Connie Mitchell

Connie Mitchell
Mitchell backstage at The Voice, March 2013
Background information
Birth name	Connie Thembi Mitchell
Also known as	Miss Connie, Feyonce
Genres	Techno rock, electropop, dance
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, musician
Instruments	Vocals, violin
Years active	1995–present
Associated acts	Primary, Machine Gun Fellatio, Sneaky Sound System, Kanye West

Connie Thembi Mitchell also known as Miss Connie (born ca. 1977) is a South African-born Australian singer-songwriter. In 1995 she was a founding member of Primary. Briefly, in 2004, she was vocalist for Machine Gun Fellatio under the pseudonym Feyonce. Since mid-2005 Mitchell is the lead vocalist with Sneaky Sound System, appearing on their singles: "I Love It" (July 2006), "Pictures" (December), "UFO" (April 2007), "Goodbye" (October), "Kansas City" (July 2008), "When We Were Young" (November), "16" (February 2009) and "We Love" (May 2011).

Connie Thembi Mitchell was born in about 1978 in South Africa. Her mother was a singer in a musical troupe, Ipi Tombi, while her grandfather and father had extensive record collections. After leaving South Africa, Mitchell lived in New Zealand and attended a primary school, where "I discovered I could sing. I'd heard some opera singers, someone like Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, and I could put on that voice". She arrived in Australia at age of 11 or 12; and attended Riverside Girls High School in Sydney.

While still at secondary school Mitchell met the Fonti brothers, Jamie and Sean, who were members of the techno-grunge band, Caligula. With Mitchell on lead vocals; Jamie on keyboard programming, guitar and samples; Sean on bass guitar (ex-Massappeal, Def FX); and John Bousfield on guitar they formed another techno rock group, Primary in late 1996. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described their sound as "Dominated by ... Mitchell’s hyperactive and full-frontal vocals, with thunderous electronic rock underpinning the music, Primary sounded like a techno Skunk Anansie".