{{Other uses|Mpho (given name)}} {{BLP sources|date=July 2009}} {{Use British English|date=August 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Mpho | image = | caption = | birth_name = Mpho Skeef | birth_date = {{Birth based on age as of date|21|2004|11|29}}<ref name=gu2004>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2004/nov/29/1 |title=New British talent | Culture |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=13 January 2014 |archive-date=14 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140114000452/http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2004/nov/29/1 |url-status=live }}</ref> | birth_place = South Africa | genre = Pop | occupation = Singer, songwriter | years_active = 2004–present | label = Documented, Wall of Sound/PIAS, Parlophone/EMI | associated_acts = Bugz in the Attic, Us3, Coldcut }}
'''Mpho Skeef''' (pronounced /mpʰo skʲɪəf/, born {{Birth based on age as of date|21|2004|11|29|noage=1}}),<ref name=gu2004/> known by her stage name of '''Mpho''', is a South African-born British singer-songwriter based in London.
==Early and personal life== Skeef was born during the apartheid regime in South Africa to Sipho Mabuse and Mary Edwards. Her first name is a SeSotho word meaning "gift".<ref name="QM37">{{cite journal|last=Staff|title=MPHO|issue=September 2009|pages=37}}</ref> Mpho spent her first birthday imprisoned in Caledon Square, Cape Town with her mother who was an anti-apartheid campaigner.<ref name=DR>Daily Record – [http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/2009/06/25/rising-star-mpho-could-be-britain-s-answer-to-beyonce-86908-21469659/ Rising star MPHO could be Britain's answer to Beyonce] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240101092426/https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/music/music-news/rising-star-mpho-could-be-britains-1028836 |date=1 January 2024 }} 25 June 2009 By Bev Lyons</ref> She moved to the United Kingdom at the age of four and was brought up in Stockwell, Clapham and Brixton by her mother and her stepfather, Eugene Skeef. She attended the BRIT School in Croydon.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://wearsthetrousers.com/2009/09/mpho-pop-art-2009/ |title=Mpho • Pop Art | Wears The Trousers magazine | a women in music compendium |website=Wearsthetrousers.com |date=8 October 2009 |access-date=13 January 2014 |archive-date=13 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113151635/http://wearsthetrousers.com/2009/09/mpho-pop-art-2009/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Career== Mpho began working in the music industry in 2004, initially as a backing vocalist for artists such as Ms Dynamite, Natasha Bedingfield, Ty, Terri Walker, Skinnyman, Rodney P, and Spacek.<ref name=BBC>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/onemusic/ras/ghana_ukprofiles.shtml |title=Ras Kwame – Ras in Ghana |publisher=BBC |date=2 June 2006 |access-date=13 January 2014 |archive-date=21 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071221082048/http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/onemusic/ras/ghana_ukprofiles.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> She was a lead vocalist on the Bugz in the Attic single "Booty La La", which reached number 44 on the UK Singles Chart. She signed to the Arts Council-funded record label Documented Records and, in 2005, released her debut single, "Comin' for Ya", and the four-track EP ''Don't Like You''.
By late 2006, Mpho had joined PIAS Recordings/Wall of Sound on the strength of ''Don't Like You'', and was preparing an electro-influenced album titled ''To Spite My Face'' with producers including Spacek, dBridge, and Yan Murawski.<ref name=gu2006>{{cite news |author=Elle J Small |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/oct/22/popandrock1 |title=The women at the heart of new British soul | Music | The Observer |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=13 January 2014 |archive-date=31 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231014049/http://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/oct/22/popandrock1 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://archive.beyondjazz.net/viewtopic.php?t=9531 |title=[beyondjazz.net] Articles – Interview – Mpho Skeef |location=Gent |publisher=Archive.beyondjazz.net |date=14 December 2005 |access-date=13 January 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512084753/http://archive.beyondjazz.net/viewtopic.php?t=9531 |archive-date=12 May 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kudosrecords.co.uk/release/DMENTEP001/Mpho_Skeef_Don_t_Like_You__EP.html |title=Mpho Skeef – Don't Like You – EP |publisher=Kudosrecords.co.uk |access-date=13 January 2014 |archive-date=3 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160203021314/https://www.kudosrecords.co.uk/release/dmentep001/mpho_skeef_don_t_like_you__ep.html |url-status=live }}</ref> She also sang on the track "This Island Earth" on Coldcut's 2006 album ''Sound Mirrors'', and released a second solo single, "What You Waiting For?", the same year.
