Mabel Alabama-Pearl McVey (born 19 February 1996), known professionally as Mabel, is an English singer and songwriter. She had her breakthrough in 2017 with her single "

Finders Keepers Finders, keepers, sometimes extended as the children's rhyme finders, keepers; losers, weepers, is an English language, English adage with the premise that when something is unowned or abandoned, whoever finds it first can claim it for themself pe ...

" which peaked at number eight on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. Her debut studio album ''

High Expectations ''High Expectations'' is the debut studio album by English singer and songwriter Mabel, released on 2 August 2019 by Polydor Records. Mabel worked with writers and producers such as Tre Jean-Marie, Steve Mac and MNEK to create the album, with ...

'' entered the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

at number three and was certified platinum. It included the UK top 10 singles: "

Don't Call Me Up "Don't Call Me Up" is a song by English singer and songwriter Mabel, included on the 2019 reissue of her debut mixtape, '' Ivy to Roses'', and debut album, '' High Expectations''. It was released by Polydor Records on 18 January 2019. As of Febru ...

", " Mad Love" and "

Boyfriend A boyfriend is a male friend or acquaintance, often specifying a regular male companion with whom a person is romantically or sexually involved. A boyfriend can also be called an admirer, beau, suitor and sweetheart. The analogous female ...

". She won the

Brit Award for British Female Solo Artist The Brit Award for British Female Solo Artist was an award given by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), an organisation which represents record companies and artists in the United Kingdom. The accolade was presented at the Brit Awards, an ann ...

in 2020.

Early life

Mabel Alabama-Pearl McVey was born on 19 February 1996 in

Alhaurín el Grande Alhaurín el Grande is a town located in the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia in southern Spain. It covers an area of 73.1 km2 extending from the northern slope of the Sierra de Mijas and the plain of the Guadalh ...

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

, Spain. She is the youngest child of English music producer

Cameron McVey Cameron Andrew McVey (born 11 March 1957) is an English singer, songwriter and music producer. He worked with the bands Massive Attack, Portishead, All Saints, Sugababes/Mutya Keisha Siobhan and his wife Neneh Cherry. He is the father of Ma ...

and Swedish singer Neneh Cherry. Through her mother, Mabel is the step-granddaughter of the American jazz musician

Don Cherry Donald Stewart Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. Cherry played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins, and later coached the team for five se ...

and the niece of singer

Eagle-Eye Cherry Eagle-Eye Lanoo Cherry (born 7 May 1968) is a Swedish singer and stage performer. His 1997 single "Save Tonight" achieved commercial success in Ireland, the United States and the United Kingdom, and was voted song of the year in New Zealand. Cher ...

. Her sister Tyson, half-sister Naima and half-brother

Marlon Roudette Marlon Roudette is a British singer, songwriter and producer. He is the former front man for the duo Mattafix, who had their first number 1, "Big City Life", in 2006. After the group split, Roudette embarked on a solo career with two number one ...

are also singers. The family lived in Alhaurín el Grande for two years prior to Mabel's birth before relocating back to

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road M ...

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: North Londo ...

, England, when she was two years old. At age four, she taught herself to read through

phonetics Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...

and

audio book An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

s, but soon developed

anxiety Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat wh ...

from being sensitive to her surroundings and being bullied due to racial backgrounds. Her parents—who were against the use of medication—encouraged Mabel to express herself through music and a journal. The following year, she learned piano and wrote her first song. To help manage her anxiety, the family moved to Sweden when she was eight and lived in her mother's native countryside home near the town of

Hässleholm Hässleholm (older da, Hasselholm) is a locality and the seat of Hässleholm Municipality, Scania County, Sweden with 18,500 inhabitants in 2010. Overview Hässleholm was gradually developed from 1860 in connection with the construction of the ...

. At age 15, Mabel enrolled at the

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

music school Rytmus Musikergymnasiet where she took a three-year course in songwriting, production and

music theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...

Career

2015–2018: ''Bedroom'' and ''Ivy to Roses''

After moving to London, Mabel released her debut single "Know Me Better" in July 2015, which caught the attention of BBC Radio 1 DJ

Annie Mac Annie Mac (born 18 July 1978), is an Irish DJ, broadcaster and writer. She hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1, including BBC Switch and ''Future Sounds''. She also DJed in various locations, including hosting her AMP (Annie Mac Presents) ...

