Melanie Fiona | |
|---|---|
 Fiona in 2011 | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Syren Hall |
| Born | Melanie Fiona Hallim (1983-07-04)July 4, 1983 (age 42) |
| Genres | |
| Occupation | Singer |
| Years active | 2002–present |
| Labels | |
| Formerly of | |
| Website | www |
Melanie Fiona Hallim (born July 4, 1983) is a CanadianR&B singer. Born and raised inToronto,[1] she began her career in 2002 as part of a Canadian R&B trioX-Quisite, who was nominated for aJuno Award for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year for their self-titled album (2004). She went on to form the duo the Renaissance with hometown nativeDrake, although they released no albums.
Hallim's debut studio album,The Bridge (2009), was preceded by her debut single, "Give It to Me Right", which peaked at number 20 on theCanadian Hot 100 chart and number 41 on theUK Singles Chart.[2] Her follow-up single, "It Kills Me," became her breakout song on the USBillboard Hot 100 where it entered the top 50, peaked on theHot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and earned her aGrammy Award nomination forBest Female R&B Vocal Performance. Her next single "Monday Morning" became her biggest hit in Europe to date.The Bridge also earned her anNAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding New Artist.
Hallim's second studio album,The MF Life (2011), peaked at number 7 on the USBillboard 200. The same year, Hallim won two Grammy Awards forBest Traditional R&B Performance andBest R&B Song for her song "Fool for You" withCeeLo Green.
Melanie Fiona Hallim (who goes by Melanie Fiona professionally) was born on July 4, 1983, inToronto, Ontario, Canada.[3][4] She is the daughter and second child ofGuyanese immigrant parents, who immigrated to Canada in the late 1970s.[3][5] Her parents are ofAfro-Guyanese,Indo-Guyanese, and Portuguese descent.[1]Her father was a janitor before working in finance, and her mother worked in banking.[3] Fiona began writing songs at age 16.[6] Living in a music-filled household, Fiona says she always knew music was her passion. Her father was a guitarist in a band and would allow her to sit on the stage when she was younger as he would play. In 2002, Fiona was part of agirl group calledX-Quisite[7] alongsideNicole Holness andNirvana Savoury. Signed toWarner Music Canada, the group released their self-titled debut studio albumX-Quisite in 2003. At the2004 Juno Awards, the group was nominated as one of five finalists forR&B/Soul Recording of the Year for the albumX-Quisite. The group had a number of singles from the album, notably "Bad Girl" and "No Regrets". The group disbanded in 2005.
She was also in a group called the Renaissance with rapperDrake. Early in her career, she would perform atnightclubs in Toronto.[8] In 2005, Fiona traveled toLos Angeles, in search of arecording contract. According to Fiona, record labels "loved" the way she looked and sung, but she "knew that the minute I worked with them or would have signed with them, they would have tried to change me into someone else completely different. That was something that I didn't want to do."[7] She went on to co-write songs for recording artistsRihanna andKardinal Offishall,[7] working with, amongst others, super producerMike City.[9] Fiona also recorded thereggae song "Somebody Come Get Me" under thestage name Syren Hall, which was included in theReggae Gold 2008 compilation album.[10][11]
.jpg)
EntrepreneurSteve Rifkind discovered and signed Fiona toSRC Records andUniversal Motown through Title 9 Productions in 2007.[3][7] She went on to tour withKanye West in hisGlow in the Dark Tour[10] Prior to completing her debut album, Fiona met with recording artistJay-Z and his friend Tyty. She played them some of her music and was then signed to be managed byRoc Nation.[12] She released her debut album,The Bridge, in June 2009, which has sold 248,000 copies in the United States.[10]Beyond Race Magazine ranked Fiona among "50 Emerging Artists" of 2009.[13] Several singles were released from the album, including "It Kills Me", which topped theBillboardHot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for 10 weeks and earned her aGrammy Award nomination at the52nd Grammy Awards forBest Female R&B Vocal Performance.[7][8] Other singles that were released were "Sad Songs" was released in April 2009 in the UK only as a digital download, with the reggae-tinged songs "Somebody Come Get Me" and "Island Boy" as B-sides. "Sad Songs" did not chart in the UK. "Give It to Me Right" was the first official single fromThe Bridge. The song peaked at No. 41 in the UK but failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. It did, however, reach No. 57 on the U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
"Monday Morning" charted in Switzerland and Poland at number 1 and in Austria at number 5. It was released as the third U.S. single, however, "Bang Bang"[14] was sent to radio as the second Canadian single for Canadian top 40 & hot AC play. Due to "Priceless" not being released in Canada, "Monday Morning" served as the fifth single in Canada, due to hot adult contemporary radio station CKZZ-FM (Virgin Radio 953) in Vancouver having the song on its playlist. "Ay Yo" was released as the fourth official single fromThe Bridge, according to Fiona's website and Twitter. The music video for the song premiered on April 12, 2010. "Priceless" would be the fifth U.S. single, due to airplay on urban adult contemporary stations. Due to "Priceless" not being released in Canada, "Monday Morning" was released to Canadian stations as the fifth single, even though "Monday Morning" appeared as the third American single. The album spawned six singles including "It Kills Me", which landed at number 47 on the top 100 charts and reached the top spot on US R&B chart.
