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Quick Facts
Born
1994
1994
From
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Journey
Ella Mai Howell is an English R&B singer and songwriter whose smooth vocals and contemporary take on 1990s-inspired R&B helped establish her as one of the genre's leading voices in the late 2010s. Born in London to a Jamaican mother and an English-Irish father, she spent part of her adolescence in New York City before returning to England as a teenager. Her mother, a jazz enthusiast, named her after Ella Fitzgerald.
Mai's music career began in 2014 when she auditioned for the television competition The X Factor as part of a trio. After the group disbanded, she independently released her debut EP, "Troubled," in 2015. Her work on social media caught the attention of producer Mustard, who signed her to his 10 Summers label. She subsequently released the EPs "Time" and "Change" in 2016, and "Ready" in 2017.
Her breakthrough arrived with the single "Boo'd Up," which became a sleeper hit and reached the top five of the Billboard Hot 100. The follow-up single "Trip" further expanded her audience and paved the way for her self-titled debut album, "Ella Mai," released in 2018. The album debuted in the top five of the Billboard 200 and earned a nomination for Best R&B Album at the Grammy Awards.
In 2019, she won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for "Boo'd Up" and collected multiple honors at the Billboard Music Awards, NAACP Image Awards, iHeartRadio Music Awards, and Soul Train Music Awards. She was also nominated for British Breakthrough Act at the Brit Awards.
Her later releases include "Heart on My Sleeve" and "Do You Still Love Me?", continuing her exploration of modern R&B themes centered on romance, vulnerability, and self-reflection.