Background and career
Mya Marie Harrison (; born October 10, 1979), known professionally as Mýa, is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actress. She was born in Washington, D.C. and studied ballet, jazz, and tap dance as a child. Her career began in television as a dance posse member on BET's Teen Summit. She signed with University Records, an imprint of Interscope Records to release her first album Mya (1998). The album was led by her first single, "It's All About Me" (featuring Sisqó), which peaked within the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. Her subsequent collaborative singles, "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)" (with Pras and Ol' Dirty Bastard) and "Take Me There" (with Blackstreet and Mase), were also met with commercial success. Her second studio album, Fear of Flying (2000), peaked at number 15 on the Billboard 200 and received platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); all three of its singles—"The Best of Me" (featuring Jadakiss), "Free" and "Case of the Ex"—entered the Billboard Hot 100, the latter of which peaked at number two. Released the following year, her cover of the song "Lady Marmalade" (with Christina Aguilera, Pink and Lil' Kim)—recorded for the 2001 musical film Moulin Rouge!—peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100, along with twelve international charts, and won Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards. Mýa was granted wider creative control of her third studio album, Moodring (2003). The album spawned the singles "My Love Is Like...Wo" and "Fallen" and received gold certification by the RIAA. Mýa signed with Universal Motown Records for her fourth studio album, Liberation (2007). The album only received a limited release and she left the label the following year. In 2008, under the mentorship of J. Prince, Mýa established her own label, Planet 9, on which she released her fifth and sixth studio albums, Sugar & Spice (2008) and K.I.S.S. (Keep It Sexy & Simple) (2011). Beginning in 2014, she released three R&B–rooted extended plays (EPs): With Love (2014), Sweet XVI (2014), and Love Elevation Suite (2015). In 2016, her seventh album, Smoove Jones received a nomination for Best R&B Album at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards. Its follow-up, T.K.O. (The Knock Out) (2018), commemorated the twentieth anniversary of her debut album. Mýa has also ventured into acting across film, television, broadway, and gaming. She made her cinematic debut in the thriller In Too Deep (1999). She has since appeared in roles in films including Chicago (2002), Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004), Shall We Dance? (2004), Cursed (2005), Girls Cruise (2019), and House Party (2023). In 2009, Mýa competed in Dancing with the Stars season nine, finishing second place in the competition. Mýa has sold 3.2 million albums in the U.S. and 20 million records worldwide. Her accolades include a Grammy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award and two MTV Video Music Awards. Billboard listed her in their the Hot 100 Artists of the 2000s and Top 100 Women of the 21st Century lists.
Mya Harrison, a native of Washington, D.C., is the eldest of three children. Her father Sherman "Hajji" Harrison is a singer and performs in an R&B band, Jump Street and her mother Theresa worked as an accountant. She grew up in Prince George's County with her two younger brothers Chaz and Nijel. In her youth, Mýa dealt with bullying growing up as a biracial young person with a Black father and a white mother. She started ballet classes shortly afterward 1992, followed by tap and jazz, but lost interest when she was eight. At 12, she found videos of her dancing and her interest in dance was rekindled. Mýa studied tapes of Tony Award winner Savion Glover until she learned his routines and then joined the group T.W.A. (Tappers With Attitude). She was solo before heading to New York to study with Glover in a residency with the Dance Theater of Harlem. Soon after, she earned a reputation for improvisation and Glover gave her a solo spot during a Kennedy Center performance. Mýa subsequently appeared on BET's Teen Summit and began to teach dance to children when she was 14. She also had taken violin lessons since the fourth grade. Her strict upbringing emphasized the value of school and working hard to get good grades. When her father first heard her sing, he had her record demo tapes and took them to a club where he was playing. There he met A. Haqq Islam, President and CEO of University Music. Islam agreed to come to Mýa's home, where she sang him two En Vogue songs. Impressed with her audition, Islam signed her to a deal via his label and negotiated a distribution deal through Interscope Records. After graduating from Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Maryland at 16, she enrolled in the University of Maryland in speech communications. Mýa left college after one semester to focus on preparing her debut album.