Fiona participated in "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" to benefit after the2010 Haiti earthquake. She also began touring withAlicia Keys as anopening act onThe Freedom Tour in 2010.[15]
In 2011, Fiona began recording her second studio album. The lead single was titled "Gone and Never Coming Back." It peaked at 37 on the US R&B chart becoming her second highest-peaking song on the R&B chart so far. Later on that year, Fiona released her second single, "4 AM", which was sent to urban stations on August 30, 2011.[16] "4 AM", a song about a lover who had gone out and was cheating on her, peaked on the US R&B chart at No. 8. It also made the top 100 charts. Fiona's album,The MF Life, was released on March 20, 2012.[17][18][19]
On January 2, 2012, she performed "O Canada" at theNHL Winter Classic between theNew York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers atCitizens Bank Park.[20]
As a newly independent artist, Fiona announced she was working on her third albumAwake in October 2013. During this time, she released the single "Cold Piece". On May 12, 2015, she premiered a new song and lyric video "Bite the Bullet", which was set to appear on her new album in 2016.[21][22] "I feel like sometimes people know my songs but haven't gotten the opportunity to know me" Fiona told theVIBE. "I want to make people feel good and I want people to feel that they are not alone, that this album and me as an artist represent a voice for people to feel like 'Yeah, that is the life we're living and we're living it together so let's do our part to move forward positively, and do some really great things while we are alive here" she added. In September 2015, Fiona announced two more tracks for the album: "I Tried" – the first song written for the album, and "Killing Time", which she wrote after a break up with her boyfriend. It was later announced in a 2019 Instagram post that theAwake album was scrapped.[23]
On October 25, 2024, Fiona released the songs "Say Yes" and "I Choose You" as the double lead single for her extended playSay Yes, which was released in April 2025. The former song was produced byAndre Harris and co-written with singer-songwriterSiR, who also provides backing vocals.[24]
Fiona and songwriterJared Cotter have a son born on 14 March 2016.[25] They became engaged on 14 February 2018.[26] Originally they planned to marry onAmalfi Coast,Italy; but theCOVID-19 pandemic forced them to postpone their wedding three times. The couple married privately on 12 December 2020 in Los Angeles. They welcomed a daughter in December 2021.[27][28]
.jpg)
Fiona is adramatic soprano.[29] Her voice has been referred to as being both "soulful" and "sassy".[29] Some have praised her vocals for being "very passionate, but clean and controlled, and not over-the-top singing".[30]
Fiona citesThe Ronettes,Whitney Houston,Michael Jackson,Mariah Carey,Christina Aguilera,Sam Cooke,Sade,The Supremes,Amy Winehouse,India Arie,Patsy Cline andBob Marley as her musical influences.[5][6][11] Furthermore, she mentionedBrandy Norwood as a major inspiration,[31] naming her the only artist that had her starstruck next toPrince.[32] She also citedJanet Jackson's career as inspirational, who she called anicon.[33] She calledLauryn Hill'sThe Miseducation of Lauryn Hill the album that changed her perspective, calling it an "amazing body of work".[6] She attributes her parents for her vintage sound. Her father was aguitarist in a band, while her mother would sing around the house. She explained that "[m]y parents were big music lovers and played soul music all the time", who would play the Supremes, the Ronettes and Cooke, as well as Caribbean music likesoca,calypso andreggae.[3][34]
Fiona's occasional songwriting revolves around her personal experiences. She stated that she attempts to "keep [the songs] as universal as possible, unless I am writing about something very personal, even then the themes are universal".[5] She has received comparisons toAmy Winehouse,Lauryn Hill,Macy Gray,Chrisette Michele,Marsha Ambrosius andJill Scott.[35]
TheBET Awards were established in 2001 by theBET Networks to celebrateAfrican Americans and otherMinority group in music, acting, sports, and other fields of entertainment over the past year.
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Melanie Fiona | Best Female R&B Artist | Nominated |
| Best New Artist | Nominated | ||
| BET Centric Award | Nominated | ||
| "It Kills Me" | Video of the Year | Nominated | |
| 2012 | Melanie Fiona | Best Female R&B Artist | Nominated |
Eska Music Awards is a major Polish awards ceremony for national and international music launched in 2002 byRadio Eska.
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | The Bridge | Best International Album | Won |
AGrammy Award is an honour awarded by theNational Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the mainly English-languagemusic industry.
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | "It Kills Me" | Best Female R&B Vocal Performance | Nominated |
| 2011 | "Wake Up Everybody"(withCommon,John Legend andthe Roots) | Best Rap/Sung Collaboration | Nominated |
| 2012 | "Fool for You"(withCeeLo Green) | Best Traditional R&B Performance | Won |
| Best R&B Song | Won | ||
| 2013 | "Wrong Side of a Love Song" | Best Traditional R&B Performance | Nominated |
TheJuno Award are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music.
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | The Bridge | R&B/Soul Recording of the Year | Nominated |
| 2012 | Gone and Never Coming Back | R&B/Soul Recording of the Year | Won |
AnNAACP Image Award is an accolade presented by the AmericanNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People to honour outstandingperson of color infilm,television,music, andliterature.
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Melanie Fiona | Outstanding New Artist | Nominated |
| 2012 | Ceelo Green & Melanie Fiona | Outstanding Duo or Group | Nominated |
| "Fool For You"(with CeeLo Green) | Outstanding Song | Nominated |
TheSoul Train Music Awards is an annual award show which previously aired in nationalBroadcast syndication, and honours the best inBlack music andentertainment.
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Melanie Fiona | Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist | Won |
| Subsidiaries | |
|---|---|
| Partners | |
| Related articles | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
