Shola Ama (born 8 March 1979) is a British singer from London, who scored her biggest hits with " You Might Need Somebody" (1997), a cover of

Randy Crawford Veronica "Randy" Crawford (born February 18, 1952) is an American retired jazz and R&B singer. She has been more successful in Europe than in the United States, where she has not entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 as a solo artist. However, sh ...

's 1981 hit, " You're the One I Love" and "Still Believe" (1999) which was one of the first productions by the Norwegian producing team

Stargate ''Stargate'' is a military science fiction media franchise owned by Amazon MGM Studios. It is based on Stargate (film), the film directed by Roland Emmerich, which he co-wrote with producer Dean Devlin; production company StudioCanal owns the ...

Career

When she was 15, Ama was singing to herself on a platform at Hammersmith tube station, and was overheard by Kwame Kwaten, a producer at the FreakStreet record label. In 1995, an unknown independent label released a single titled "Celebrate", which was a

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

produced by D'Influence. Although the single was not a commercial success, it did draw attention to Shola Ama as an artist. On her 16th birthday, she signed a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

with WEA. The single " You're the One I Love" was Ama's first single release for WEA in 1996; it barely made a dent in the charts, only managing to reach No. 85. Her second WEA single, " You Might Need Somebody", a Turley Richards cover, became her breakthrough hit, reaching No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart in April 1997. It remained in the top 40 for almost two months, becoming one of 1997's biggest hits. A re-release of "You're the One I Love" followed in August 1997 and reached No. 3. Her third single "Who's Loving My Baby" was released in November 1997 and reached No. 13. At the age of 18, Shola Ama released her debut album '' Much Love'' (1997). In May 1997, Ama performed her single "You Might Need Somebody" at Wembley Stadium as part of the build-up to the

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

Challenge Cup Final. On the success of the album, Ama won a Brit Award for Best British Female and two

MOBO Awards The MOBO Awards (Music of Black Origin, also known as the MOBOs) are an annual British music award presentation honouring achievements in " music of black origin", including hip hop, grime, UK Drill, R&B, soul, reggae, jazz, gospel, and Ba ...

for Best Newcomer and Best R&B Act. In 1999, Ama released her second album ''In Return''. The project saw her working with the record producers Fred Jerkins III,

, Shaun Labelle, Full Crew,

D-Influence D'Influence (also D-Influence and D*Influence) is a British production team and acid jazz band. Formerly of The Echo Label, they founded their own label, Freakstreet Records. Original members include Kwame Kwaten, Sarah-Ann Webb, Ed Baden-Powell ...

Productions and

Ali Shaheed Muhammad Ali Shaheed Muhammad (born August 11, 1970) is an American hip hop DJ, record producer, rapper and bass guitarist, best known as a member of A Tribe Called Quest. With Q-Tip (musician), Q-Tip and Phife Dawg (and sometimes Jarobi White), the grou ...

(formerly of

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). Co-writers included

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and Babyface with

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. Despite having support from her record label, ''In Return'' was a commercial flop. Following this, Ama took a break from recording. In 2002, Ama went back into the recording studio to record her third album, ''Supersonic''. Unable to obtain a major label deal, she instead formed a distribution deal with

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese company, established on October 1, 1966, which distributes music, films, home video, and video games. It is affiliated with the Japanese media group Fujisankei Communications Group. Pony Canyo ...

. In 2004, Ama featured on the track " You Should Really Know" by the Pirates, a response in song to

Mario Winans Mario Mendell Winans ( Brown; born August 29, 1974) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer from South Carolina. An extended member of the Winans musical family, he is best known for his 2004 single " I Don't Wanna Know" (f ...

' " I Don't Wanna Know" which reached No. 8 on the UK chart. Ama also mentored her sister Sadie Ama, who signed her own recording contract and released "So Sure" (2004) and "Fallin" (2007). Ama featured as vocalist on the Perempay & Dee single "DJ Play". The song was released in October 2009 and received heavy rotation on the radio. She also featured on one of rapper Giggs' songs, "Cut Above the Rest", and later featured on the bonus disc to his album, '' Let Em Ave It'', on a song called "Blow Em Away". In February 2010, Ama joined a new collective group formed by Wiley called

A-List An A-list actor is a major movie star, or one of the most bankable actors in a film industry. The A-list is part of a larger guide called ''The Hot List'', which ranks the bankability of 1,400 movie actors worldwide, and has become an industry ...

, alongside her sister Sadie Ama and

grime music Grime is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) that emerged in London in the early 2000s. It developed out of the earlier UK dance style UK garage, and draws influences from jungle, dancehall, and hip hop. The style is typified by rapid, sy ...

ians

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 Lig ...

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, Wrigley, Margs, Young Kye and Kivanc. In 2013, Ama narrated on the show ''My Crazy Jamaican Life''. In October 2015, Ama released a new 8-track EP featuring new reggae influenced tracks titled ''Surreal'' on Necessary Mayhem Records, 13 years after her last album ''Supersonic'' in 2002. In April 2016, she featured on the album ''System Killer'' by Frisco on the song "Rocket".

Personal life

Ama was born in London to a Scottish father and

Dominica Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. It is part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of t ...

n mother of

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Saint Vincent ...

n descent. Her father abandoned her when she was young.

Discography

Albums

*'' Much Love'' (1997) – UK No. 6 (gold), FRA No. 21 *'' In Return'' (1999) – UK No. 92 (silver), FRA No. 57 *''Supersonic'' (2002) (Japan only) – FRA No. 126 *''Surreal'' (2015)

Singles

As main artist

As featured artist

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ama, Shola 1979 births English contemporary R&B singers English women songwriters English soul singers English people of Scottish descent English people of Saint Lucian descent Living people 20th-century Black British women singers 20th-century British women singers Singers from London UK garage singers Brit Award winners 21st-century Black British women singers 21st-century British women singers