Shola Ama chats to us at 51st State Festival about winning a BRIT Award, signing her deal at the age of 17 AND the madness which followed at 51st State Festival
British born R&B singer Shola Ama is best known for her 90s cover of Turley Richards‘ “You Might Need Somebody” It remained in the top 40 for almost two months, becoming one of 1997’s biggest hits. A re-release of “You’re the One I Love” followed in August 1997 and reached #3. Her third single “Who’s Loving My Baby” was released in November 1997 and reached #13.
At the age of 18, Shola Ama released her debut album Much Love (1997) which went 4x Platinum.
On the success of the album, Shola Ama won a Brit Award for Best British Female and two MOBO Awards for Best Newcomer and Best R&B Act.
In 1999, Shola Ama released her second album In Return. The project saw her working with the record producers Fred Jerkins III, Stargate, Shaun Labelle, Full Crew, D-Influence Productions and Ali Shaheed Muhammad(formerly of A Tribe Called Quest). Co-writers included Angie Stone and Babyface with David Foster.
In 2002, she went back into the recording studio to record her third album, Supersonic. Unable to obtain a major label deal, she instead formed a distribution deal with Pony Canyon.
In 2004, she featured on the track “You Should Really Know” by The Pirates, a response in song to Mario Winans‘ “I Don’t Wanna Know” which reached #8 on the UK chart.
She also mentored her sister Sadie Ama, who signed her own recording contract and released “So Sure” (2004) and “Fallin” (2007).
In February 2010, Shola Ama joined a new collective group formed by Wiley called A-List, alongside her sister Sadie Ama and grime musicians Roll Deep, Mz. Bratt, Wrigley, Margs, Young Kye and Kivanc
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