After signing with Interscope Records, Mýa spent the next two years recording her debut studio album. Islam hired a team of collaborators to work with her including Missy Elliott, Babyface, Diane Warren, Dru Hill, Darryl Pearson and Silkk Tha Shocker, while the staff at Interscope had envisioned to market Mýa as their main female R&B artist, competing with fellow teen singers Aaliyah, Brandy Norwood and Monica. Released in April 1998 to generally favorable reviews, Mya peaked at number 29 on the US Billboard 200 and sold 1.4 million copies domestically. It received a platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments to US retailers of over 1,000,000 units. In total, the album sold two million copies worldwide. Mya yielded three successful singles, including her debut single, "It's All About Me" featuring fellow R&B singer Sisqó, which became a top-ten hit on the US Billboard Hot 100, as well as "Movin' On" and "My First Night with You". The album earned her several accolades including two Soul Train Music Award nominations for Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist and Best R&B/Soul Album – Female and an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding New Artist. In addition to her solo work, Mýa, along with Blackstreet, Blinky Blink, and Mase, was featured on "Take Me There" from the soundtrack of the Nickelodeon animated feature film The Rugrats Movie (1998). It reached number one in the New Zealand Singles Chart and became a top twenty hit in several nations, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, and United States. Mýa also appeared with rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard on Pras' single "Ghetto Supastar", recorded for his debut solo studio album, Ghetto Supastar (1998). A worldwide number-one hit, the song topped the charts in more than a dozen nations and earned Mýa her first Grammy Award nomination in the Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group category. "Ghetto Supastar" was also featured on the soundtrack for the political satire film Bulworth. In 1999, Mýa made her acting debut in the crime thriller film In Too Deep, directed by Michael Rymer. In the film, she played a young woman named Loretta starring opposite LL Cool J and Omar Epps.
In late 1999, Mýa began production of the album that would eventually become Fear of Flying with a variety of producers, including Rodney Jerkins, Swizz Beatz, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, and Wyclef Jean. The title was partially inspired by Erica Jong's 1973 novel of the same name. Mýa, who did some writing on her debut album, was heavily involved in the production of Fear of Flying, from writing and recording to producing, mixing, and mastering. Released in April 2000 to mixed reviews, Fear of Flying debuted at number 15 on the Billboard 200 with first week sales of 72,000 copies. Upon initial release, its first single "The Best of Me" featuring Jadakiss had underperformed on the charts and suffered from sophomore slump. The album's second single, "Case of the Ex", proved to be a different matter. "Case of the Ex" became Mýa's international breakthrough hit, topping the Australian Singles Chart for two consecutive weeks, while reaching number two and three in the US and the United Kingdom, respectively, and in turn, solidified Fear of Flying as a hit. With the success of "Case of the Ex", Interscope rereleased Fear of Flying in November 2000, with a revised track listing featuring two new songs, including the third single "Free". Fear of Flying earned Mýa a Soul Train Music Award nomination for R&B/Soul Album – Female and a MOBO nomination for Best Album. A multiplatinum success, the album sold 1.2 million copies in the United States and eventually received a platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America. Subsequently, it earned gold certifications from Canadian Recording Industry Association and Australian Recording Industry Association. In spring of 2001, Mýa paid tribute to Janet Jackson at MTV Icon. She performed Jackson's hit "The Pleasure Principle". By mid 2001, she had already amassed nine Top 10 hits and sold more than six million albums worldwide. The same year, she was featured on the soundtrack of Atlantis: The Lost Empire, performing the Diane Warren-penned pop ballad "Where the Dream Takes You". The song was featured during the closing credits of the animated feature. Her next music project, Mýa collaborated with singers Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, and Pink on the remake of Lady Marmalade", which was the first single on the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack. A worldwide success, it reached number one in over fifteen countries, including the United States, where it spent five consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. At 2001 MTV Video Music Awards, "Lady Marmalade" was nominated for six awards and won two for Best Video from a Film and Video of the Year. In 2002, the quartet performed "Lady Marmalade" at the 44th Grammy Awards and won a Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. After the release and success of Fear of Flying and "Lady Marmalade", Mýa began to dabble in acting with a small supporting role in the musical film, Chicago (2002). In March 2003, she appeared on hip-hop alternative group Jurassic 5's remix of "Thin Line".
