Mahalia
Mahalia performing atBoardmasters Festival in 2021
Background information
Birth name	Mahalia Burkmar
Born	(1998-05-01)1 May 1998 (age 26)
Origin	Syston,Leicestershire, England
Genres	R&B neo soul[1]
Occupations	Singer songwriter actress
Instruments	Vocals guitar
Years active	2015–present
Labels	Asylum
Website	www.mahaliamusic.co.uk

Mahalia Burkmar (born 1 May 1998), knownmononymously asMahalia,^[2] is a British singer, songwriter and actress.^[3] Mahalia has released several EPs and three albums,Diary of Me (2016),Love and Compromise (2019) andIRL (2023). She also acted in the filmBrotherhood (2016).^[4] She had her breakthrough in 2017 with her performance of "Sober" for theYouTube channelColors.^[5] In 2018, she was ranked number one on YouTube's Ones to Watch list.^[6]

Mahalia is fromSyston,Charnwood, inLeicestershire.^[7][8] She was born to musician parents.^[5] Her father is British-Irish and her mother is Jamaican (Debbion Curry, the first singer of English bandColourbox, in 1982–1983).^[9][10] Mahalia has described the town she grew up in as a predominantly white area with "a lot of racism".^[11] She has two brothers.^[12]

She attendedRoundhill Community College until she signed a record deal at age 13, when she transferred to a performing arts school,^[13]Birmingham Ormiston Academy,^[14] where she took acting classes.^[5] Mahalia further expanded her actor training at Urban Young Actors, Leicester.^[15]

As a child, she would often spend her summer breaks at home writing music^{[citation needed]}—she wrote her first song at age eight^[6] and signed a deal withAsylum Records at age 13.^[8][16][5] She performed live for the first time aged "eleven, or maybe 12" at an open mic.^[17] She released her debut EP,Head Space, in 2012.^[11] Mahalia was later introduced toEd Sheeran,^[13] who she went on to perform as a supporting act for, duetting with him on his song "Gold Rush". She supported Sheeran andEmeli Sandé in their 2014 UK tours. She sang on the title track of UK No. 1 albumWe the Generation byRudimental in 2015.^[5][18]

In 2019, Mahalia was featured onBBC Radio 1's Brit List.^[3] Her albumLove and Compromise was released and marketed as her debut album. The album concept was influenced by an interview withEartha Kitt, which Mahalia's mother showed her when she was a child.^[19] Mahalia won Best Female Act and Best R&B/Soul Act at the 2020MOBO Awards.^[20]

In 2021, she released "Jealous", a collaboration with American rapperRico Nasty.^[21] She was nominated for her first Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance at the63rd Annual Grammy Awards.^[22] Mahalia was included in the 2021Forbes 30 Under 30 list.^[23]

In 2022, Mahalia was among the performers at the2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. She was also one of the opening acts in the all-female lineup atAdele'sBritish Summer Time concerts in London's Hyde Park.^[24]

In 2023, Mahalia released her second studio album, titledIRL.^[25][26] In support of the album, she toured Europe, North America, and Australia.^[27][28]

Mahalia has listedCorinne Bailey Rae,Erykah Badu,Lauryn Hill,Amy Winehouse,Jill Scott,India Arie,^[29]Ed Sheeran,^[13] andKate Nash^[5] among her musical influences.

• Brotherhood (Noel Clarke, 2016) – as Thea

• Official website
• Mahalia discography atDiscogs
• Mahalia atIMDb

• 1998 births
• Living people
• 21st-century Black British women singers
• 21st-century British women singers
• Black British actresses
• English women singer-songwriters
• English singer-songwriters
• English people of Irish descent
• English people of Jamaican descent
• Musicians from Leicestershire
• People from Syston

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from August 2020
• Articles with hCards
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from January 2020
• Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia