Samantha Mumba

Samantha Mumba cut her teeth as a teen star, shooting to chart success at 17 with her debut single 'Gotta Tell You'. Born and raised in Dublin, the seeds of her showbiz career were sewn when she was just three when she began attending the Billie Barry Stage School, which also produced several members of Westlife around the same time. At 15 she left, however, having been spotted on the RTÉ TV talent show 'Let Me Entertain You' by Louis Walsh. She was signed to Polydor records and in 2000 debuted with one of the biggest pop songs of the early '00s. The song landed in the top five of charts across the English-speaking world and went on to be listed in Billboard's 100 Catchiest Choruses of the 21st Century. Her debut album, also called 'Gotta Tell You', fared similarly well with top-ten chart appearances in the UK and Ireland.

Several more successful singles followed, including 'Body II Body', 'Always Come Back to Your Love' and 'Baby, Come Over (This Is Our Night)', as did acting roles in 'The Time Machine' and 'Spin the Bottle', but Mumba largely disappeared from view from 2005 to 2013. In 2013, however, she appeared on Irish TV show 'The Hit' and had an Irish top-five hit with 'Somebody Like Me'. In 2019 Mumba announced that she was back in the studio to record a new album.