Mika | |
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![]() Mika at the London Roundhouse on 3 July 2022 | |
Born | Michael Holbrook Penniman Jr. 18 August 1983 Beirut, Lebanon |
Other names | Mica Mika Penniman |
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Years active | 2006–present |
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Website | yomika |
Michael Holbrook Penniman Jr.[6][7] (born 18 August 1983), known professionally as Mika (/ˈmiːkə/ MEE-kə, stylised in all caps), is a singer-songwriter born in Beirut, Lebanon, and raised in Paris and London.
After recording his first extended play, Dodgy Holiday, Mika was predicted to be the number-one breakthrough act of 2007 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2007.[8] Mika released his first full-length studio album, Life in Cartoon Motion, on Island Records in 2007, which has sold more than 8.3 million copies worldwide and helped Mika win a Brit Award—Best British Breakthrough act—and receive a Grammy Award nomination.[9] He topped the UK Singles Chart in January 2007 with "Grace Kelly" and has since gone on to record four more platinum-selling studio albums (most recently My Name Is Michael Holbrook released in October 2019), as well as serve as judge/mentor on both the French version of The Voice and the Italian version of X Factor.
Mika also starred for two seasons in his own television variety show in Italy, Stasera Casa Mika , which won the 2017 Rose d'Or Award for Entertainment,[10] and has hosted his own BBC Radio 2 show The Art of Song. In 2022, he co-hosted the Eurovision Song Contest alongside Italian singer Laura Pausini and Italian television presenter Alessandro Cattelan.[11]
In addition to his musical career, Mika has also worked as a visual artist and designer on various projects, among them sunglasses for the Italian eyewear company Lozza,[12] a clothing line for Belgian retailer JBC,[13] pens for the 100th anniversary of Pilot,[14] and (along with his sister Yasmine) three watches for Swiss company Swatch.[15]
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