Mýa Marie Harrison (born October 10, 197,[1] known professionally as Mýa or Mýa Harrison, is an American R&B and pop singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, actress, and model who rose to fame during the late 1990s. She is best known for hits such as "It's All About Me", "The Best of Me", "Case of the Ex", a 2001 version of "Lady Marmalade" (for which she won a Grammy Award), and "My Love Is Like...Wo", as well as appearances in films such as Chicago (2002) and Cursed (2005).
Early life

Mýa was born and raised in Greenbelt, Maryland, near Washington, D.C.. She has two younger brothers named Chaz and Nigel and a younger sister Jasmine. Her father is African American and her mother is Italian-American. Mýa studied both singing and tap, at one point taking lessons in New York City from Savion Glover. As a teenager, she appeared as a dancer on BET's Teen Summit talk show. Mýa taught dance for several years before and after she became famous. She attended Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, where she graduated at age sixteen. Discovered her passion for dancing after seeing Michael Jackson's "Thriller".

[edit] Mýa

In 1997, Mýa signed a recording contract with Haqq Islam's University Records, after being brought to the label by her friends an R&B group Dru Hill. The four members of the group, Tamir "Nokio" Ruffin, Mark "Sisqó" Andrews, Larry "Jazz" Anthony', and James "Woody" Green, wrote and produced half of Mýa eponymous debut album, Mýa. The first two singles, "It's All About Me" and "Movin' On", were co-written by Sisqó; the former song also featured Sisqó on guest vocals, while the latter featured rapper Silkk da Shocker. Both songs reached top ten on the U.S. Billlboard R&B/Hip Hop chart while "It's All About Me" also reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The videos for these two songs and for her third single "My First Night With You" were MTV staples through 1998. Mya received 2 Soul Train Music Awards nomination for Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist for Movin' On and Best R&B/Soul Album Mýa (both beaten by Erykah Badu). The album was certified platinum on October 1, 1998. To date Mya's self titled debut album has sold over 2 million copies in the US alone.[1]

In addition to her solo work, Mýa was also a featured artist with Ol' Dirty Bastard on Pras' 1998 grammy nominated hit, "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)", from the Bulworth soundtrack. During the same year, Mýa also scored another hit as a featured vocalist on BLACKstreet's "Take Me There" from the The Rugrats Movie soundtrack, which also featured guest raps from Ma$e and Blinky Blink.

[edit] Fear of Flying

On April 25, 2000, Mýa released her second album, Fear of Flying. The album debut at number 15 on the Billboard 200 album charts with first week sales of 72,000 copies. Its first single, "The Best of Me", was an urban R&B song that featured rapper Jadakiss and had an even more urban hip hop remix which featured rapper Jay-Z. The song and its remix were hits at urban radio but did not crossover to mainstream radio. Mýa's biggest pop hit came with the second single, "Case of the Ex". The song reached #2 in the U.S. and its music video performed well on MTV's TRL. Following the success of "Case of the Ex", Interscope re-released Fear of Flying on November 7, 2000 with a revised track listing 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 at MTV's TRL and pop radio. "Fear Of Flying", landed Mýa a Soul Train Music Award nomination for R&B/Soul album. Eventually Fear of Flying went platinum on March 28, 2001 selling more than 1.2 million copies giving Mýa her second platinum album in the US. Although Fear Of Flying was received with mixed reviews, the album still became a huge commercial success for Mýa launching her career into superstardom. Fear of Flying hit nearly as hard as Mya's debut, remaining on Billboard 200 for a combine 52 weeks.[2]

[edit] Lady Marmalade

In May 2001, Mýa collaborated with Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, and P!nk on a remake of LaBelle's "Lady Marmalade". The track was produced by hip hop producers Missy Elliott and Rockwilder and was featured in Baz Luhrman's Moulin Rouge!. The single sold 5.5 million copies becoming the most successful airplay-only single in history [3].The song's success was driven by its sexually suggestive video, which featured the four singers dressed in burlesque outfits. P!nk and Mýa 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. Mýa along side Christina Aguilera, Lil'Kim, and P!nk not only performed at the Grammys, but also won a grammy for Best Pop Collaboration. "Lady Marmalade" went on to collect numerous awards including 2 MTV Video Music Awards for Video Of The Year and Best Video From a Film.

[edit] Moodring

After the release and success of Fear of Flying, Mýa 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, Mýa 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". Mýa also went on to become a spokesperson for the Coca Cola company along side Common with their ad campaign Real Compared To What.

In July 2003, Mýa released her third long awaited studio album, Moodring. In the U.S., it peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 albums chart selling more than 113,000 in its first week of sales, making it Mýa'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 Mýa acting as a "one woman circus", performing various circus tricks throughout the song. "My Love Is Like...Wo" was nominated for 2 MTV awards(one for Best Dance Video which was beaten by Justin Timberlake and one for Best Choreography in a Video which was beaten by Beyoncé). The album's second single, "Fallen" (which samples "Saudade Vem Correndo" by Stan Getz, as does "Runnin'" by The Pharcyde), was not as successful only managing to peak at #51 on the Billboard 100 single charts. Moodring was certified gold as of September 25,2003.

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

[edit] Liberation

Myá has been working on her fourth studio album on and off since 2004. Originally conceived as a project called Control Freak,[2] the album's first version was actually scheduled for a summer 2005 release and involving main production by Scott Storch, Dr. Dre, Lil Jon, Rockwilder and songwriter Sean Garrett.[2] Although she intended to release a dance track called "Let It Go" at a particular time,[3] the singer eventually decided to leave A&M Records in fall 2005 before signing a new contract with Motown Records.[4] Mýa began consulting a few other producers to collaborate on the album, renamed Liberation, including Bryan Michael Cox, Tim & Bob, Jonathan "J.R." Rotem and Tricky Stewart.[4] In mid-2006, however, a buzz single entitled "Ayo" was leaked onto the internet but due time-consuming "litigations, court, transitioning from label to label, teaching kids and building a studio"[5] Liberation was bumped from the schedule numerous times.

On March 5, 2007 the album's first single "Lock U Down," a Storch-produced collaboration with Lil Wayne, was sent to U.S. radios. The song failed to chart or sell noticeably, and thus the album was delayed once again, with no set release date. A second single entitled "Ridin'" was released in July 2007.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio albums

* Mýa (199 platinum (RIAA)
* Fear of Flying (2000) platinum (RIAA)
* Moodring (2003) gold (RIAA)
* Liberation (2007)