Samantha Mumba Biography / Pictures

Samantha Mumba (Born January 18, 1983) is an Irish singer and actress.

Samantha Mumba's first album was released in 2000. Her most notable role was Mara in the 2002 film The Time Machine. Samantha Mumba has also appeared in a number of Irish independent films.

Biography

Samantha was born at Palmer Street Hospital in Dublin, Ireland. Her father, Peter Mumba, is a Zambian aircraft engineer, and her mother is Irish.

Samantha attended Dublin's Billie Barry Stage School from the ages 3 to 15. In 1998, Samantha was cast as the lead in The Hot Mikado, a jazzy production based on Gilbert and Sullivan's opera.

Samantha has a brother named Omero, who appeared in the 2002 Time Machine movie. Samantha is a fan of the barclays premier league football club Arsenal.She has a dog named Lyrical.

At the age of 15, Samantha was discovered on an RTÉ TV talent show Let Me Entertain You by Irish music Svengali Louis Walsh (manager of Boyzone and Westlife). Walsh was impressed by her talent and she was signed to Polydor Records. She subsequently spent several months moving between Denmark, Sweden, the UK and Ireland where she co-wrote and recorded her debut album, Gotta Tell You. She eventually dropped out of school to focus on her music career, explaining that it was becoming difficult to stay in school and work on her music.

Mumba's first single, "Gotta Tell You", was released in 2000 and reached No. 1 in the Irish charts. It later reached No. 2 in the British charts. Samantha also had success in the USA, with the song peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album Gotta Tell You stayed on the charts for six months and was eventually certified platinum for sales of 1 million copies. Five more Top 10 hits followed in the UK and she had another top 50 hit in the US. Another hit off of this album is "Baby Come On Over" To date, her first album has sold over 4 million copies worldwide. In 2001 Samantha contributed to the track "You Raise Me Up" by the Celtic Tenors. An EP was also released in 2001 at Christmas called Samantha Sings Christmas; it is also a bonus disc on rare special editions of Gotta Tell You.

In 2002, Samantha released a new single "I'm Right Here" with a slightly more laid-back sound. The video features Damien Marley, son of Bob Marley. The video was a television favorite in both the US and UK. The single became Mumba's fifth UK top 5 single and her fifth top 40 single in Ireland. In the US and Germany, the song was less successful, peaking at 80 and 81.

Rumors circulated that Samantha was getting ready to release a second album, Woman, but due to the poor sales of the lead single "I'm Right Here" in the US and a short lived time on the UK chart, she was dropped from her label, but Samantha stated on the Late Late Show (February 3, 2007) that there never was a second album, and the tracks leaked on the internet were attempts by her to find a new sound.

On October 23, 2006, a compilation album, The Collection, was released. The album features songs from Gotta Tell You, B-sides and two new tracks including her single "I'm Right Here."

On 17 January 2008, Samantha appeared on UK daytime TV show Loose Women. After discussing her time away from the music scene, and her appearance on ITV reality TV show Dancing On Ice which ended abruptly after three weeks, the singer stated that she had almost finished recording her new album, and hoped it would be released in the summer of 2008.

As of October 2008, three brand new tracks have been posted on her MySpace and YouTube. "Candyland", "Turn The Beat Up" and "Bad Boy".

In a January 2009 interview, Samantha suggested that the new album would be released early in 2010.

There's been rumors that Samantha has worked with Timbaland. Clips of new songs "Personalities" (rumored to be produced by Timbaland) and "Angel" were added to her MySpace as well. Samantha has performed at promotion gigs to gain interest from record labels including performances of new songs such as Personalities.

Shortly after the success of Gotta Tell You, Samantha was seen as the face of the fashion designer Louise Kennedy's spring/summer collection.

Samantha Mumba also became a Dior ambassador when she launched the Dior Watch Collection in Ireland. Around the same time, Samantha also became the face of Reebok appearing in print advertising in the UK and Ireland for the Quest range.

In 2005, Samantha modeled for the Ultimo Per Amore range, available exclusively at the Irish main-street chain Dunnes Stores.

After Woman was cancelled, Mumba's music career was put on hold and she began auditioning for films. In 2002, Steven Spielberg picked her to play Mara in The Time Machine. Mara is a girl who is part of a human civilization which has regressed to a hunter/gatherer lifestyle in the year AD 802,701. She co-starred with Guy Pearce and her real-life brother, Omero, and the movie earned $56,684,819 in the US. Mumba's second venture into films was in 2003, where she appeared in the film Spin the Bottle.

In 2005, Samantha returned to acting with the lead role of Jessica in the Irish film Boy Eats Girl. The film was a box office failure in Ireland, making a little over €1 million despite its €5 million budget.

In 2006, Samantha starred in the thriller Nailed, playing the character Sapphire. Samantha also co-starred in Johnny Was, a British gangster movie. 2007 saw Samantha filming her part in the movie 3 Crosses.

Samantha confirmed on the Late Late Show, February 9, 2007, that a camera crew has been following her on and off for six months for a reality TV show which was shown on Channel 4 at the end of March 2007. The show was called Get Your Act Together with Harvey Goldsmith and follows Mumba's attempts to revive her music career with Harvey Goldsmith as her mentor.

Samantha starred on the 2008 series of Dancing On Ice but was eliminated in Week 3.