"Relax, Take it Easy" served as Mika's ticket to fame. This 24-year old singer, whose birth name Michael Holbrook Penniman, wowed listeners with this single which features disco beats with a relaxing tune and cool video. The single was released in December, 2006 and from this single-ticket journey, Mika looks like he still has very long time to enjoy his time at success. Mika was born in Lebanon although he is based in London, and the single was his ticket to earn a Grammy nomination.
Mika attended the Royal College of Music and the Westminster School where his talent as a singer was honed.
Believing that name recall is one of the best tickets to an artist's fame, he was often frustrated with how people mispronounced the name Mica so he changed his moniker to be spelled with a 'k'. In the popular show "Later with Jools Holland", Mika had his debut appearance which was met with success.
In his official website, the singer is described as a "songwriter, performer, producer and orchestrator". When it comes to his influences in music, Mika considers a lot of artists, including Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Serge Gainsburg and even Flamenco. Saying that his eclectic tastes developed as he became more mature in the music industry – although what he is focusing on now is making an amazing pop record that, when performed by anybody else, could not equate what he has to bring to the song.
Aside from "Relax, Take it Easy", Mika's other ticket to fame songs include "Billy Brown", "Grace Kelly", "Love Today", "Happy Ending", "Big Girl (You are Beautiful) and a re-release of his first hit single. All of these songs came from the album Life in Cartoon Motion. This album was released in February 5, 2007 and it became number one in the European Top 100 including the United Kingdom charts, France, Norway, and the Netherlands.
As young as he is in the industry, Mika already won Best-Selling New Artist, Male Pop/Rock Artist and British Artist in the 2007 World Music Awards. In the 2008 Grammy Awards, his "Love Today" song was nominated under the Best Dance Recording category. Mika may only have stayed for about a couple of years in the music business, but with his talent, he will surely have a long way to go in pleasing millions of audiences with his style of music.
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