Kyla | |
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Birth name | Kyla Smith |
Also known as | Kyla Reid |
Born |
United Kingdom |
September 22, 1983
Genres | |
Occupation(s) |
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Kyla Reid (née Smith), commonly known as Kyla, is a British house music singer in the UK funky subgenre. She is best known for her song "Do You Mind" which became one of the most successful charting UK funky songs and was later featured on Drake's 2016 international hit "One Dance".
Kyla is married to Errol Reid (also known as DJ Paleface, one half of the Crazy Cousinz production team) and has a son. She was previously an ESL teacher.
Kyla features on the Crazy Cousinz UK funky song "Do You Mind", released in 2008, which peaked at number 48 on the UK Top Singles in 2009. DJ Paleface liked Kyla's voice after seeing her in a video for the song "Be What I Wanna Be". Kyla gave up her music career to start a family.
In early 2016, Kyla was first contacted by Drake's production team regarding the use of her 2008 song "Do You Mind" in a new afrobeat and dancehall infused song with Drake and Nigerian artist Wizkid. The song was quickly produced and released in early April 2016, due to fear of it being hacked, and it became an international hit, reaching number 1 in the singles chart in 15 different countries, including her native UK, the U.S. and Drake's native Canada.
The extraordinary success of "One Dance" allowed Kyla to reboot her career, with guest appearances in a number of 2016 British summer music festivals, including the Wireless Festival. Kyla was later featured on English producer Naughty Boy's single, "Should've Been Me", which was released in November 2016 and peaked at number 97 on the UK Singles Chart. She is also featured on "Need Someone", a confirmed track for Major Lazer's upcoming album Music Is the Weapon, alongside frequent Major Lazer collaborator MØ.