, who made the song her Tune of the Week. Within weeks, Mabel signed a recording contract with Universal. In March 2017, after the releases of the 2015 and 2016 singles "My Boy My Town" and "Thinking Of You", she released "

" featuring British rapper

Kojo Funds Errol Kojo Bellot, better known professionally as Kojo Funds ( ; born 30 March 1995), is a British singer-songwriter and rapper. His music blends West African and Caribbean sounds with road rap, dancehall and pop. Kojo Funds featured on Yxng Ba ...

, which reached the Top 10 of the

in late 2017. In May 2017, she released her debut

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

''Bedroom''. In October 2017, Mabel released "Begging", the lead single from her debut mixtape ''

Ivy to Roses ''Ivy to Roses'' is the debut mixtape by English singer Mabel. It was originally released on 13 October 2017 through Polydor. This was followed by a reissue on 18 January 2019, with a new cover art and the inclusion of released material. The a ...

'', which was released shortly after. In December, she collaborated with

Not3s Lukman Olanrewaju Odunaike (born 17 April 1998), better known by his stage name Not3s (pronounced Notes), is a British singer-songwriter, rapper and actor from Hackney, London. His songs include "My Lover" and "Fine Line", both of which are colla ...

on " My Lover". Following the January 2018 release of a second

collaboration, " Fine Line", Mabel opened for English singer

Harry Styles Harry Edward Styles (born 1 February 1994) is an English singer, songwriter, and actor. His musical career began in 2010 as a solo contestant on the British music competition series ''The X Factor (UK TV series), The X Factor''. Following hi ...

during the European part of the second leg of a tour in the support of his debut studio album. After her tour with Styles, she embarked on her own headline tour through the United Kingdom and Europe. In June, she was featured on " Ring Ring" alongside American rapper Rich the Kid and British DJ

Jax Jones Timucin Lam (born Timucin Fabian Kwong Wah Aluo; 25 July 1987), known professionally as Jax Jones, is an English DJ, songwriter, record producer and remixer. He rose to fame in 2014 by featuring on Duke Dumont's number-one single "I Got U". He ...

. Later that year, after releasing " One Shot", she co-wrote "Blind", a song for British girl group

Four of Diamonds Four of Diamonds are an English girl group composed of Caroline Alvares, Lauren Rammell, Sophia Saffarian and Yasmin Broom. In 2016, they competed in the thirteenth series of ''The X Factor'', where they finished in eighth place. In 2018, they ...

2019–2020: ''High Expectations''

In January 2019, Mabel was nominated for British Breakthrough Act at the 2019 Brit Awards. She re-released ''

'' with a new cover art and the inclusion of all the singles that had been released since the first edition's release. With this, Mabel also released "

", which debuted at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart. The song peaked at number 3, becoming her highest-charting single to date. On 7 June 2019, she released " Mad Love", the second single from her debut studio album, ''

'', which was released on 2 August that year. The song debuted at number 18 in the UK, later peaking at number 8. Following the November 2019 release of her Christmas single Loneliest Time Of Year, in December 2019, Mabel performed at the

Jingle Bell Ball The Jingle Bell Ball is a concert held annually in December since 2008 (except for 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic), by the radio station Capital FM at The O2. Artists that have headlined the concert include Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, ...

, alongside other artists such as

Ava Max Amanda Ava Koci (born Amanda Koçi; February 16, 1994), known professionally as Ava Max, is an American singer and songwriter. She signed with Atlantic Records in 2016, through which she released her breakthrough single " Sweet but Psycho" in ...

Rita Ora Rita Sahatçiu Ora (born Rita Sahatçiu; 26 November 1990) is a British singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence in February 2012 when she featured on DJ Fresh's single, "Hot Right Now", which reached number one in the UK. Her debut stud ...

, Regard and The Script. In January to March 2020 Mabel embarked on the High Expectations Tour across North America, the United Kingdom and Europe. In February 2020, she released the song "

". She then featured in a

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, ...

Live Lounge The Live Lounge is a segment on the British radio stations BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra. It was originally hosted by Simon Mayo, and later by Jo Whiley on her weekday mid-morning, and later weekend lunchtime radio shows, then by Fearne Cotton ...

cover of the

Foo Fighters Foo Fighters are an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Foo Fighters was initially formed as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Following the success of the eponymous debut album, Grohl (lead vocals, guitar) re ...

song " Times Like These" as part of the

Live Lounge Allstars "Times Like These" is a song by American rock band Foo Fighters. It is the fourth track from their fourth album '' One by One'', and was released as its second single on January 14, 2003. Composition The lyrics discuss how Dave Grohl felt "li ...

