, Swizz Beatz, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, and Wyclef Jean. The title was partially inspired by Erica Jong's 1973 novel of the same name. Mýa, who did some writing on her debut album, was heavily involved in the production of Fear of Flying, from writing and recording to producing, mixing, and mastering. Released in April 2000 to mixed reviews, Fear of Flying debuted at number 15 on the Billboard 200 with first week sales of 72,000 copies. Upon initial release, its first single "The Best of Me" featuring Jadakiss had underperformed on the charts and suffered from sophomore slump. The album's second single, "Case of the Ex", proved to be a different matter. "Case of the Ex" became Mýa's international breakthrough hit, topping the Australian Singles Chart for two consecutive weeks,while reaching number two and three in the US and the United Kingdom, respectively, and in turn, solidified Fear of Flying as a hit.
With the success of "Case of the Ex", Interscope rereleased Fear of Flying in November 2000, with a revised track listing featuring two new songs, including the third single "Free". Fear of Flying earned Mýa a Soul Train Music Award nomination for R&B/Soul Album – Female and a MOBO nomination for Best Album. A multiplatinum success, the album sold 1.2 million copies in the United States and eventually received a platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America. Subsequently, it earned gold certifications from Canadian Recording Industry Association and Australian Recording Industry Association.
In spring of 2001, Mýa paid tribute to Janet Jackson at MTV Icon. She performed Jackson's hit "The Pleasure Principle". By mid 2001, she had already amassed nine Top 10 hits and sold more than six million albums worldwide. The same year, she was featured on the Atlantis: The Lost Empire soundtrack, performing the Diane Warren-penned pop ballad "Where the Dream Takes You". The song was featured during the closing credits of the animated feature. Her next music project, Mýa collaborated with singers Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, and Pink on the remake of Lady Marmalade", which was the first single on the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack. A worldwide success, it reached number one in over fifteen countries, including the United States, where it spent five consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. At 2001 MTV Video Music Awards, "Lady Marmalade" was nominated for six awards and won two for Best Video from a Film and Video of the Year. In 2002, the quartet performed "Lady Marmalade" at the 44th Grammy Awards and won a Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.
After the release and success of Fear of Flying and "Lady Marmalade", Mýa began to dabble in acting with a small supporting role in the musical film, Chicago. In March 2003, she appeared on hip hop alternative group Jurassic 5's remix of "Thin Line".