Featured Artist - Mercy Myra Country -Kenya
Mercy Myra began her school life in Nairobi, but shortly after starting primary school, her parents were posted to Zambia and than to Malawi, Italy and Sweden. At the age of 13, Mercy returned to Nairobi, where she completed her secondary school education. From an early age she was encouraged to sing in the church choir and during family gatherings.
Mercy’s first musical influence was Gospel music and the inspiration and encouragement to perform came from her talented musical family.
In 1994, while studying in college, Mercy made her first professional appearances at some private nightclubs in the centre of Nairobi called LUKES and later at GALLILEOS.
Initially Mercy did not think that music was going to be her chosen career, but as her popularity grew and her confidence in her ability to sing increased, she decided to leave college and follow her dream to become a professional singer.
In 1996 she performed the first time in a group called CALABASH, which comprised of four singers including her aunt, her brother, her best friend and herself, along with four instrumentalists. Although they became very popular and toured successfully throughout Kenya, they were not given the opportunity to record and later in the year Mercy left the group to join the Rn’B group called Destinee. In 1997 she joined Bruce Odhiambo, on keyboard, and guitarist Gido Kibukosya, in a band called Black Ice. Bruce Odhiambo, who is also a producer, offered Mercy to record a song written by a member of Five Alive, one of the most successful Kenyan Rn’B groups. The song AFRICAN WOMAN was chosen as the theme song for the first M-MET Face of Africa Model competition. Mercy performed the song at the semi finals of the competition in Nairobi and also at the finals in Zimbabwe, in front of an audience of thousands.
After this first success on her own, she joined forces at the end of the year with Samawati Studio, one of the leading studios in Nairobi, Kenya.
After a lot of work Mercy released her first single “SITAKI” at the end of the year 1998, to radio stations only, where it enjoyed the number one position on METRO FM’s chart show and was also number one on the PEPSI EAST AFRICAN CHART SHOW, on CAPITAL FM. Since then, Mercy continued to perform at many mayor concerts and events and appeared live with another Kenyan Band Zannaziki and also on their debut album. At the end of 1999 Mercy travelled to Lagos, Nigeria, to perform in front of roughly 100,000 people at the BENSON & HEDGES GOLDEN TONES CONCERT.
Working on her first album and performing in the East Africa Region throughout the years 2000 and 2001, finally her first complete album “TABA SAMU” was ready to be released. Two singles “MANENO” and “LIFE” of the album not only received loads of airplay in East Africa, but also in South Africa, where “MANENO” became a number one and “LIFE” a Top 10 Hit.
After the success of her first album, Mercy also engaged herself in the fight against HIV/ AIDS and is currently a representative of the VCT campaign in Eastern and Southern Africa.
MERCY attributes her success so far to the many people who have guided, inspired and encouraged her to keep going and never to give up. Her ambitions are to keep recording, performing and to travel the world, so that she can create Awareness in the world that also the less privileged people in her country receive support in their struggle against the social challenges.
With her immense talent, excellent stage presence and her driving ambition, MERCY MYRA will succeed and become an internationally recognised artist in the music world.