. This was organised in response to the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Later that year, in July, Mabel collaborated with AJ Tracey on "

West Ten "West Ten" is a song by English rapper AJ Tracey and English singer Mabel. It was released as a digital download on 2 July 2020 as the second single off the former's second studio album '' Flu Game'' (2021). The song was written by Tracey, Fred, ...

" and released an acoustic version of ''High Expectations''. The following month,

Clean Bandit Clean Bandit are an English electronic music group, formed in Cambridge in 2008. They have had four number 1 hits and ten top 10 hits on the UK Singles Chart. They direct and produce their own music videos, many of which have been nominated for ...

released " Tick Tock" featuring Mabel and 24kGoldn.

2021–present: ''About Last Night...''

Following a teaser titled 'Allow me to reintroduce myself', posted to her social media in June 2021, "

Let Them Know "Let Them Know" is a song by English singer Mabel. It was released by Polydor Records on 18 June 2021 as the lead single from her second studio album '' About Last Night...'' (2022). The song was written by Mabel, Raye, MNEK, and its producer ...

" was released on 18 June 2021. On 16 July 2021, Mabel released the song "Take It Home" as part of

Pokémon (an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of ...

's 25th anniversary album. In August 2021, she performed on the

ITV2 ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, a ...

reality series '' Love Island''. On 29 October 2021, Mabel and

Joel Corry Joel Corry (born 10 June 1989) is an English DJ, producer and television personality. He came to prominence in 2019 with the release of his single " Sorry", featuring vocals from Hayley May (who was not credited in the official music video), whi ...

released the song "

I Wish I WiSH was a Japanese pop group consisting of two members, Ai Kawashima and nao. Ai is responsible for the vocals and occasionally plays the piano also with nao on the keyboard or piano. Their most notable track is and was in the Oricon ranking ...

". The song was followed by a cover of the

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper Thornton (born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. Her career has spanned over 40 years. Her album ''She's So Unusual'' (1983) was the first debut album by a female artist to achi ...

song " Time After Time", which she recorded for the 2021

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

Christmas television advertisements. The second single, "Good Luck", featuring

and

Galantis Galantis is a Swedish electronic dance music production, songwriting and DJ duo consisting of Christian Karlsson and Linus Eklöw. Karlsson is also known as Bloodshy as part of two other musical groups, a duo (Bloodshy & Avant) and a trio (Mi ...

was released on 18 March 2022. Mabel's second album is called '' About Last Night...'' In November 2021, Mabel performed at Hits Live in Liverpool, alongside other artists such as

Mimi Webb Amelia Webb (born 23 July 2000), known professionally as Mimi Webb, is a British singer-songwriter. She is known for her singles "Before I Go" and "Good Without", the latter of which peaked at number eight on the UK Singles Chart. In October 20 ...

, The Script,

Becky Hill Rebecca Claire Hill (born 14 February 1994) is a British singer from Bewdley, England. She rose to prominence after appearing on the first series of the then BBC (now ITV) talent contest '' The Voice UK'', auditioning with John Legend's "Ord ...

Tom Grennan Thomas Grennan (born 8 June 1995) is an English singer and songwriter from Bedford and is based in London. Grennan found fame as the guest vocalist on Chase & Status's " All Goes Wrong" in 2016. His debut album, '' Lighting Matches'', was rel ...

Ella Henderson Gabriella Michelle Henderson (born 12 January 1996), known as Ella Henderson, is an English singer. She competed in the ninth series of ''The X Factor UK'' in 2012, finishing in sixth place despite being a strong favourite to win. She signed ...

and

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

. ''About Last Night'' peaked at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart, Mabel's highest charting album to date, it also peaked at number 4 on the Scottish Albums Chart, once again her highest to date.

Discography

* ''

'' (2019) * '' About Last Night...'' (2022)

Concert tours

Headlining

* These Are The Best Times Tour (2018) * The Mad Love Tour (2019) * High Expectations Tour (2020)

Promotional

* Intimate Shows (2022)

Supporting

* Harry Styles: Live on Tour (2018) *

LANY LANY (, an acronym for "Los Angeles New York") are an American pop rock band from Los Angeles. Formed in Nashville in 2014, the band consists of Paul Jason Klein and Jake Clifford Goss. Signed to Polydor and Interscope Records, the band have ...

: Thrilla in Manila Tour (2019) * Khalid: Free Spirit World Tour (2019)

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1996 births Living people People from Málaga People from Notting Hill Singers from London 21st-century Black British women singers 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers Brit Award winners British contemporary R&B singers English women pop singers 21st-century Swedish women singers English-language singers from Sweden English people of Sierra Leonean descent English people of Swedish descent Capitol Records artists Polydor Records artists Universal Music Group artists