Cleopatra Humphrey (born 4 November 1988) formerly known by her stage name Mz. Bratt and currently known as Cleo., is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

rapper and

neo-soul Neo soul (sometimes called progressive soul) is a genre of popular music. As a term, it was coined by music industry entrepreneur Kedar Massenburg during the late 1990s to market and describe a style of music that emerged from soul and contempo ...

grime Grime may refer to: * Dirt, in the form of black, ingrained dust * Grime (music genre), a genre of music * ''Grime'' (album), a 2001 album by Iniquity * ''Grime'' (video game), a 2021 Metroidvania video game * "Grime", a 2022 song by Dallas Woo ...

musician.

History

Humphrey was born in

Bow, London Bow () is an area of East London within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is primarily a built-up and mostly residential area and is east of Charing Cross. It was in the traditional county of Middlesex but became part of the County of ...

. Later, she moved to Hainault and started producing her music. Her talent impressed the urban producer Terror Danjah who took her under their wing after hearing her at local MC battles and seeing her Myspace profile. Mz. Bratt was selected to be part of the T4 entertainment show the ''

Musicool ''T4'' was a scheduling slot on Channel 4 (''T4 Saturday'' usually 9 am until 2 pm) and E4 (''T4 Sunday'' usually 9 am until 5 pm). It also aired on weekdays in the school holidays. The slot had a separate station identifica ...

'', in which she was the lead female, at one point reducing guest judge

Jamelia ' Jamelia Niela Davis (born 11 January 1981) is an English singer, songwriter and television presenter. She has released three studio albums, each of which has reached the Top 40 in the UK, which collectively have spawned eight UK top-ten singl ...

to tears with her exceptional talent and vocal ability. Following this, Mz. Bratt embarked on a US and European tour with

The Count & Sinden "Beeper" is the debut single by British music duo the Count & Sinden, featuring vocals from American hip hop artist Kid Sister. The song was released via Domino Records in April 2008. Background and release "Beeper" was released on Switch and S ...

, which included shows at the

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

and at

Bestival Bestival was a four-day music festival held in the south of England. It had been held annually in the late summer since 2004 at Robin Hill on the Isle of Wight. In 2017 the festival relocated to the Lulworth Estate in Dorset. The event was organ ...

. Humphrey has a mixed race ethnic background.

Music career

Mz. Bratt's first single, "Who Do You Think You Are?", was released on

All Around the World Productions Xploded Music is a British record label set up by Cris Nuttall and Matt Cadman. The label is a joint venture with Universal, and has developed from their previous partnership with the All Around the World dance music label. All Around the Wor ...

on 27 July 2009, and received plays on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

and

BBC Radio 1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been cod ...

. The second single, "I Like You", followed in November, and was also played by Radio 1Xtra. In February 2010, Mz. Bratt joined a new collective group formed by

Wiley Wiley may refer to: Locations * Wiley, Colorado, a U.S. town * Wiley, Pleasants County, West Virginia, U.S. * Wiley-Kaserne, a district of the city of Neu-Ulm, Germany People * Wiley (musician), British grime MC, rapper, and producer * Wiley Mil ...

called A-List. She released her third single, "Selecta", in mid-2010, under A-List Music Ltd, produced by Redlight. She is expected to release her first album at the

American Airlines Arena FTX Arena (known as American Airlines Arena from 1999 to 2021) is a multi-purpose arena located in Miami, Florida, along Biscayne Bay. It was constructed beginning in 1998 as a replacement for the Miami Arena and designed by the architecture f ...

in Miami, Florida, in February 2012 alongside the likes of Usher and

Nicole Scherzinger Nicole Scherzinger (; born Nicole Prascovia Elikolani Valiente, June 29, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, and television personality. She is best known as the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls, one of the best-selling g ...

. Mz. Bratt has also appeared on remixes and records with other artists including Wiley,

Taio Cruz Jacob Taio Cruz (; born Adetayo Ayowale Onile-Ere, 23 April 1980), better known professionally as Taio Cruz (stylized TΛIO CRUZ), is an English singer, songwriter and record producer from London, England, currently based in Los Angeles. In 200 ...

Sadie Ama Sadie Ama (born Mersadie Louise Hall; 19 August 1987) is an English R&B singer who grew up in Kilburn, London. She is best known for featuring on the Tom Zanetti track " You Want Me", which peaked at number #22 on the UK Singles Chart. Sadie stat ...

Dionne Bromfield Dionne Julia Bromfield (born 1 February 1996) is a British soul music singer, television presenter and television personality. Her debut album, '' Introducing Dionne Bromfield'', was released in 2009 by Amy Winehouse's Lioness Records label. Sh ...

and

Jazmine Sullivan Jazmine Marie Sullivan (born April 9, 1987) is an American R&B and soul singer. Born and raised in Philadelphia, her debut album, ''Fearless'' was released in 2008. The record topped ''Billboards Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and was certifie ...