MERCY MYRA, now in her twenties and already established as one of the leading female vocalist in East Africa, has just released her second album “NYISRI MALONG’O”. With “NYISRI MALONG’O” MERCY has recorded a worthy successor of her first album. “NYISRI MALONG’O” means “show yourself” and Mercy will definitely show herself on the African music scene. MERCY is performing live on a regular basis in Kenya with an 8 piece band and every single person who has watched her was dazzled by her performance, talent and charm. It is now time for the rest of the world to be dazzled by MERCY MYRA.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
1996: first performances with CALABASH
1997: performance: at the Beats of Season concert, Nairobi, Kenya with world famous Lingala artist PAPA WEMBA
Various performances in Kenya alongside artiste like US Hip-Hop Band Lost Boy and US Rapper Coolio
1998: - performances: with the group Swahili Nation in Nairobi and Mombasa, Kenya
Face of Africa Finals in Zimbabwe
Benson & Hedges Golden Tones Concert, Nairobi, Kenya
1999: - performances: Benson & Hedges Golden Tones Concert, Nairobi, Kenya
Benson & Hedges Golden Tones Concert, Lagos, Nigeria
Beats of Season concert, Nairobi, Kenya with Maxi Priest
2000: - performances: at the ICC World Knockout Cricket Tournament
Beats of Season concert, Nairobi, Kenya with Awilo Longomba
Kiko Romeo “Hot Season 2000” Fashion Show
- Recording: Theme song for local mobile phone company, Guest of Honour at the launch was the than President of Kenya, H.E. D. Moi
2001: - performances: at the 7th Mbalamwezi Theatre Awards in Nairobi, Kenya
at the Safari Park Hotel, Kenya, with Koffi Olomide
Awards: Best Female Artist and Personality of the Year at the WHERE YOU @ Awards Kenya, an event sponsored by MNet
Releases: Single-release, titled “SATURDAY NIGHT”
1st Album: “TABA SAMU”
2002: performances: at the Festival Mundial, Tilburg, Netherlands, as part of Zamasiki
at the Kora Awards 2002 in South Africa with Kenyan Award Winner Eric Wainaina
at the 1st Maboom Boom Festival, Nairobi, Kenya
at the “les artipique de Ouagadougu”, Burkina Faso
at the Aids Awareness Concert, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Releases: music video for “SITAKI” and “WAONGO”
Others: spokesperson for the VCT Campaign
twice Co-presenter on South African Music Channel “CHANNEL O”
2003: performances: at the Festival Mundial, Tilburg, Netherlands
Releases: August: NEW ALBUM “NYISRI MALONG’O”
September: Single and Video: “Nyisri Malong’o”
Awards: Best Kenyan Rn’B Artist at the Kisima Awards 2003
Nominations: Kora Awards 2003: Best East African Artist
More Information
Mercy Myra, who for seven years was dismissed by critics as a singer lacking in creativity as she could not make her owm music despite performing other people's, has launched a 12-song contemporary African album on the Kenyan market. Running the gamut of R&B, ragga, rap, and Congolese dance, the Tabasamu album is in her vernacular Dholuo, and Kiswahili and English.
Myra abandoned computer studies in A Nairobi college to pursue a music career in 1984. She performed mainly Copyright material and was one of the best known singers on the Nairobi scene. However, it was unclear why she could not record. It was said some producers misused her with empty promises of recording her. She even lost an entire albumm in the computer of one of the producers before hooking up with Suzanne and Diddo Kibukosya of Samawati Productions who have made her realise her dream with the release of Tabasamu which is enjoying massive airplay on the Kenyan media.
The album also features hip hop urbanative artistes Bebe Cool, Gidi Gidi Maji Maji, and K-South Flava. Myra recently collaborated with Le general Defao on two songs which are to be included in the Paris-based Congolese musician's up-coming album. Myra, who has also collaborated with Ubale Mwale (Anna Mwale's younger sisiter), says her role models include Soth Africans Yvonne Chakachaka and Miriam Makeba and beninois Angelique Kidjo. Over the years, Myra has curtain-raised for major musicians who have performed in Kenya. They include Papa Wemba, Maxi Priest, Lost Boyz, Coolio, Koffi Olomide, and Awilo Longomba. She has also shared the stage with Ras Kimono and Blackie in Nigeria. In 1997, she performed during the first Face of Africa model competition at the senmi finals in Kenya and during the finals in Zimbabwe.
Just last year, she jointly recorded the theme song, Spirit of Africa, with Ugandan artiste Kawesa for the ICC World Knock out Cricket Tournament, held in Nairobi. She also performed live during the event that was televised live to forty countries globally. The previous year, Myra had performed to a crowd of 100000 people during the Benson and Hedges concwert in Africa's most populous nation, Nigeria.
With the release of her album, it is hoped that the career of Kenya's best known and most admired diva will finally take off for the skies. Born in a musical family, Myra enjoyed singing at home and in church. After leaving college in 1994, she joined her aunt, brother and a friend in a band called Colourbash.
They never rec orded and she left to join Destinee, another R&B outfit, two years later. She was also involved in Black Ice, another group. It was here that one of the members, a producer, offered to record her but never did. Myra has for a long time been taken as one of the artistes most abused by producers. Rather than be as combative as Poxi Presha, another artiste whose career almost began at the same time like Myra's but who has three albums to his credit, Myra appears to have taken the frustrations silently.
