Samantha Mumba

Samantha Mumba

Samantha Tamania Anne Cecilia Mumba (b. 18 January 1983, Ndola, Zambia) is a Grammy Award-nominated Irish singer, actress and occasional model.

Her first album was released in 2000 and achieved international success. Although her follow-up album was canceled because of record company difficulties, she is said to be releasing another second studio album soon. As well as being a singer, she is also an actress; her most notable role was Mara in the 2002 film The Time Machine. She has also appeared in a number of Irish independent films.

Personal life

Samantha Mumba was born in Ndola, Zambia. Her father, Peter Mumba, is a Zambian aircraft engineer and her mother Barbara is an Irish woman who works as a cabin crew member with the Irish airline Aer Lingus. Her brother, Omero Mumba, is an actor.

Samantha Mumba attended Dublin's Billie Barry Stage School from the ages 3 to 15. In 1998, Mumba was cast as the lead in The Hot Mikado, a jazzy production based on Gilbert and Sullivan's opera.

Music career

Gotta Tell You

At the age of 15, Mumba was discovered on an RTÉ TV talent show Let Me Entertain You by Irish svengali Louis Walsh (manager of Boyzone and Westlife). Walsh was impressed by her talent and she was signed to Polydor Records. She subsequently spent several months moving between Denmark, Sweden, the UK and Ireland where she co-wrote and recorded her debut album, Gotta Tell You. She eventually dropped out of school to focus on her music career, explaining that it was becoming difficult to stay in school and work on her music.

Mumba's first single, "Gotta Tell You", was released in 2000 and shot to the No. 1 spot in the Irish charts. It later reached No. 2 in the United Kingdom charts. Mumba also had success in the USA with her debut single which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and she was seen as the face of the fashion designer Louise Kennedy's Spring/Summer collection. The album Gotta Tell You stayed on the charts for 6 months and was eventually certified Platinum for shipments of 1 million copies. Five more Top 10 hits followed in the UK and she had another top 50 hit in the US, leading some at the time to call her the "black Britney Spears", although she has rejected this title. To date, her first album has sold over 4 million copies worldwide. Mumba was nominated for a 2002 Grammy Award for her song "Baby, Come Over (This Is Our Night)" in the 'best remixed recording, non-classical' category, but did not win.

She also became a Dior ambassador when she launched the Dior Watch Collection in Ireland, became the face of Reebok appearing in print advertising in the UK and Ireland for the Quest range and was voted the Smash Hits Poll Winners' Party Best New Female.

Woman

In 2002, Mumba became a special representative for UNICEF Ireland and prepared to release her second album Woman, but due to the poor sales of the lead single "I'm Right Here" in the US and a short lived time on the UK chart, she was dropped from her label and the album was canceled.

In 2004, Mumba received international press coverage when she wore a dress made of 3,000 diamonds costing £5 million by Scott Henshall to the premiere of Spider-Man 2.

Mumba stated on the Late Late Show (9 February 2007) that there never was a second album and the tracks leaked on the internet were attempts by her to find a new sound.

The Collection

A compilation album of her songs, The Collection, was released on October 23, 2006 to many online retailers. It peaked at 17,901 on Amazon.co.uk in music sales.

New Album / Get Your Act Together

Mumba has been working on her third studio album. Throughout the latter months of 2006 and november 2007, she took part in Channel 4 show Get Your Act Together, fronted by Harvey Goldsmith. The aim of the show is to revive music careers. She recorded most of her demo tracks in Los Angeles, California, United States.

On 1 March 2007, Mumba performed at the Pigalle Club performing a showcase to record companies & celebrities. She is also doing a nightclub show at Limerick's Trinity Rooms on 18 March to showcase her new grittier club sound. Mumba was to begin her comeback with a concert in Dublin's Vicar Street on 2 March, but this was canceled on 27 February after only 30 tickets had been sold.

