Mika (singer)
| Mika | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Michael Holbrook Penniman, Jr. |
| Also known as |
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| Born |
18 August 1983 Beirut, Lebanon |
| Origin | London, England |
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| Years active | 2006–present |
| Labels | |
| Website | mikasounds |
Mika (/ˈmiːkə/; born Michael Holbrook Penniman, Jr.; 18 August 1983), stylised as MIKA, is a British singer and songwriter.
After recording his first extended play, Dodgy Holiday, Mika was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2007 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2007. Mika released his first full-length studio album, Life in Cartoon Motion, on Island Records in 2007, which sold more than 5.6 million copies worldwide and helped Mika win a Brit Award—winning Best British Breakthrough act, and receive a Grammy Award nomination. In 2006, Mika started up his company, Dodgy Holiday Tours Limited. Two years later Mika released his second extended play, Songs for Sorrow, of which limited edition copies are now sold out worldwide. In 2009 Mika released his second studio album, The Boy Who Knew Too Much. Finishing his worldwide tour, Mika recorded his third album, The Origin of Love, stating it would be "more simplistic pop, less layered than the last one". The album was released internationally on 16 September 2012 and in the UK on 8 October 2012.
His latest album, No Place in Heaven, was released 15 June 2015.
Mika was born in Beirut, the third of five children to American parents, Joannie and Michael Holbrook Penniman. His father was a banker. His mother was born in New York, to Lebanese parents. His father was born in Jerusalem, while his own father was a diplomat there.
When Mika was a year old, his family was forced to leave war-torn Lebanon and moved to Paris. The first piano piece he learned to play was "Les Champs-Élysées", by Joe Dassin. At the age of seven, he wrote his first song, a piano instrumental called "Angry", which he describes as "awful". The family moved to London when he was nine years old. There, he attended the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle, where he experienced severe bullying. He also had problems with dyslexia. In response to these experiences Mika was home-schooled by his mother at the age of 12, for six to eight months. He then attended St Philip's School in Kensington, where he was the head of the Schola Cantorum (the St. Philip's Choir). Later he attended Westminster School and the Royal College of Music, which he left to record his first album at Casablanca Records. As a child Mika was trained by Alla Ardakov (Ablaberdyeva), a Russian opera professional.
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