Mya


 * Mya Marie Harrison **

~Mya's Childhood~ Mya Marie Harrison, named after the lendendary Maya Angelou, was born on October 10th 1979 in Washington D.C. She is the daughter of an Italian woman named Theresa and an African American man named Sherman Harrison. Mya was literally born to be in the music industry. Her father, Sherman Harrison, was known for playing in many R&B bands and he definitely passed his talents on to her. Even though she had the blood of a musician, she didnt start focusing on it right away, instead she had another passion. Mya was very passionate about dancing. At the age of 2, she realized that she wanted to dance. Soon after she began taking dance lessons. She quickly emerged into a star. In 1992, Mya began performing with a team called [|"Tappers with Attitudes"] where she began advanced in the art of tap dancing. Later Mya found that she wanted more so she headed to New York to study the famous [|Savion Glover] at the ledendary Dance Theater of Harlem. Glover found her to be phemoninal and was given a solo by him to perform at a Kennedy Center Performace. At the age of 14, Mya began teaching children dance technique and still continues to do so. While it was apparent that her passion was dance, her father thought she had a hidden talent that he wanted to enhance which was sining.



Mya Marie Harrison showing off her early childhood dance experience on the TV hit series, "Dancing With the Stars" ~Mya’s Career Takes Off~

Mya's father began to make recordings of Mya's beautiful singing. Hoping to find a company that was attracted to Mya's voice, Sherman sent out multiple demo tapes to various record agencies. After Mya graduated from high school, in 1997, Haqq Islam from University Music listened to one of Mya's demo tapes and was immediatly interested. Haqq Islam was able to get a contract set up with the music label Interscope for Mya and moments later she was signed.  Over the next couple of months, Mya worked closely with some of the best in the business such as Missy Elliot, Wyclef Jean, Babyface, Dru Hill, Diane Warren, Darryll Pearson and Sisqo. In 1998, Mya worked on her first debut album, Mya, which contained hit singles //Movin' On, My First Night With You// and //It's All About Me.// This album hit #29 on the Billboard Hot 200 chart which was a big accomplishment for a newcomer. Along with the album's peak at #29, the album recieved platinum status and gained Mya a large amount of street credit as an R&B artist. In 1999, Mya was nominated for an award at the Soul Train Lady of Soul Award for her single //Movin' On.// Mya continued to get great exposure because of her first debut album.

Mya- Movin' On ft Silkk The Shocker Video & Mya's first debut album "Mya" (front cover) media type="file" key="mya.flv" width="434" height="319"  //This song brought helped Mya get to the top charts. After the release of her first album "Mya", she recieved many offers that resultled in her working with some of the best such as://


 * Collaboration with Pras Michel and Ol'Dirty Bastard on a song called "Ghetto Superstar (That Is What You Are)"
 * Pop hit "Take Me There" - Blackstreet ft Mase and Blinky Blink
 * In the year 2000, on her second album Mya worked with Jadakiss and Jay-Z on first single "Best of Me"
 * In 2001, Missy Elliot and Rockwilder produced the pop hit "Lady Marmalade" featuring Christina Aguilera, Lil Kim, Pink and Patti LaBelle. This hit was featured on Baz Luhrman's Moulin Rouge. It also won several MTV Video Music Awards the same year.

**~Singer to Actress~**

Mya transferred from the studio to the big screen in 2002 with her apperance in the musical "Chicago". Mya played the role of a prisoner who murdered her boyfriend after she found out that he cheated with another woman. Because of her role in [|"Chicago"],Mya recieved the 'Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture' at the 2003 Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2004, she landed another role in "Dirty Dancing: Havanna Nights'" as Lola Martinez. In the same year Mya also landed a role on Jennifer Lopez's starring film "Shall We Dance" as the fiance of Omar Benson Miller. While Mya worked on memorizing her lines for the films, she also worked on her third album "Moodring" that released in 2003. The album featured her single //Fallen// but the album didn't sell like her previous records. Her focus on the big screens must have brought her down from the top charts in the music industry.

**~Mya gives back~  **  

Mya started a foundation called [|The Mya Arts and Tech Foundation] to help with children from ages 5-13 in 2005. This non-profit organization is located in the metropolitian area of Washington D.C. The purpose of this organization is to provide education in the arts and technology in youths and is currently working on getting dance, engineering and creativity classes. In an interview with Daniel Demello of Standard-Times, Mya reveals her reasoning for creating an organization that helped the youth. Daniel Demello really got personal with Mya during this interview. She spoke of her experience of racism growin up in her neighborhood. Mya quoted: "I can remember a bit of racism growing up. My parents of course, were white and black. I guess that wasn't cool where I was from. When I go overseas it's more and more accepted, because it is more popular. But yeah, I was a minority because I was mixed. I was even asked which race I'd rather be, even in public. I can remember being as young as five years old and not wanting to be seen going out with my parents because I felt that people were staring at me like I was an alien or something. It was something rare, and something different in my area back then. I guess different is bad when you're a kid, because you just want to fit in with everyone else." after an emotional breakthrough, Daniel finally asked how she overcame racism as a child and how did she get involved with helping children. Mya stated: "<span style="font-family: 'Bradley Hand ITC'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">I kept myself busy as much as possible. Creative outlets. I got involved with extra-curricular activities where people just accepted me for who I was and not what I looked like or what I was wearing. They were creative outlets that let me focus on my appeal and what I was capable of as a person. That also made me feel like I had a purpose. So getting involved with kids and community service made me feel like I had a purpose in life and in my society. It feels good to know that you can help someone out."

Works Cited // Chicago The Musical | Delivering the Magic on Broadway //. Web. 27 Feb. 2010. <http://www.chicagothemusical.com/>. // HOME - Tappers With Attitude / Knock On Wood //. Web. 27 Feb. 2010. <http://www.tapperswithattitude.org/>. // The Mya Arts and Tech Foundation / Home //. Web. 28 Mar. 2010. <http://www.tmatf.org/index.html>. "Mya Biography | Mya Singer | Mya Drancer | Mya Actress | Mya News | Mya Pictures." //Celebrity Gossip - Celebrity News - Hollywood Gossip - Yuddy.com//. Web. 28 Feb. 2010. <http://www.yuddy.com/celebrity/mya/bio>. "Mya Pictures, News, Gossip & Rumours - AskMen.com." //AskMen.com - Men's Online Magazine//. Web. 27 Mar. 2010. <http://www.askmen.com/celebs/women/singer/57_mya.html>. "Mya (singer) - Awards." //Spiritus-Temporis.com - Historical Events, Latest News, News Archives//. Web. 26 Mar. 2010. <http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/mya-singer-/awards.html>. "R&B singer Mya overcame racism, found success: 2/25/01." //SouthCoastToday.com - Your link to SouthCoast Massachusetts and beyond//. Web. 27 Mar. 2010. <http://archive.southcoasttoday.com/daily/02-01/02-25-01/e05ae144.htm>. "Savion Glover Biography | Savion Glover Dancer | Savion Glover Pictures | Savion Glover News." //Celebrity Gossip - Celebrity News - Hollywood Gossip - Yuddy.com//. Web. 26 Mar. 2010. <http://www.yuddy.com/celebrity/savion-glover/bio>.