Mika (pronounced
/ˈmiːkə/; born
Michael Holbrook Penniman, Jr.;
[1][2][3] 18 August 1983) is a British singer-songwriter.
Early life
Mika was born in
Beirut, the third of five children born to a Lebanese mother and an
American father.
[4] When he was a year old his family was forced to leave war-torn
Lebanon and moved to
Paris.
[4][5] After listening to
Nirvana's "
Heart-Shaped Box", he wrote his first song, which he describes as an "awful" piano instrumental called "Angry".
[2] The first piano piece he learned to play was "Les Champs-Élysées" from
Joe Dassin.
[4] The family moved to
London when he was nine years old. There, he attended the
Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle, where he experienced severe
bullying. He also had problems with
dyslexia. In response to these experiences, Mika was home-schooled by his mother at the age of 12, for six to eight months.
[2] He then attended St Philip's School in
Kensington where he was the head of the Schola Cantorum (the St Philip's Choir). Later he attended
Westminster School and the
Royal College of Music, which he left to record his first album at Casablanca Records.
[6] He has also slightly altered his given name, Mica, changing the "c" to a "k" because he was frustrated by how often people would mispronounce it.
[7]
Life in Cartoon Motion: 2006–2008
In January 2007, Mika was on the top of the
BBC News website's
Sound of 2007 poll.
[9] Universal Music released his single "
Grace Kelly" by digital download on 8 January 2007, and it reached number one on the
UK Singles Chart on 21 January 2007. The
CD,
12", and limited-edition
7" Produced and mixed by
Greg Wells in Los Angeles, with three songs co-produced by
Jodi Marr and
John Merchant, who produced the original songs which garnered him his deal with Universal. Mika's début album
Life in Cartoon Motion was released on 5 February 2007, and has brought comparison with artists such as
Freddie Mercury,
[10][11] Scissor Sisters,
[12] Elton John,
[13] Prince,
[14] Robbie Williams[15] and
David Bowie.
[15] "
Grace Kelly," in fact, references Mercury in the lyrics, "I try to be like Grace Kelly/But all her looks were too sad/So I try a little Freddie/I've gone identity mad!"
On 10 October 2007, Mika began his Dodgy Holiday Tour, playing at venues across Europe. On 17 November 2007, Mika started the UK leg of his tour with support from
Palladium. The North American leg of his tour began in January 2008 with support from
The Midway State and
Creature and continued through February with a stop in Los Angeles for the
50th Grammy Awards.
His debut album,
Life in Cartoon Motion, has a coming of age theme and deals with his transition from childhood to the present, though he has stated that not all of the songs are autobiographical. His songs often deal with difficult topics. For instance, in "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)" the theme of larger women suffering from discrimination is explored. Mika has said that the fact that his mother was a big woman, and that he had seen the prejudices against her, helped him to write the song.
[18] In another example of dealing with more difficult subject matter, in the song "Billy Brown", Mika writes about a married man who has a homosexual affair.
Mika has reportedly written songs for other musicians, saying, "I write songs for other people under different names most of the time. I have a little family of three names. One of them has been discovered – it's Alice."
[19]The Boy Who Knew Too Much: 2009–present
Mika's second
studio album,
The Boy Who Knew Too Much, was released on 21 September 2009.
[22] Mika recorded the majority of the album in Los Angeles with producer and musician
Greg Wells, who also produced his debut album
Life In Cartoon Motion.
[23] The album has been described as Mika dealing with his adolescent teenage years and "in a sense is kind of part two" of his first album.
[24] He got a Bafta in 2006 for best Male Artist Worldwide
The first single from the album "
We Are Golden", made its radio debut in the United Kingdom on 20 July 2009, on
BBC Radio 2[25] and was released for download on 6 September 2009, with the physical release following on 7 September 2009.
[22] The single debuted at number 4 on the
UK Singles Chart on 13 September 2009. Mika's promotional tour of the single consitied of live performances at the iTunes Festival 2009, at
The Roundhouse in Camden, London and on
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross in September 2009. It was reported that Mika spent £25,000 on drinks after inviting fans to join him at his local pub via
Twitter on 7 September 2009, to celebrate the release of his single.
[26][27]
Personal life
Mika comes from a family of five. He has one younger brother and one younger sister along with two older sisters. His sister Yasmine, who works as an artist under the
nom de plume Dawack, painted the cartoon art for his album
Life in Cartoon Motion, and she is currently a fashion designer. He also speaks French fluently.
[4] In an interview on 28 September 2009 with
The Chris Moyles Show on
BBC Radio 1 he commented that he had taken Mandarin Chinese for 9 years but did not speak it very well, he also mentioned that his three sisters did all speak it fluently.
He denied allegations that he is steering clear of sexual taboos in order to appeal to the US market, pointing to the song "
Billy Brown", which is about a married man who has an affair with another man. He is quoted as saying, "If I was worried about sexual taboos I certainly wouldn't have made the record I made. It has nothing to do with that. It has more to do with self-respect."
[31] In an interview in the US gay magazine
Out he stated that "there is a way of discussing sexuality without using labels."
[32]
In a September 2009 interview in Gay & Night, Mika commented on his sexuality: "I've never ever labeled myself. But having said that; I've never limited my life, I've never limited who I sleep with"