Mya (singer)
Mya Marie Harrison (/ˈmaɪə/;[4] born October 10, 1979;[1] stylized as Mýa) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, record producer, and actress. Classified as a "triple threat entertainer,"[5][6] 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, performing on BET's Teen Summit. She signed with record executive A. Haqq Islam's University Records, an imprint of Interscope Records to release her eponymous debut studio album (1998), which lyrically explored romance and coming-of-age scenarios. Met with critical and commercial success, the album was led by her first single, "It's All About Me" (featuring Dru Hill), which peaked within the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. Her collaborative singles — "Girls Dem Sugar" (with Beenie Man), "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)" (with Pras and Ol' Dirty Bastard), and "Take Me There" (with Blackstreet and Mase) — were also met with commercial success.
For other uses of "Mya", see Mya (disambiguation).
Mýa
- Singer
- songwriter
- dancer
- record producer
- actress
1996–present
- Sherman "Hajji" Harrison
- Theresa Harrison
- Interscope
- A&M
- Universal Motown
- Manhattan
- University Music
- Planet 9
- The Orchard
Her second studio album, Fear of Flying (2000) was met with further commercial success and presented a more mature sound and image. It peaked at number 15 on the Billboard 200, received platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and was supported by the singles "The Best of Me" (featuring Jadakiss), "Case of the Ex," and "Free."[7] The following year, Harrison released the single "Lady Marmalade" with singers Christina Aguilera, Pink and rapper Lil' Kim for the 2001 musical film Moulin Rouge!. A cover of the namesake recording by funk rock band Labelle, it peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100 and 12 international charts, and won Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards.[8] Taking a more active role in the production of her forthcoming releases, Harrison was granted wider creative control of her third studio album, Moodring (2003).[9] The album spawned two charting singles – "My Love Is Like...Wo" and "Fallen" — and received gold certification by the RIAA.[7]
Following a departure from Interscope in favor of Universal Motown Records, her fourth studio album, Liberation (2007) was met with critical and commercial failure. Amid the leak of the album in Japan, she parted ways with the label following its release. In 2008, under the mentorship of J. Prince, Harrison established her own label, Planet 9.[10] Her fifth and sixth studio albums, Sugar & Spice (2008) and K.I.S.S. (Keep It Sexy & Simple) (2011) catered to the Japanese market as her most pop- and club-oriented releases.[11][12] Beginning in 2014, she released a trio of R&B–rooted extended plays (EPs) independently: With Love (2014), Sweet XVI (2014), and Love Elevation Suite (2015). 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. (The Knock Out) (2018), commemorated the twentieth anniversary of her debut album.
Aside from music, Harrison ventured into acting across film, television, broadway, and gaming. She made her cinematic feature film debut in crime thriller In Too Deep (1999). Following her debut, she has appeared in minor or supporting roles in films and television series such as Chicago (2002), Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004), Shall We Dance? (2004), 1-800-Missing (2004), NCIS (2005), Cursed (2005), Girls Cruise (2019), and House Party (2023). In 2009, Harrison competed in Dancing with the Stars season nine; finishing second place in the competition.[13] Harrison has sold 3.2 million albums in the U.S. and 20 million records worldwide.[14][15][16] Her accolades include a Grammy Award, a Screen Actor Guild Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award and two MTV Video Music Awards. Billboard listed her in the Hot 100 Artists of the 2000s listicle.[17]
Early life[edit]
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[18] and her mother Theresa worked as an accountant. She grew up in suburban Washington D.C., with her two younger brothers Chaz and Nijel.[19] Mya dealt with bullying growing up, as a biracial young person, with a Black father and a white mother.[20]
At the age of two, her father stood her in the Reflecting Pool between the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial, and she danced. She started ballet classes shortly afterward, in 1982, then tap and jazz, but lost interest when she was eight.[19] At 12, she found herself watching videos of her dancing and her desire suddenly rekindled.[19][21]
She studied tapes of Tony Award winner Savion Glover, the tap dance prodigy now best-known for the Broadway hit Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk, until she learned his routines and then joined the group T.W.A. (Tappers With Attitude). She went solo before heading to New York to study with Glover in a residency with the famed Dance Theater of Harlem. Soon after, she earned a reputation for improvisation and an impressed Glover gave her a solo spot during a Kennedy Center performance.[19][22]
Mya had subsequently appeared on BET's Teen Summit and taught dance to children ever since she herself 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. But when her father finally heard her sing, he had her record a couple of 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 listened to the tapes and agreed to come to Mya's home, where she sang him two En Vogue songs. Impressed with her audition, Islam signed her to deal via his label and negotiated a distribution deal through Interscope Records.[19][21]
After graduating from Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Maryland at 16, she later enrolled in the University of Maryland in speech communications. But preparations for the album were taking too much of her time and she left after one semester.[19][23]
