Mya Bio

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Mí½a Marie Harrison (born October 10, 1979), professionally known as Mí½a or Mí½a Harrison, is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, actress, dancer, and choreographer.

Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Harrison's eponymous debut album with Interscope Records was released in April 1998, and sold over a million copies in the United States, producing the gold-certified top ten single "It's All About Me" featuring Sisqo. Her second studio album, platinum-selling Fear of Flying, was released in 2000 and became a success stateside and worldwide, with lead single "Case of the Ex" becoming Mí½a's breakthrough hit, reaching number-one on the Australian Singles Chart. A year after, Harrison won her first Grammy Award for the worldwide number-one hit "Lady Marmalade," a cover version she recorded alongside Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, and Pink for the soundtrack of the film Moulin Rouge! (2001). The singer's third album Moodring was released in July 2003 stateside and eventually certified gold by the RIAA. Following several label changes, Mí½a's often-delayed fourth studio album, Liberation (2007), received a download-release in Japan only and led to her 2008 Japan-exclusive album Sugar & Spice.

Having expanded her career to acting and product endorsement, Harrison has appeared in films such as Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004), Shall We Dance? (2004) and Cursed (2005). In 2002, she had a supporting role in the film adaptation of the 1975 Broadway musical Chicago, for which she won a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Mya: Early Life

Mí½a was born in Washington DC to Theresa, an accountant, and Sherman Harrison, a musician and singer. She was later deported to the U.S and raised in Glenn Dale, Maryland and graduated from Eleanor Roosevelt High School.Her father is Jamaican and her mother is Italian.

Mya: Recording Career

Mya - 1997-1999: Mí½a (debut album)

Mí½a released her self-titled, double-platinum debut album, Mí½a, on April 22, 1998. The album featured the massively successful singles "It's All About Me", "Movin' On", and "My First Night with You". The album's lead single "It's All About Me", a duet with fellow R&B singer Sisqó produced her first top ten hit and was certified gold on June 4, 1998. The album produced two more top forty hits "Movin' On", and "My First Night with You". Within the next six months Mí½a's self titled debut was certified platinum on October 1, 1998. The album garnered Mí½a two Soul Train Music Award nominations for Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist and Best R&B/Soul Album - Female.

In addition to her solo work, Mí½a was also a featured artist with Ol' Dirty Bastard on Pras' 1998 Grammy Award-nominated hit, "Ghetto Superstar", from the Bulworth soundtrack and "Take Me There" from The Rugrats Movie soundtrack, with Blackstreet and Mase.

Mya - 2000-2001: Fear of Flying

On April 25, 2000, Mí½a released her second album titled, Fear of Flying. The album debut at number fifteen on the Billboard 200 chart with first week sales of 72,000 copies. Upon initial release, the album seemed to be suffering from the dreaded sophomore slump. The album's lead single, "The Best of Me", featuring Jadakiss, was a dreamy midtempo tune that relies on Mí½a's throaty inflections. The song was a hit at urban radio but did not crossover to mainstream radio. "The Best of Me", one of the better pop songs of 2000, under-performed on the charts, not even making it into the pop Top 40. The album's second single, the confrontational "Case of the Ex" was a dance-heavy jam with attitude; on it, Mí½a confronts her man about an old lover who will not go away. "Case of the Ex" became Mí½a's breakthrough hit reaching number two on the Billboard Hot 100, number three on the UK Singles Chart, and number one on the Australian Singles Chart. With the success of "Case of the Ex", Interscope re-released Fear of Flying on November 7, 2000 with a revised tracklisting containing two new songs, including the third single "Free". (which was previously on the Bait soundtrack) and a new track titled "Again and Again". "Free" was even more pop-friendly and became quite successful on MTV's TRL and pop radio. Fear of Flying, landed Mí½a a Soul Train Music Award nomination for R&B/Soul album in 2001. Eventually Fear of Flying went platinum on March 28, 2001 selling more than 1.2 million copies in the U.S. Although Fear of Flying was received with mixed reviews, the album still became a huge commercial success for Mí½a launching her career into superstardom. Fear of Flying hit nearly as hard as Mí½a's debut, remaining on Billboard 200 for a combine 52 weeks.

