Miriam Moufide, known professionally as Empire ISIS and later Empire I, is a singer-songwriter born in 1981 in Wales to a Moroccan father and British mother. She moved to Montreal at age 7 and later to Costa Rica for school, embarking on a four-year global journey that influenced her music. Empire ISIS began her musical career in Jamaica, collaborating with notable musicians like Dean Fraser and Chinna Smith. Her debut album Empress Gangstress (2005) was recorded partly at Bob Marley's Tuff Gong Studios and featured reggae singers Bushman and Half Pint. She has performed in over 20 countries, including Brazil, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Senegal, Canada, and at festivals like SXSW and CMJ. In 2016, she changed her stage name to Empire I due to public confusion with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
