All about this artist
Biography:
Born Jamelia Niela Davis, 11 January 1981, Aston, Birmingham, West Midlands, England. This UK R&B singer provided one of the highlights of 2000, when her dramatic, quasi-operatic single "Money" broke into the UK Top 5. Davis grew up in the Midlands but her musical direction was influenced by America's urban R&B scene, a form of music, which by the late 90s had begun to dominate the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.
She signed a recording contract at the age of 15, and spent the next three years building towards her debut. She released a one-off single, "So High", for Capitol Records in May 1999, before debuting on Parlophone Records' Rhythm Series imprint two months later with "I Do".
This single reached the UK Top 40, but was overshadowed the following year by the success of "Money". The track's sweeping operatic hook and guest vocal from Beenie Man provided welcome relief from the glut of sound-alike urban material swamping the UK charts.
Her full-length debut, Drama, was released shortly afterwards. The singer then took an extended hiatus from her music career to raise her baby and deal with a number of personal problems. She returned to the scene in 2003 with an excellent new recording, Thank You, which was buoyed by the chart and radio play success of the lead-off single, "Superstar".
The sublime "See It In A Boy's Eyes", co-written with Chris Martin of Coldplay, also reached the UK Top 5. Her third album, Walk With Me, was also successful, with UK hits including "Something About You" and "Beware Of The Dog".