In July 2003, Interscope released Mýa's third studio album, Moodring. It sold more than 113,000 copies in its first week and peaked at number three on the US Billboard 200, surpassing Mýa's previous effort first-week sales. The album displayed an array of different emotions exploring Mýa's playful and sexual side. The bulk of Moodring was cowritten and coproduced by Mýa and influenced by different subjects and music stylings including pop rock, soul, hip-hop, R&B, and quiet storm. The first single, the Missy Elliott-produced "My Love Is Like ... Wo" became a top twenty hit on the Billboard Hot 100, while its accompanying music video showcased a more sexy and risqué side of the singer. The second single, mid tempo track "Fallen", failed to duplicate the same success, but reached the top forty on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Moodring stayed on the United States chart for eighteen non-consecutive weeks and went on to be certified gold, selling 589,000 copies to date. In 2004, she had two small roles in the dance musical Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights and romantic comedy-drama film Shall We Dance?. In the films, she played a Latina lounge singer named Lola Martinez and the fiancée of a ballroom dancing student. The same year, Mýa began working on her fourth studio album. Originally conceived as a project called Control Freak, the album's first version was actually scheduled for a mid-2005 release, but was eventually shelved when Mýa decided to leave her management and A&M Records in fall 2005. In 2005, she had a supporting role in Wes Craven's horror film Cursed, starring Christina Ricci and Joshua Jackson. In the film, Mýa played a young victim by the name of Jenny Tate. Although Cursed tanked at the box office, it earned her a nomination in the Best Frightened Performance category at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards. Mýa guest starred in season two of NCIS. Also in 2005, Mýa featured on rapper Cuban Link's single "Sugar Daddy" from his album Chain Reaction. An official video was filmed in New York City and debuted on 106 & Park. In 2006, she costarred in the romantic comedy drama The Heart Specialist, written, produced and directed by Dennis Cooper. The same year, she signed a recording contract with Universal Motown and resumed work on her next album, which she completed within a three-month period. Classified as "energetic [and] ghetto" with a less classic R&B edge, Mýa renamed the project Liberation. In March 2007, the album's lead single "Lock U Down", a collaboration with Lil Wayne, was sent to radio. After its commercial failure, a second single entitled "Ridin'" was released, but it also underperformed. Due to budget cuts, the album suffered numerous pushbacks and in mid–2007, it accidentally leaked in Japan, prompting Universal Motown to release Liberation as a digital download only in October 2007. Next up in 2007, Mýa costarred in the independent romantic comedy film The Metrosexual, starring Shaun Benson in the title role. Screened at the Boston Film Festival, the movie received mixed reviews.
In 2008, Mýa costarred in the Bill Duke-directed drama thriller film Cover in which she portrayed an AIDS victim named Cynda. Her next film was the direct-to-dvd romantic comedyLove For Sale. Starring opposite Jackie Long and Jason Weaver, Mýa played a college student named Kiely in a bad relationship. Following her departure from Universal Motown, Mýa continued working on new material under her own independent imprint Planet 9 and contracted with Japanese R&B label Manhattan Records to release new material. Her fifth studio album and first project for the label, Sugar & Spice, received a Japan-wide release in December 2008. Specifically recorded for the Asian music market, it was preceded by the single "Paradise" and spawned a reissue edition, released in 2009. In 2009, Mýa had a supporting role in the comedy drama indie film Bottleworld. It featured an ensemble cast of Anna Camp, Christopher Denham and Scott Wilson. Looking to release more new music, Mýa signed a deal with Young Empire Music Group, and released her first mixtape called Beauty & The Streets Vol.1. It debuted and peaked at number 55 on Billboard's US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. In fall 2009, Mýa appeared as a contestant on season nine of the ABC reality show Dancing with the Stars, partnered with professional dancer Dmitry Chaplin. One of the show's frontrunners throughout the entire competition, she danced on a sprained ankle for the last five weeks and ultimately placed second behind singer Donny Osmond. In 2010, Mýa was invited to be a featured guest vocalist on the number-one hit remake "We Are the World 25 for Haiti". She appeared in The Penthouse, starring Rider Strong. The sex comedy earned largely negative reviews. In early 2011, she appeared on French DJ and record producer Cedric Gervais's single "Love Is the Answer". Following the collaboration with Cedric Gervais, Mýa released the solo single "Fabulous Life", which served as the first single from the Japanese version of her sixth studio album titled K.I.S.S. (Keep It Sexy & Simple), released in April 2011 in Japan. Production on the project was primarily handled by Cleveland native producer Young Yonny with additional contributions from Japanese musicians Jeff Miyahara and Daisuke Imai, Chuck Harmony and longtime collaborators Carvin & Ivan. As with Sugar & Spice, Mýa took full creative control of the album and lent a hand in the songwriting process, cowriting and executive producing. The album debuted at number 72 on the Oricon Albums Chart. A US version of K.I.S.S. (Keep It Sexy & Simple), featuring several new recordings, was released in December 2011 via iTunes, with up-tempo track "Earthquake" featuring Trina serving as the album's lead single. It debuted and peaked at number 74 on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.
