Irma Pany (born 15 July 1988), better known as Irma (), is a Cameroonian singer-songwriter living in France.

Early life and education

She was born in

Douala Douala is the largest city in Cameroon and its economic capital. It is also the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Region (Cameroon), Littoral Region. Home to Central Africa's largest port and its major international airport, Douala International Ai ...

in a family with a scientific background. Her father is a biologist and her mother is a pharmacist. As a child Irma was performing at

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

es too. At age 15, she went to a high school in Paris, France, to improve her school education. In 2008, Irma entered

ESCP Europe ESCP Business School (french: École Supérieure de Commerce de Paris) is a French business school and ''grande école'' founded in Paris and based across Europe with campuses in Paris, Berlin, London, Madrid, Turin, and Warsaw. It is consiste ...

(Top French Business School) and graduated in the Master in Management in 2012.

Career

left, Irma at a festival in 2012 By 2007, she had posted her first videos on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. Those included her own compositions, including "Letter to the Lord" and a piano piece "Somehow", as well as

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s of songs including "

I Want You Back "I Want You Back" is the first national single by the Jackson 5. It was released by Motown on October 6, 1969, and became the first number-one hit for the band on January 31, 1970. It was performed on the band's first television appearances, on ...

" by

The Jackson 5 The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most o ...

, "

Bubbly "Bubbly" is the debut single of American singer Colbie Caillat from her first album, '' Coco'' (2007). Written by Caillat and Jason Reeves and produced by Mikal Blue, the song was released as the album's lead single on May 15, 2007. "Bubbly" i ...

" by

Colbie Caillat Colbie Marie Caillat (; born May 28, 1985) is an American singer-songwriter. She rose to fame through social networking website Myspace. At that time, she was the number one unsigned artist of her genre. After signing with Universal Republic R ...

, and " New Soul" by

Yael Naim Yael Naim ( he, יעל נעים, born 6 February 1978) is a French-born Israeli singer and actress. She rose to fame in 2008 in the US after her hit single " New Soul" was used by Apple in an advertising campaign for its MacBook Air. The song pe ...

. She released several home-made videos with acoustic covers on YouTube in collaboration with French and international musicians, including

Tété Tété is a French musician, born in Dakar, Senegal on 25 July 1975. His mother is from Martinique and his father is from Senegal. Tété is described as the French version of Jeff Buckley. Tété's music can be described as an intimate, solo ...

Hey Ya! "Hey Ya!" is a song performed by American hip-hop duo Outkast, specifically group member André 3000, who wrote and produced the song. Along with "The Way You Move", recorded by Outkast's other member Big Boi, "Hey Ya!" was released by Arista ...

"), Matthieu Chédid ("

Rolling in the Deep "Rolling in the Deep" is a song recorded by English singer-songwriter Adele for her second studio album, '' 21'' (2011). It is the lead single and opening track on the album. The song was written by Adele and Paul Epworth. The singer herself des ...

"),

Gad Elmaleh Gad Elmaleh ( ar, جاد المالح, Latn, ar, Gād el-Māleḥ; born 19 April 1971) is a Moroccan-Canadian stand-up comedian and actor who achieved fame in France, Morocco and the United States. He is best known in the French-speaking wor ...

Isn't She Lovely? "Isn't She Lovely" is a song by Stevie Wonder from his 1976 album, ''Songs in the Key of Life''. The lyrics celebrate the birth of his daughter, Aisha Morris. Wonder collaborated on the song with Harlem songwriter and studio owner Burnetta "Bunny ...

"),

Tom Dice Tom Dice (born Tom Eeckhout, 25 November 1989) is a Belgian singer-songwriter. He finished runner-up in the Flemish version of ''The X Factor'' in 2008 using his birth name Tom Eeckhout, but soon after changed his name taking the stage name Tom D ...

Talkin' 'bout a Revolution "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution" is the second single from American singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman's self-titled debut album. The politically aware song peaked at 75 in the United States as opposed to its predecessor, "Fast Car" which reached No. ...

") from

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and

Patrice Patrice is a given name meaning '' noble'' or '' patrician'', related to the names Patrick and Patricia. In English, Patrice is often a feminine first name. In French, it is used as a masculine first name. Popularity In the United States, the pop ...

(" The Times They Are a-Changin'") from Germany. Together with

will.i.am William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "Will-I-am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the founding and lead member of the musical group Black Eyed Peas. ...

from the

Black Eyed Peas Black Eyed Peas (also known as The Black Eyed Peas) is an American musical group consisting of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo (rapper), Taboo. The group's line-up during the height of their popularity in the 2000s featured Fergie (singer ...

, she performed a cover version of "I Want You Back". In the summer of 2008, she met Michael Goldman (son of a French musician

Jean-Jacques Goldman Jean-Jacques Goldman (; born 11 October 1951) is a French singer-songwriter and music record producer. He is hugely popular in the French-speaking world. Since the death of Johnny Hallyday in 2017 he has been the highest grossing living French p ...

), who in 2007 co-founded the music label My Major Company. Irma signed a record deal with My Major Company and released her first album ''Letter to the Lord'' in February 2011 in France, where it peaked in the top ten and was certified platinum a year after the release. In

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, she debuted at number 46 and in

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

, Belgium, at number 18. The first single "I Know" reached number two in France. The music video was directed and shot by J.G. Biggs. In 2011, she went on tour around Europe and in late 2011, signed a record contract to release her debut album in the US with

Universal Republic Records Republic Records is a New York City–based American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). It was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially an i ...

. In 2012, she was featured in a European

Google Chrome Google Chrome is a cross-platform web browser developed by Google. It was first released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, built with free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox. Versions were later released for Linux, macOS ...

ad which chronicles her rise to fame after posting videos on YouTube, and she was nominated for the best French act at the 2012 MTV Europe Music Awards. In early 2013, she re-released her successful single "I Know" as a duet for the German market with German singer-songwriter Mic Donet. Irma's music video ''Save Me'' (directed by Xavier Maingon) won 2014 the "Starz People’s Choice Award" in the section Music Video at the 37th Starz Denver Film Festival.

Discography

Albums

;Others *2012: ''Letter to the Lord'' (Special 'Collectors Edition')

Singles

*Did not appear in the official Belgian Ultratop 50 charts, but rather in the bubbling under Ultratip charts. ;Others

Awards

, - , rowspan="3", 2012 , Irma , Talent Découverte France Bleu , , - , Irma , MTV European Music Awards – Best French Artist , , - , Irma , Victoires de la musique – Live discovery , , - , , 2014 , Irma – ''Save me'' , 37th Denver Film Festival – Starz People's Choice Award for Music videos ,

References

External links

*
Irma et... Will.i.Am en duo sur "I Want You Back"Profile at My Major CompanyProfile at Doubleveeconcerts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Irma (Singer) 1988 births 21st-century French women writers Ballad musicians Blues singer-songwriters Cameroonian expatriates in France 21st-century Cameroonian women singers English-language singers from France Folk singers Living people Singers from Paris People from Douala Republic Records artists Writers from Paris 21st-century French women singers 21st-century women composers