Career[edit]
1996–1999: Debut with Mya[edit]
After signing with major label Interscope Records, Mya spent the next two years recording her debut studio album. Using his connections, Islam was able to hire an elite 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 Mya as their main female R&B artist, competing with fellow teen singers Aaliyah, Brandy and Monica.[24] 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.[25] It received a platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments to US retailers of over 1,000,000 units.[7] In total, the album sold two million copies worldwide.[26][27][28] 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".[24]
The album earned her several accolades, which included two Soul Train Music Award nominations for Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist and Best R&B/Soul Album – Female and a NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding New Artist.[27][29] In addition to her solo work, Mya, along with Blackstreet, Blinky Blink, and Mase, was featured on "Take Me There" from the soundtrack of the animated feature film The Rugrats Movie (1998). 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.[30] Harrison also appeared with rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard on Pras' single "Ghetto Supastar", recorded for his debut solo studio album, Ghetto Supastar (1998). A worldwide number-one hit, the song topped the charts in more than a dozen nations and earned Mya 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.[30] In 1999, Mya 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.[31] In Too Deep received generally mixed reviews,[32][33] but managed to recoup its budget.[34]
2000–2002: Fear of Flying and "Lady Marmalade"[edit]
Additionally in late 1999, Mya began production on an album that would eventually become Fear of Flying, which involved 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 same-titled 1973 novel, which shared a lot of similarities toward female sexuality and development of second-wave feminism. Mya, 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.[35] 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 the dreaded sophomore slump.[36] The album's second single, the confrontational "Case of the Ex", proved to be a different matter. "Case of the Ex" became Mya's international breakthrough hit, topping the Australian Singles Chart for two consecutive weeks,[37]
while reaching number two and three in the US and the United Kingdom, respectively, and in turn, solidified Fear of Flying as a hit.[38][39]
With the success of "Case of the Ex", Interscope re-released Fear of Flying in November 2000, with a revised track listing featuring two new songs, including the third single "Free". Fear of Flying earned Mya a Soul Train Music Award nomination for R&B/Soul Album – Female and a MOBO nomination for Best Album.[40][41] A multiplatinum success,[42] the album sold 1.2 million copies in the United States and eventually received a platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America.[25][7] Subsequently, it earned gold certifications from Canadian Recording Industry Association and Australian Recording Industry Association.[7]
In spring of 2001, Mya paid tribute to Janet Jackson at MTV Icon. She performed her own rendition of Jackson's classic hit "The Pleasure Principle".[43] By mid 2001, she had already amassed an impressive nine Top 10 hits and sold more than six million albums worldwide.[44] 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.[45] Her next music project, Mya collaborated with singers Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, and Pink on the remake of Labelle's 1975 hit "Lady Marmalade", which served as the first single from the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack.[46] 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.[47][48] 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.[49][50] In 2002, the quartet performed "Lady Marmalade" at the 44th Grammy Awards and won a Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.[8][51]
After the release and success of Fear of Flying and "Lady Marmalade", Mya began to dabble into acting with a small supporting role in the musical film, Chicago (2002), based on the stage-musical of the same name. Directed by Rob Marshall, it grossed more than $306.8 million worldwide and was critically lauded, winning Mya several awards in the ensemble categories, including the Critics' Choice Movie Award and the Screen Actors Guild Award.[52] In March 2003, Mya appeared on hip hop alternative group Jurassic 5's remix version of the song "Thin Line". Chosen as their second single and more R&B driven, "Thin Line" addressed the tension that often exists in platonic male-female relationships.[53]
Other ventures[edit]
At the age of 18, Harrison served as an ad print spokeswoman for Bongo Jeans and had a Tommy Hilfiger lipstick shade named after her.[168] In Fall 2000, she became a spokesperson for Iceberg jeans and featured in print ads in magazines.[169][170] Harrison signed an endorsement deal with Coca-Cola in 2002, which included appearances on television commercials. She and then-label mate Common recorded a cover version of Ed Harris' "Real Compared To What". The commercial made its debut in 2003 at the American Music Awards and featured Mya in a 90-second commercial singing a jazzy cover version of the song alongside Chi-town rapper Common.[171][172][173] In early 2003, Mya recorded an updated version of the Simon & Garfunkel classic hit "Feeling Groovy" for GAP television ads. The music for the spot was produced by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis.[174] In late 2003, Mya performed the original theme song, "Everything or Nothing", for the then-latest video game in the Bond franchise – 007: Everything or Nothing. Mýa also appears in the game as the NSA agent sultry Bond girl "Mya Starling". Mya co-wrote and co-produced the song with Randy Bugnitz and A&M president Ron Fair, and three variations of the theme appeared in the game.[175] In 2005, Motorola signed Mya and eight other artists to appear in a television commercial promoting its first iPod music phone, the Motorola rokr. The commercial starred Madonna and Iggy Pop alongside Little Richard, Bootsy Collins, Amerie, Alanis Morissette and look-alikes of Beethoven, Jimi Hendrix, and The Notorious B.I.G.[176] Additionally in 2005, Mya signed to Ford Modeling agency and appeared in a variety of ad campaigns.[177] On March 1, 2010, Escada announced that Mya would host the celebration to introduce their newest scent, Marine Groove, on March 13 in Miami Beach.[178][179]