. A remix of

Tinchy Stryder Kwasi Esono Danquah III ( ; born 14 September 1986), known by the stage name Tinchy Stryder, is a Ghanaian British, Ghanaian-British rapper, singer, songwriter, entrepreneur and investor. Stryder has released three solo (music), solo studio al ...

's " Game Over" was promoted online in November 2010 under the name "Female Takeover Remix", with the female MCs Ruff Diamondz,

Envy Envy is an emotion which occurs when a person lacks another's quality, skill, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it. Aristotle defined envy as pain at the sight of another's good fortune, stirred b ...

, Lioness, Cherri V,

Baby Blue Baby blue is a tint of azure, one of the pastel colors. The first recorded use of ''baby blue'' as a color name in English was in 1892. Variations of baby blue Beau blue Beau blue is a light tone of baby blue. "Beau" means "beautiful" in F ...

A.Dot Ashley Charles (born 9 April 1988), also known as Amplify Dot, A.Dot or Dotty, is an English rapper, DJ, and radio and television presenter. She is best known for presenting on BBC Radio 1Xtra from 2014 to 2020 and co-presenting the BBC One sho ...

Lady Leshurr Melesha Katrina O'Garro (born 15 December 1987), known professionally as Lady Leshurr (), is a British rapper, singer, songwriter and producer. She is known for her ''Queen's Speech'' series of freestyles, the fourth of which became popular i ...

, RoXXXan and Mz. Bratt. Mz. Bratt and Wiley also appeared in

Fugative Harry James Byart (born 11 March 1994), better known by his former stage name Fugative, is an English rapper. He worked with Kirk Burrowes in April 2009 in Atlanta the former manager of Mary J. Blige and co-founder of Bad Boy Records after Bu ...

's song "Go Hard". She recently took part in the MOBO tour and supported

Roll Deep Roll Deep (formerly Roll Deep Entourage) are a British grime crew. They were founded in 2001 by Wiley shortly before the disbandment of UK garage crew Pay As U Go Cartel. The group have had two UK No. 1 singles, " Good Times" and " Green Ligh ...

on their tour. She is currently supporting

Bruno Mars Peter Gene Hernandez (born October 8, 1985), known professionally as Bruno Mars, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is known for his stage performances, retro showmanship, and for performing in a wide range of musical s ...

on the UK leg of his tour. Mz. Bratt supported

Example Example may refer to: * '' exempli gratia'' (e.g.), usually read out in English as "for example" * .example, reserved as a domain name that may not be installed as a top-level domain of the Internet ** example.com, example.net, example.org, ex ...

on his winter 2011 tour. Other support came from

Fenech-Soler Fenech-Soler were an English electropop band from King's Cliffe, Northamptonshire, England, that formed in 2006 and consists of two members: Ross Duffy and Ben Duffy. Founding members Daniel Fenech-Soler and Andrew Lindsay left the band in 2016 ...

. In 2015, Bratt announced her professional name would be Cleo.

2012 and album

Mz. Bratt released a video for her upcoming single "Falling Down", on 16 April 2012 on YouTube. The single is officially released on iTunes on 6 May 2012. Bratt has confirmed that she is recording songs for her first studio album, but won't release the album until there's a demand and people want the album. She has so far recorded about 50 tracks, but she only wants 5 tracks to be used on her album. She has also confirmed that she wants features on her songs, but only after she has recorded all of her songs. Mz Bratt has also stated in various interviews that she would love to work with

Chris Martin Christopher Anthony John Martin (born 2 March 1977) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist, pianist, rhythm guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Coldplay. Born in Exeter, Devon, he went to Univ ...

from

Coldplay Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University Col ...

Labrinth Timothy Lee McKenzie (born 4 January 1989), better known by his stage name Labrinth, is an English singer, rapper, songwriter and record producer. After initially pursuing a career in music production, Simon Cowell signed him to his record labe ...

and

Wretch 32 Jermaine Sinclaire Scott (born 9 March 1985), better known by his stage name Wretch 32, is a British rapper, singer and songwriter from Tottenham, North London. He was a member of the grime collective Combination Chain Gang, before forming The M ...

on her new album. That album was expected to be released in 2013, but it was never released.

Personal life

Cleo's father was MC Scallywag from the early 1990s acid house sound system

Spiral Tribe Spiral Tribe is an arts collective and free party sound system formed in 1990. It organised free parties, festivals and raves in the UK and later Europe in the 1990s. Spiral Tribe was involved in the Castlemorton Common Festival and members ha ...

Discography

Extended plays

*2015: ''Beauty For Ashes''

Mixtapes

*2007: ''Give It To Em, Vol. 1'' *2009: ''Give It To Em, Vol. 2'' *2011: ''Elements''

Singles

As featured artist

Soundtrack appearances

Filmography

*2011 '' Anuvahood'' (as Shay)

References

External links

Soundcloud
{{Authority control Living people 1988 births 21st-century Black British women singers Grime music artists People from Bow, London People from Hainault Rappers from London Black British women rappers