Shola Ama (born Mathurin Campbell, 18 March 1979, in Paddington, London) is an English singer who scored her biggest hit in 1997 with a cover of Turley Richards' "You Might Need Somebody" (couldn't find the video). She is half Caribbean (of Dominican & St. Lucian origin - Mum), quarter Irish and quarter Scottish (Dad).
Shola attended Quintin Kynaston School in the early 1990s. At 15 she was singing to herself on a platform at Hammersmith tube station, and was overheard by Kwame Kwaten a a producer at the FreakStreet record label. In 1995 an unknown independent label released a single titled 'Celebrate', which was a soulful ballad produced by D'Influence. Although the single was not a commercial success, it did draw attention to Shola as an artist, or singer. On her 16th birthday she signed a record deal with WEA. Little did she know that they would later abandon her.
The single "You're The One I Love" was her first single release for WEA in 1996, although it barely made an impact on the charts, only managing to reach #85, which is appalling. Her second WEA single "You Might Need Somebody" finally did it for Shola and remains her biggest hit. This Turley Richards cover reached #4 in the UK charts. It remained in the top 40 for almost 2 months, becoming one of 1997's biggest hits. A re-release of "You're The One I Love" followed and reached #3. At 18 Shola released her debut album "Much Love" (1997), which gave her 4 top twenty hits and went on to top the charts around Europe. Selling over a million copies 'Much Love' became the biggest selling UK RnB album, a title it still holds to this date.
On the success of the album Shola won a Brit award for 'Best British Female' and two MOBO awards for 'Best Newcomer' and 'Best Female Vocals', with little credit going to the shadowy industry figures who 'created' this 'talent'.
While 'Much Love' brought Shola success she was not completely pleased with it. She reportedly felt it was rushed, as many tracks were reworkings of her original demos. Shola also had little creative control over the album.
In 1999 Shola released her second album 'In Return'. The project saw Ama working with top producers Fred Jerkins III, Stargate, Shaun Labelle, Full Crew, D-Influence Productions and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (formerly of A Tribe Called Quest). Co-writers included Angie Stone and Babyface with David Foster. Although the record company injected huge amounts of capital into "In Return" the album was not as commercially successful as 'Much Love'.
The album was more successful in the rest of Europe, especially France, where the single 'Still Believe' spent 4 months in the singles charts. Shola went all over Europe touring and promoting 'In Return' performing to sell out crowds night after night after night after night, until she became tired.
The disappointing sales of 'In Return' and low self-esteem knocked Shola into a depression that saw her drinking alcohol heavily and becoming addicted to drugs. In late 2000 WEA, looking at the poor sales of 'In Return' and negative press about her drink and drug dependence, dropped her. Following this, Ama took a break from recording.
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In 2003 she went back into the studio to record her third album, 'Supersonic'. Fearing her own creative limitations, she was wary of signing a major label deal, and instead formed a distribution deal with Pony Canyon. Ama co-wrote all of the tracks on the album. Musically the album was very true to her personal taste/a cynical cash-in; fusing R'n'B and soul with hip-hop and 2-Step. 'Supersonic' was initially released in Japan where it sold a barely respectable amount. The album also had a limited release in the UK and other parts of Europe. It received good reviews in both the UK and Japan.
(Gonna inject with Imagine and Image Remix)
In 2004, she featured on the track You Really Should Know, a response in song to Mario Winans' I Don't Wanna Know.
In late 2005 it was believed that Shola was heading back into the studio to record her fourth studio album. The album was expected to be released in mid 2007; however no news has yet been heard on a release date., She is also currently mentoring her sister Sadie Ama, who has recently signed a recording development and is expected to release an album sometime in 2008 at the earliest.
Sadie Ama (born Mersadie Louise Hall on 19 August 1987) is a British R&B singer, . She grew up in Kilburn, London in a musical household.
She played the mini Mel B in the Spice Girls' video for Mama.
Sadie states: "Oh, don't," she squeals. "That is very embarrassing.
"It was great at the time. It was really, really exciting because I was such a big fan of the Spice Girls.
"So when I got that I was so excited. But when I look back, I'm cringing."
Sadie's first record,So Sure, ft Kano produced by Terror Danjah, caused a huge industry stir and catapulted Sadie into the limelight. Recently she has been featured in numerous urban publications including Touch, New Nation, RWD, Blues & Soul and others. She has also appeared in style magazines i-D, Trace and Dummy as well as newspapers such as the Daily Mirror. She is currently working on new material. She also has a song called "Deja Vu" which can be heard on youtube.
ETA: There is a slideshow of Shola and family on her myspace page or,Here. Take a look.