Mahalia

Singer

Popular As Mahalia (singer)

Birthday May 1, 1998

Birth Sign Taurus

Birthplace Leicester, United Kingdom

Age 25 years old

Nationality United Kingdom

#47560 Most Popular

1963

She was nominated for her first Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.

Mahalia was included in the 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 list.

In 2022, Mahalia was among the performers at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

She was also one of the opening acts in the all-female lineup at Adele's British Summer Time concerts in London's Hyde Park.

Mahalia has listed Corinne Bailey Rae, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Amy Winehouse, Jill Scott, India Arie, Ed Sheeran, and Kate Nash among her musical influences.

1998

Mahalia Burkmar (born 1 May 1998), known mononymously as Mahalia, is a British singer, songwriter and actress.

2012

She released her debut EP, Head Space, in 2012.

Mahalia was later introduced to Ed Sheeran, who she went on to perform as a supporting act for, duetting with his on his song "Gold Rush".

2014

She supported Sheeran and Emeli Sandé in their 2014 UK tours.

2015

She sang on the title track of UK #1 album We the Generation by Rudimental in 2015.

2016

Mahalia has released several EPs and three albums, Diary of Me (2016), Love and Compromise (2019) and IRL (2023).

She also acted in the film Brotherhood (2016).

2017

She had her breakthrough in 2017 with her performance of "Sober" for the YouTube channel Colors.

2018

In 2018, she was ranked number one on YouTube's Ones to Watch list.

Mahalia is from Syston, Charnwood, in Leicestershire.

She was born to musician parents.

Her father is British-Irish and her mother is Jamaican.

Mahalia has described the town she grew up in as a predominantly white area with "a lot of racism".

She has two brothers.

She attended Roundhill Community College until she signed a record deal aged 13, when she transferred to a performing arts school, Birmingham Ormiston Academy ,where she took acting classes.

Mahalia further expanded her actor training at Urban Young Actors, Leicester.

As a child she would often spend her summer breaks at home writing music—she wrote her first song at age eight and signed a deal with Asylum Records at age 13.

She performed live for the first time aged "eleven, or maybe 12" at an open mic.

2019

In 2019, Mahalia was featured on BBC Radio 1's Brit List.

Her album Love and Compromise was released on marketed as her debut album.

The album concept was influenced by an interview with Eartha Kitt, which Mahalia's mother showed her when she was a child.

2020

Mahalia won Best Female Act and Best R&B/Soul Act at the 2020 MOBO Awards.

In 2021, she released "Jealous", a collaboration with American rapper Rico Nasty.