Stella Nyambura Mwangi (born 1 September 1986) is a Kenyan-Norwegian singer, rapper and songwriter. Much of her music concerns the situation in her home country

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, and discrimination her family had to endure after moving to Norway in 1991. Her work has been used in films such as '' American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile'' and ''

Save the Last Dance 2 ''Save the Last Dance 2'' (also known as ''Save the Last Dance 2: Stepping Up'') is a 2006 dance drama film and a sequel to the 2001 film ''Save the Last Dance''. It was released to DVD on October 10, 2006, by Paramount Home Entertainment and MTV ...

'', and also in TV-series such as ''

CSI: NY ''CSI: NY'' (''Crime Scene Investigation: New York'', stylized as ''CSI: NY/Crime Scene Investigation'') is an American police procedural television series that ran on CBS from September 22, 2004, to February 22, 2013, for a total of nine season ...

'' and '' Scrubs''. In Norway, she won the

Melodi Grand Prix 2011 Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany, selecting their entry through the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2011, organised by the Norwegian broadcaster, Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK). Before Eurovision ...

, and in that same year represented

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2011 The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, following the country's victory at the with the song " Satellite" by Lena. Organised by the European Broadcasting U ...

in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Early and personal life

Stella was born in

Murang'a Murang'a (or Muranga) is a town in Murang'a County of Kenya. Before the independence of Kenya in 1963, this town used to be called Fort Hall. It is the administrative centre of Murang'a County and is mainly inhabited by the Kikuyu people, Kikuy ...

in Central Province of

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

in 1986 and spent her first 5 years there before her family moved to

Eidsvoll Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sundet. General information ...

in 1991. She started to practice playing music when she was eight years old. She also plays the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

. Her father made sure she and her siblings learned

Gikuyu language Kikuyu or Gikuyu ( ki, Gĩkũyũ, link=no ) is a Bantu language spoken by the Gĩkũyũ (''Agĩkũyũ'') of Kenya. Kikuyu is mainly spoken in the area between Nyeri and Nairobi. The Kikuyu people usually identify their lands by the surrounding ...

and Swahili even far away from home. He used cultural music and poetry to teach them the languages and this inspired Stella's music and her connection to the Kenyan culture. Mwangi's father was killed in a hit-and-run accident in February 2012.

Eurovision Song Contest 2011

In 2011, Mwangi participated in the Norwegian national selection ''Melodi Grand Prix 2011'' to represent Norway in the

, which was held in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in ...

, Germany. On 12 February 2011, Mwangi emerged as the winner. On 10 May, she represented

at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "

Haba Haba "Haba Haba" (English: "Little by Little", no, "Steg for steg", italic=no) is a song performed by Norwegian-Kenyan singer-songwriter Stella Mwangi. It was Norway's entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 and is included on her second studio al ...

" but failed to qualify for the Eurovision final, despite being one of the big favourites of the contest. Mwangi first topped the official singles chart in Norway in week 6, 2011 with her winning song "Haba Haba".

Melodi Grand Prix 2018

Stella competed in the

Melodi Grand Prix Melodi Grand Prix (), commonly known as Grand Prix and MGP, sometimes as Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix ( no, Norsk Melodi Grand Prix), is an annual music competition organised by Norwegian public broadcaster Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK). It det ...

for the chance to represent

Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The Norwegian broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) organised the national final ''Melodi Grand Prix 2018'' in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portug ...

along with

Alexandra Rotan Alexandra Rotan (born 29 June 1996) is a Norwegian singer. Rotan began her career as a child singer, becoming a superfinalist in Melodi Grand Prix Junior 2010 with the song "Det vi vil". She later joined the group Keiino in 2018, and represent ...

with the song You Got Me. They placed third overall.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

Official websiteStella Mwangi aka STL on African Women's Week 2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mwangi, Stella 1986 births Living people Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2011 Melodi Grand Prix contestants Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Norway 21st-century Norwegian women singers 21st-century Norwegian singers Kenyan emigrants to Norway Norwegian rappers Norwegian songwriters Musicians from Eidsvoll