Cinderella Sanyu (professionally known as Cindy or Cindy Sanyu) is a

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

n musician. She was one of the original members of

Blu*3 Blu 3 was a Ugandan all-female band formed in April 2004 after winning the TV show Coca Cola ''Popstars''. The name is contrived to mean 3 Beautiful (or Black) Ladies from Uganda. Original members were Jackie Chandiru, Lilian Mbabazi and Cindere ...

which also consisted of Lilian Mbabazi and

Jackie Chandiru Jackie Chandiru is a Ugandan musician popularly known by the polynym "Queen Of The Nile". She was the lead member of the girl music group Blu*3, based in Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city. In 2014, she was a featured artist in "Coke St ...

. She has performed with P-Square, Wahu,

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, Ne-Yo,

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, Chameleon,

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, Mr. G and Radio & Weasel.

Early life and education

Cindy was born on 28 August 1985 in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

, Uganda but hails from Mbale

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

Music

Cindy started singing when she was 6 in her local church at a small town called Ntinda. She took part in "Capital Radio All Stars talent search" when she was 16 years old. She took third place. She worked with producer Steve Jean who made sure she participated in the "Coca-Cola Pop Stars" contest, which led to the formation of

in 2003. With Blu*3, Cindy found music success winning the Best Artist/Group from Uganda & Best Music Video from Uganda in the

2005 Kisima Music Awards The 2005 Kisima Music Awards continued the expansion begun in the previous year, incorporating both entrants and acts from across East Africa including Musaimo, Ida and Diaspora. The ceremony was hosted by Tedd Kwaka ( Big Ted), Ugandan Diana Muyera ...

, Video of the Year ("Hitaji") in the 2005

Pearl of Africa Music Awards The Pearl of Africa Music Awards (also known as the PAM Awards) was an annual national music award event held in Uganda. The inaugural event was held in 2003. In 2006, categories for musicians from other East Africa East Africa, Eastern Afr ...

- and Video of the Year ("Burrn") in the 2007

and getting nominated for best East African Group in the 2005 Kora Awards, Best East African Album (''Hitaji'') in the 2005

Tanzania Music Awards Tanzania Music Awards are national music awards held annually in Tanzania. They are also known as the Kilimanjaro Music Awards or the Kili Music Awards after their sponsor (Kilimanjaro Premium Lager). The awards were established in 1999 by the ...

- Best East African video ("Frisky") in the 2006

Channel O Music Video Awards Channel O Africa Music Video Awards, once known as Spirit of Africa Music Video Awards, are Pan-African music awards organised by South Africa -based Channel O television channel. The awards were first held in 2003 under the name Reel Music Video A ...

, Best Group & Best Performer in the 2009 MTV Africa Music Awards and Best East African Song ('Where you are' with Radio & Weasel) in the

2010 Tanzania music awards The 11th edition of the Tanzania Music Awards took place at the Diamond Jubilee Hall in Dar es Salaam, on Friday 14 May 2010. The event was anchored by Jokate Mwegelo.The CitizenNewcomers ruling the roost 21 May 2010 Bongo Flava singer Diamond wa ...

. Cindy was dropped from the group and, in 2008, she embarked on a solo career. Her debu solo album 'Ayokyayokya'(2009) topped charts all over East Africa with hits like "Mbikooye" and "Nawewe", "Ayokyayokya", and "One and Only". She has had more successful songs like "Selekta".

Acting

Cindy got her debut film acting role in a Ugandan musical drama film

Bella Bella is a feminine given name. It is a diminutive form of names ending in -bella. ''Bella'' is related to the Italian, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese and Latin words for beautiful, to the name Belle, meaning ''beautiful'' in French. It increased in ...

in which she played Bella in a lead role. Her performance earned her nominations at the Africa Movie Academy Awards for Best Young Actor, Africa Lead Role In Film (Non Nigerian) at the

Nigeria Entertainment Awards The Nigerian Entertainment Awards were established in New York City in January 2006. The awards recognize the contributions of African entertainers with a special focus on Nigerians. Ceremonies * 2006 Nigeria Entertainment Awards * 2007 Nigeria ...

and Best Actress at Uganda Film Festival Awards, all in 2018. She later worked on another film November Tear that was released in 2019.

Personal life

Cinderella Sanyu was in a relationship with Mario Brunetti and the relationship produced a daughter, Amani. She got engaged to actor, producer and film director Joel Okuyo Prynce in March 2020 in Kampala.

Leadership roles

Cindy is currently the Acting President of the Uganda Musicians’ Association (UMA) after the resignation Ykee Benda as his deputy, Cindy stepped forward and filled the president’s shoes.

Controversy

Cinderella Sanyu was involved in a relationship with Ken Muyisa. On leaving Blu*3, her fellow band members, Jackie Chandiru and Lillian Mbabazi claimed that "she was not candid" about her reasons for leaving. It was not long till Cindy embarked on a solo career with her hit single Mbikooye and wrote more hits like Ayokyayokya, Amateeka, Party, Selecta, Ndi mukodo, Run this city etc.

Discography

Songs

*Mbikoye *Amateeka *One and only *Party *Total satisfaction *Nawewe *Selekta *Tempo remix *Ndi mukodo *Samodat *Dat dat *Run this city *One by one ft Skales *Dancehall ft Eddy Kenzo *Onnina *Faded *Copicat *Boom party

Albums

*The King Herself, 2019 *Ayokyayokya, 2009

Awards and recognition

*Female artiste of the year in the DIVA awards, 2009 *Teenies' dancehall artiste in Buzz teenies awards, 2010 *Best female artiste of the year in Buzz teenies awards, 2010 *Afrima awards best female artiste (East Africa) 2016 *Bingwa awards best artiste from Uganda 2016

References

https://twitter.com/blizzug/status/795372478373785600 Cindy sanyu Afrima award winner best Female artiste East Africa 2019 https://twitter.com/Mdundomusic/status/694593397022146562 Artiste of the year Uganda. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanyu, Cinderella 1985 births Musicians from Kampala 21st-century Ugandan women singers Living people Kumusha Ugandan musicians