Ella Mai

Ella Mai was born in London on 3 November 1994. Her father is Irish, and her mom is from Jamaica. Ella’s mother loved classical jazz music, especially by Ella Fitzgerald, who was often called the Queen of Jazz. That’s why she named her daughter Ella. Mai enjoyed music since childhood. Her parents noticed the girl’s wish to explore arts and music and helped her enroll in a music school. In school, Mai learned vocals, choreography, and acting. It was a dream come true for her.

In 2006, Ella’s mom got a job in New York, and the family moved to the USA. In America, the 12-year-old girl faced troubles in school. Her classmates made fun of Ella because of her English accent and a manner of dressing. To become successful in school, Mai had to forget about her hobby for a while. Instead, the teenager devoted herself to soccer. Over time, she earned popularity with the classmates and decided to go back to music and lyrics.

At 17, Ella graduated from high school and returned to London, where she enrolled in Modern Music Institute. At the same time, she joined a girl band Arize. In 2014, the group tried auditioning for the X-Factor UK but didn’t pass. A while later, Arize disbanded. The short time with the group helped Ella get priceless performance experience.

In 2015, one of the cover versions recorded by Ella Mai was uploaded to the website The Shade Room where millions of users got a chance to listen to it. The young singer stepped on the road to becoming famous. The young women recorded an EP Troubled, which featured several music videos to her songs and uploaded them to SoundCloud. This helped acquire a few fans.

Then Ella took advantage of social media and began uploading videos with cover versions of famous songs to her Instagram account. That’s where she was noticed by an American producer DJ Mustard, who had a big influence in the music business and his own label 10 Summer Records. He contacted Mai through Instagram. In August 2015, she signed a contract with the label.

After signing the contract, Ella began a new life. Even though she didn’t have too much experience working in the studio, the determined singer managed to overcome all the difficulties. DJ Mustard helped her with lyrics and music. At the beginning of 2016, the singer released her first EP, which she called, Time. It was 20 minutes long and featured six tracks. After getting positive reviews, Ella decided to continue her music career.

Mai moved to LA. In November, she released her second EP with five singles, called Change. It was 18 minutes long. The album climbed to the 8th spot of US Top Heatseekers, settled on the 20th position of US R&B Albums and came in 38th on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. At the same time, she appeared in a popular music video for the song “10,000 Hours”. It earned millions of views on YouTube. At that time, many fans tried to book Ella Mai for private events.

In February 2017, Ella finished working on her third EP, Ready. It was 21 minutes long and contained six popular tracks. The success came instantaneously. The album climbed to the 3rd spot of US R&B Albums Chart. The album earned numerous great reviews from the critics.

At about the same time, Ella got an invitation from a famous singer Kehlani to take part in her SweetSexySavage tour. The collaboration with a celebrity helped the young singer become even more popular.

One of the singles from the third EP, “Boo’d Up”, earned numerous positive reviews. In April 2018, the singer released a music video for it. In just a few days, it collected more than a million views. Two months later, “Boo’d Up” topped Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart.

In October 2018, Ella presented her debut 16-track LP, Ella Mai. In November, at Soul Train Music Awards, the single “Boo’d Up” earned Best Of The Year Award. The singer herself got the title of Best R&B/Soul Female Artist.

In her songs, Ella Mai talks about feelings and broken hearts, which is especially popular with the young audience. The young woman herself is highly secretive about her personal life.