Mahalia

Born on May 1, 1998, in Syston, Charnwood, Mahalia Burkmar started playing guitar and writing songs as a child, penning her first song, "My Angel," at the age of 8. She comes from a musical family, her mother played for the 1980s synth band Colourbox and her father sang and played guitar with the electro-pop outfit Erasure. Her live debut came at the age of 12 in a venue called The Musician in her hometown of Leicester. She waited another year before penning her next song "Let the World See the Light." After this, she was signed to Atlantic Records when she was just 13. In 2012, she played support to Ed Sheeran, who had tweeted about her previously. Her own songwriting break came in 2017 with "Sober," which was certified silver in the UK. Despite signing a record deal at such a young age, Mahalia almost gave up music in 2017 after moving to London from Birmingham where she had been studying at the Ormiston Academy performing arts school. Her guitar-focused compilation album, My Diary, did not sell well when it was released in 2016. However, a return to her hometown of Leicester, followed by some better-selling singles and with her studio debut Love and Compromise due out in September 2019, she decided to keep going with her music. Love and Compromise peaked at Number 4 on the UK R&B charts and helped Mahalia win both Best Female Act and Best R&B/Soul Act at the 2020 MOBO Awards. In 2021, she collaborated with American rapper Rico Nasty on the single "Jealous" and received her first Grammy nomination for her participation in Jacob Collier and Ty Dolla Sign's "All I Need." Preceded by the promotional singles "Terms and Conditions," "Cheat," and "Ready," IRL, her highly anticipated sophomore effort, hit the shelves in 2023 and climbed to Number 2 on the UK R&B charts.