Melanie Fiona

Melanie Fiona, a singer-songwriter of Guyanese-Canadian roots, pairs her rich soprano with a nostalgic approach grounded chiefly in classic R&B. Although she began by issuing house and reggae singles as Syren, she soon pivoted to polished contemporary R&B material through the 2009 release “Give It to Me Right,” a Top 20 pop success in Canada. Together with the Top 40 Grammy-nominated follow-up “It Kills Me,” that single formed the core of her debut album The Bridge. A later duet, “Fool for You,” with Cee Lo Green earned her multiple Grammy victories ahead of the 2012 arrival of her second album The MF Life, which featured the gold-certified U.S. hit “4 AM” and the Grammy-nominated “Wrong Side of a Love Song.” After plans for a third album were dropped, Fiona withdrew from the scene for an extended period, resurfacing the next decade with the retro-contemporary soul ballad “Say Yes” and the lilting, reggae-flavored “I Choose You.”

Born Melanie Fiona Hallim, she spent her early years in inner-city Toronto. Music became a passion while she was still young, shaped by the Ronettes and Whitney Houston among others. Although she performed as early as 2002 in the groups X-Quisite and the Renaissance—the latter of which included Drake—her first recordings did not surface until 2007-2008. The reggae single “Somebody Come Get Me,” credited to Syren and released on the Black Chiney label, landed on the Reggae Gold 2008 compilation and helped secure her a deal with Universal Motown. The same year she opened shows for Kanye West across Europe, a notable achievement given that she had yet to issue an album.

Fiona issued her debut single “Give It to Me Right” in 2009; the track sampled “Time of the Season” by the Zombies well before Miguel referenced the same source. Her melismatic and dynamic delivery propelled the song to number 20 on the Canadian Hot 100 and onto Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart. The Bridge followed in May 2009, reaching the Top Five on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart and number 25 on the main Canadian album chart. Its strongest performer was the follow-up “It Kills Me,” which topped the R&B/hip-hop chart, entered Canada’s Top 40, and brought Fiona her first Grammy nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

Further joint projects included a featured appearance on John Legend and the Roots’ update of “Wake Up Everybody,” which received a Grammy nomination for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, as well as the co-written duet “Fool for You” with Cee Lo Green, which won Grammys for Best R&B Song and Traditional R&B Performance. Capitalizing on that momentum, her second album The MF Life arrived in March 2012, debuting inside the Top Ten of the Billboard 200 and spotlighting the RIAA-certified gold single “4 AM.” “Gone and Never Coming Back” earned a Juno Award, while “Wrong Side of a Love Song” delivered her fifth Grammy nomination. Over the next several years she developed material for a third album that was ultimately abandoned, prompting a lengthy hiatus before her return in 2024 with the independently released “Say Yes” and “I Choose You.”