Ella Mai

A native of London (November 3, 1994), Ella Mai Howell, known as Ella Mai, grew up in New York before returning to the English capital, where she continued her musical studies at a specialized conservatory. In 2014, she was still a student when she appeared before the X Factor jury as a member of the trio Arize. With no convincing results, the group broke up and Ella Mai continued on her own, recording an EP that was released online. Rap producer DJ Mustard then took an interest in her and signed her to his 10 Summers label, distributed by Interscope Records, in January 2016. A month later, the Time EP was released, with Ty Dolla $ign collaborating on the highly acclaimed track "She Don't". His second EP, Change, was released at the end of the year with the single "Lay Up". Three months later, in February 2017, followed the Ready EP, which a year later brought the R&B singer her first major hit, "Boo'd Up", charting at No. 52 in the UK and No. 5 in the US (No. 1 in the R&B sections). Nicki Minaj and Quavo later remixed it, as Ella Mai prepared to release the follow-up track "Trip" (#47 in the UK and #11 in the US in August 2018). Both international hits appear on Ella Mai's untitled debut album, released in October 2018. This reached No. 5 in the U.S. and No. 18 in the U.K., and unveiled another single, "Shot Clock". In 2019, Ella Mai wins the Grammy Award for "Best R&B Song" for the track "Boo'd Up". After a joint tour with Ariana Grande, the singles "Not Another Love Song" in 2020 and "DFMU " in 2022 are released, followed by the album Heart on My Sleeve (#15 on the Billboard 200, #2 on the R&B charts) and the duet "How" with Roddy Rich. In 2023, a new edition of the album produced the single "This Is", and the following year EP 3 contained "Little Things".