Personal life[edit]
Health and wellness[edit]
Mya is a vegan (previously a vegetarian and pescatarian) and has promoted the vegan lifestyle on PETA's behalf.[180][181][182] Her lifestyle includes a cruelty-free diet and the use of natural beauty products.[183]
In an interview with Essence, Mya discussed in-depth her beauty tips.[183] Following the launch of her music career, she shared she eliminated processed foods and sodas from her diet.[183] In addition, she touched on mental health and commented she writes and keep a diary or journal with her on the road to keep track of her feelings which uses to keep her sane as well as prayer.[183] When it comes to stage performances, photo shoot, and music videos, the singer noted she uses vegan cruelty free cosmetic products.[183]
Since 2013, Mya has been married to herself. On her decision to marry herself, she explained, "It was all about self-care, self-love and getting myself back after a toxic relationship." Further adding, "It's not about anything like 'all men are bad' or anything like that. It's really about becoming your best self and making sure that you're leveling up in all aspects of your life."[184]
Philanthropy[edit]
In 2005, Mya created her own nonprofit organization, The Mya Arts & Tech Foundation, which is dedicated to "providing disadvantaged youth growth and opportunity through arts and technology education".[185] In 2007, she was featured in Heatherette's Fashion Show for Lifeball in Vienna, Austria to fight against Global AIDS.[186] Mya has hosted fundraisers for Skool'd to aid homeless LGBT youth,[187] while also advocating for gay rights by opening the Out 100 Awards.[188] In 2009, she continued her philanthropic efforts by chairing the 2009 Operation Smile Event,[189] participating in the literary project, If I'd Known Then: Women in Their 20s and 30s Write Letters to their Younger Selves, by Ellen Spraggins,[190] and accepting an honoree award for her work with the NSAL.[191] In 2010 she was a part of various PSA campaigns including, Cyndi Lauper's True Colors: Give A Damn,[192] NOH8 ,[193] and NSAL 2010. Most recently, Mya collaborated with singer Dionne Warwick on the gospel song "Let There Be Light". It featured a supergroup of Gladys Knight, Billy Ray Cyrus, Joe Don Rooney (Rascal Flatts), Kevin Sorbo, John Elefante (former lead singer of Kansas), Damon Elliott, The Sorbo Family, Yoni Gordon and Lucas Vidal.[194] Released October 18, 2017,[195] all of the song's proceeds were donated to non-profit organization Feeding America. In March 2022, Mya became World Animal Protection's first U.S. celebrity ambassador.[196]
Legacy and influence[edit]
Vogue's Alex Frank credits Mya as an influence of Y2K R&B.[197] Writing for Vogue, Frank alludes that R&B stars Tinashe, FKA twigs, and Jhené Aiko "echoed a familiar kind of sound"; the sultry, futuristic music of R&B/pop singer Mya.[197] He acknowledged Mya's capabilities to "elbowed out the crunchy catchiness of Britney Spears and aggression of Kid Rock" with interesting, seductive music and dubbed Harrison's brand of R&B as neo-R&B—an innovative take on a beloved genre that promised a way forward.[197] Essentially, he observed, "with the dominant sounds of R&B production at the time", Mya was capable of "creating something preppy and poppy and radio-friendly that kept pace with the Britneys and the N'Syncs without sacrificing experimentation."[197] While he accepted the three women currently dominating the genre, Tinashe, Jhené Aiko, and FKA Twigs, "have been endlessly likened" to Aaliyah.[197] He interjects noting, "you can hear [Mya] in their cross-generational appreciation of subtle, almost anti-pop that still places a premium on powerfully catchy choruses and light, airy vocals." Elaborating, "You can see it in their nose rings and crop tops."[197] Thus, Frank concluded with "though Harrison's career didn't last, it's clear that her influence has."[197] Lewis Dene of BBC Music applauded Mya's ability to continue to "shrewdly bridge the gap between pop/R&B and street-level hip hop."[154] The Daily Beast's Stereo Williams recognized Mya as a trailblazer for artists like Tinashe and Kehlani while concluding her legacy is one that warrants celebrating.[198] Music website Idolator epitomized "Case of the Ex (Whatcha Gonna Do)" as "everything that was great about turn-of-the millennium R&B".[199] Essence and The Washington Post identifies Mya as a classic "triple threat", commenting, "now having acted in such films as Havana Nights and Chicago and proved, under Savion Glover's aegis, she's a formidable dancer." However, noted "Mya's strongest trump card, overall, is charisma, one that mixing sweet, innocent girl next door and feisty hip-hop princess down the block."[5][6] Mya has been credited as an influence or inspiration by Melissa Steel,[200] Liz,[201] Ari Lennox,[202] Ray BLK,[203] Natasha,[204] D∆WN (dance),[205] Normani,[206][207][208] Jazzy Amra,[209] Sir Babygirl,[210] Princess Nokia,[211] Harloe,[212][213] Chlöe,[214] Victoria Monét, [215][216][217] iLoveMakonnen, [218] Child Actor, [219] Dungeonesse, [220] Vessel,[221] and Kyla.[222]
Studio albums
Headlining
Co-headlining
Opening act
Featured act