By 2009, sessions for the album — now titled ''Pop Art'' — had gone into a heavily pop music direction with producers such as Future Cut, Rick Nowels, Rob Davis, and Switch.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.arjanwrites.com/arjanwrites/2009/06/video-premiere-mpho-box-n-locks.html |title=Video Premiere: MPHO "Box 'N Locks" |publisher=Arjanwrites.com |access-date=13 January 2014 |archive-date=27 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227080914/http://www.arjanwrites.com/arjanwrites/2009/06/video-premiere-mpho-box-n-locks.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=ds/> As such, Mpho issued the mixtape ''Mpho & the Art of Pop'' in January 2009 with DJ Beware.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mistajam.com/2009/01/22/mpho-the-art-of-pop-free-download/|title=MPHO & THE ART OF POP – FREE DOWNLOAD – MistaJam|date=21 March 2009|access-date=15 November 2017|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090321190659/http://www.mistajam.com/2009/01/22/mpho-the-art-of-pop-free-download/|archive-date=21 March 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref> To fund extensive promotion of the album ''Pop Art'', Wall of Sound brokered Mpho a five-album deal with EMI's Parlophone subsidiary.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rwdmag.com/music/indie-pop/interviews/mpho-skeef-popping-off |title=Mpho Skeef: Popping off « RWD |access-date=2009-07-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090614202819/http://www.rwdmag.com/music/indie-pop/interviews/mpho-skeef-popping-off |archive-date=14 June 2009 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thecmuwebsite.com/article/wall-of-sound-to-collaborate-with-emi-on-mpho/ |title=Wall of Sound to collaborate with EMI on Mpho | Complete Music Update |publisher=Thecmuwebsite.com |date=30 March 2009 |access-date=13 January 2014 |archive-date=27 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227094125/http://www.thecmuwebsite.com/article/wall-of-sound-to-collaborate-with-emi-on-mpho/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Mpho's first single on Parlophone, the Switch-produced "Box N Locks" (which samples Martha and the Muffins' "Echo Beach"),<ref name=DR/> was released in July 2009, but did not enter the UK Singles Chart. ''Pop Art'' was scheduled to follow in October 2009, but following minimal airplay of second single "See Me Now" (featuring rapper Wale), the album was shelved.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/pop-art-mw0001781832|title=Pop Art – MPHO – User Reviews|website=AllMusic|access-date=15 November 2017|archive-date=16 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171116084640/https://www.allmusic.com/album/pop-art-mw0001781832|url-status=live}}</ref> Mpho subsequently announced via Twitter that Parlophone had dropped her due to creative differences. Also in October, Mpho featured on the charity single "I Got Soul" with artists such as Frankmusik and VV Brown under the group name Young Soul Rebels; the single reached number ten in the UK, and proceeds went to War Child UK.
In 2010, Mpho opened a vintage tea shop in Brixton with her sister.<ref>{{cite web |author=Miranda Bryant |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/busy-brixton-traders-are-in-the-market-to-open-all-week-6538030.html |title=Busy Brixton traders are in the market to open all week – News – London Evening Standard |publisher=Standard.co.uk |date=19 November 2010 |access-date=13 January 2014 |archive-date=13 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113170326/http://www.standard.co.uk/news/busy-brixton-traders-are-in-the-market-to-open-all-week-6538030.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2012, she performed a one-off gig at London's Tate Modern gallery as part of an event celebrating the South London Black Music Archive.
==Artistry== Mpho's influences include André 3000 of OutKast, Cassandra Wilson, Kate Bush, Kraftwerk, Mary J. Blige, Prince, Soul II Soul, and Stevie Wonder—artists, she says, "who are creative and don't just follow a clear and obvious formula".<ref name=gu2004/><ref name=ds>{{cite web |url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/interviews/a159564/mpho.html |title=MPHO – Music Interview |website=Digital Spy |date=15 June 2009 |access-date=13 January 2014 |archive-date=27 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227075624/http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/interviews/a159564/mpho.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.xlr8r.com/features/2006/01/eska-and-mpho-skeef-breaking-out |title=Eska and Mpho Skeef: Breaking Out |publisher=XLR8R |date=26 January 2006 |access-date=13 January 2014 |archive-date=27 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227135044/http://www.xlr8r.com/features/2006/01/eska-and-mpho-skeef-breaking-out |url-status=live }}</ref> She frequently includes a cover of Bush's "Running Up That Hill" in her live set lists. More generally, Mpho has cited music of the 1970s and 1980s as an inspiration.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ilikemusic.com/interview/MPHO|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130721023908/http://www.ilikemusic.com/interview/MPHO|url-status=dead|title=Interview #447: MPHO – I Like Music|date=21 July 2013|archive-date=21 July 2013|website=Archive.is|access-date=15 November 2017}}</ref>
==Discography== ===EPs=== *''Don't Like You'' (EP, 2005)
===Singles=== * 2004: "Booty La La" <small>(with Bugz in the Attic)</small> – UK No. 44 * 2005: "Comin' for Ya" * 2005: "Holla" <small>(with Baby J.)</small> * 2006: "What You Waiting For?" * 2009: "Box N Locks" * 2009: "See Me Now" <small>(feat. Wale)</small>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mpho}} Category:South African pop singers Category:South African women pop singers Category:1980s births Category:Living people Category:People educated at the BRIT School Category:South African emigrants to the United Kingdom Category:South African singer-songwriters Category:Singers from the London Borough of Camden Category:21st-century Black British women singers Category:21st-century British women singers Category:English women singer-songwriters Category:English singer-songwriters Category:21st-century English women singers Category:21st-century English singers Category:Parlophone artists Category:PIAS Recordings artists Category:People from Stockwell Category:People from Brixton Category:English-language South African singers Category:Year of birth missing (living people)