"Personalities", produced by Timbaland & Nate "Danjahandz" Hills, has been confirmed as her comeback single and was released to Irish radio in February. In 2007, Mumba contributed vocals to a track by the Celtic Tenors.

Mumba has re-signed to Universal but with Polydor as apposed to Spectrum. Her comeback single has been changed to Patient, and Personalities is now slated as the second official release.

Awards and nominations

• MOBO Awards
  • 2001, Best Album: Gotta Tell You (Nominated)
  • 2000, Best Video: "Gotta Tell You" (Nominated)

Film & television career

Films

After the cancellation of Woman, Mumba's music career was put on hold and she began auditioning for films. In 2002, Steven Spielberg picked her to play Mara in The Time Machine. Mara is a girl who is part of a human civilization which has regressed to a hunter/gatherer lifestyle in the year 802701 AD. She co-starred with Guy Pearce and the movie earned $56,684,819 in the U.S. Mumba's second venture into films was in 2003, where she appeared in the film Spin The Bottle.

In 2005, Mumba returned to acting with the lead role of Jessica in the Irish film, Boy Eats Girl. The movie was a success locally and was consequently released worldwide, but it had little success outside the British Isles.

In 2006, Mumba started in the thriller Nailed, playing the character of "Sapphire". The movie was originally a low budget Irish film but it caught the attention of an American producer who turned it into a big budget British movie. Johnny Was is a British gangster movie. Mumba co-starred beside Vinnie Jones and Eriq La Salle, playing "Rita". 2007 saw Mumba filming her part in the movie 3 Crosses.

TV show

Mumba confirmed on the Late Late Show, 9 February 2007, that a camera crew has been following her on and off for the past 6 months for a Reality TV show which was shown on Channel 4 at the end of March 2007. The show is called Get Your Act Together with Harvey Goldsmith and follows Mumba's attempts to revive her music career with Harvey Goldsmith as her mentor.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role
2002	The Time Machine	Mara
2003	Spin The Bottle	-
2005	Boy Eats Girl	Jessica
2006	Nailed	Sapphire
2006	Johnny Was	Rita
2007	3 Crosses	TBA

Other information

In 2005, Mumba became the face (and body) of the Ultimo Per Amore Lingerie range, available exclusively at the Irish high-street chain Dunnes Stores.

In March 2007, Mumba was the subject of alleged racist abuse. Current Miss Scotland Nicola McLean remarked on Scottish radio that although Mumba was attractive, she resembled a monkey. McLean has since apologized and stated that no offence was meant by her comment.

Mumba's musical career has taken a downward path since her initial success, resulting in the cancellation of a much-heralded "homecoming" gig in her native Dublin for lack of interest, with only 30 tickets sold.

Mumba has recently opened her own Dance and Vocal studio, entitled SamSara, in Belfast. She currently divides her time between Dublin and Los Angeles.

Discography

Albums

Year	Album	U.S. Billboard 200	UK	Aus	IRL	GER
2000	Gotta Tell You	67	9	-	14	53
2002	Woman (limited release)	-	-	-	-	-
2006	The Collection	-	-	-	-	-
2008	Samsara

Cancelled albums

• Woman (2002)

Singles

Year	Song	Album	U.S.	UK	Aus	IRL	GER
2000	Gotta Tell You	Gotta Tell You	4	2	3	1	17
	Body II Body		-	5	14	2	58
2001	Always Come Back to Your Love		-	3	63	1	-
	Baby Come Over		49	5	35	2	67
	Don't Need You To (Tell Me I'm Pretty)		-	-	-	-	-
	Lately		-	6	-	3	-
2002	I'm Right Here	Woman	80	5	32	3	81
2008	Personalities	Samsara	TBA	TBA	-	TBA	TBA

• - Indicates did not chart
• A blank box indicates wasn't released
• n/a means information not available

External links

• Samantha's Official website
• Samantha's Official Myspace Page
• Samantha Mumba at IMDb