MPHO

Emerging from her roots as a session vocalist and music instructor, MPHO has distinguished herself among Britain's freshest creative voices through a wide-ranging sonic approach and resistance to any fixed stylistic category. Born in South Africa under apartheid, she relocated with her family to Brixton in South London at age four to evade those oppressive statutes. Shaped by her father, the musician Hotstix Mabuse, she started composing and delivering her own material, gaining entry to the Brit School, where she later mentored a pre-fame Adele. After supplying backing vocals for Natasha Bedingfield and Ms. Dynamite, she contributed to recordings by Bugz in the Attic and Coldcut, then secured a five-album agreement with Wall of Sound/Parlophone Records. Her debut single, "Box N' Locks," which drew from Martha & the Muffins' "Echo Beach," peaked at number 49 on the U.K. chart. The forthcoming debut album Pop Art, shaped by producers such as Switch, Future Cut, and Rick Nowels, is slated for release by the end of 2009.