In May 2001, Mí½a collaborated with Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, and Pink on a remake of Labelle's 1974 hit "Lady Marmalade". The track was produced by hip hop producers Missy Elliott and Rockwilder and was featured in Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge!. The single sold 5.5 million copies, becoming the most successful airplay-only single in history. The song's success was driven by its sexually suggestive video, which featured the four singers dressed in burlesque outfits. Pink and Mí½a later described that the immodest concept almost prevented the video from being filmed; nonetheless, the video was a huge hit on MTV, VH1, and MTV2, and collected several MTV Video Music Awards nominations in 2001. The song was also one of the year's biggest at pop, rhythmic, and even adult top 40. Mí½a alongside Aguilera, Lil' Kim, and Pink not only performed at the Grammy Awards, but also won for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. "Lady Marmalade" went on to collect numerous awards including two MTV Video Music Awards for Video of the Year and Best Video from a Film.

Mya - 2002-2003: Moodring

After the release and success of Fear of Flying, Mí½a began to dabble in acting with a supporting role in the 2002 Academy Award-winning musical film, Chicago, in which she would win a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance. In the following years, she continued appearing in films such as Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004), Shall We Dance? (2004), and Cursed (2005). In 2004, Mí½a appeared as a Bond girl in the video game James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing; she also sang the video game's theme song, "Everything or Nothing". Mí½a also went on to become a spokesperson for the Coca Cola company with labelmate Common with their ad campaign Real Compared to What.

In July 2003, Mí½a released her third studio album, Moodring. In the U.S., it peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 selling more than 113,000 in its first week of sales, making it Mí½a's highest first week sales ever. The first single, the Missy Elliott-produced "My Love Is Like...Wo," became a top twenty hit in the U.S. due to its success on mainstream radio. The video featured Mí½a acting as a "one-woman circus", performing various circus tricks throughout the song, and was nominated for two MTV Video Music Awards. The album's second single, "Fallen", was not as successful but reached the top forty on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

In 2003, Mí½a posed for Maxim magazine; her pictorial is featured on their Girls of Maxim gallery. She was also a model for King magazine. Mí½a has also appeared in various print ads. She signed a six figure contract with Ford Modeling Agency in 2005.

Mya - 2004-2008: Liberation and Sugar & Spice

Mí½a had been working on her fourth studio album on and off since 2004. Originally conceived as a project called Control Freak, the album's first version was actually scheduled for a mid-2005 release and involving main production by Scott Storch, Dr. Dre, Lil Jon, Rockwilder and songwriter Sean Garrett. Although she intended to release a dance track called "Let It Go" at a particular time, the singer eventually decided to leave her management and A&M Records in fall 2005 before signing a new contract with Motown Records. Mí½a began consulting a few other producers to collaborate on the album, renamed Liberation, and in mid-2006, a buzz track entitled "Ayo!" was released onto the internet. Due to time-consuming "litigations, court, transitioning from label to label, teaching kids [at the Mya Art & Tech Foundation] and building a [recording] studio" however, the song was never picked up as a single and the album's release was pushed back again. In March 2007, the album's actual lead single "Lock U Down", a Scott Storch-produced collaboration with Lil Wayne, was sent to radio. After its commercial failure, a second single entitled "Ridin'" was released, but as the song saw minor success on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart only, Liberation was delayed once more and eventually bumped from the U.S. schedule. As a result, the album was never released physically anywhere but in Japan.

In 2008, Mí½a parted ways with Motown and contracted with a Japanese label, Manhattan Records. Having worked on new material since mid-2007, her fifth studio Sugar & Spice received a Japan-wide in December 2008. Composed of production by less known producers, the album produced a new version of her single "Fallen," a cover of Diana King's hit "Shy Guy," as well as the first and final single "Paradise."

Mya is currently working on her 6th studio album due this summer and to be released on her own independent label, entitled Planet 9.