Mpho

Quality 0.50 · 2 views · Updated 2 months ago

title: "Mpho" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["south-african-pop-singers", "south-african-women-pop-singers", "1980s-births", "living-people", "people-educated-at-the-brit-school", "south-african-emigrants-to-the-united-kingdom", "south-african-singer-songwriters", "singers-from-the-london-borough-of-camden", "21st-century-black-british-women-singers", "21st-century-british-women-singers", "english-women-singer-songwriters", "english-singer-songwriters", "21st-century-english-women-singers", "21st-century-english-singers", "parlophone-artists", "pias-recordings-artists", "people-from-stockwell", "people-from-brixton", "english-language-south-african-singers", "year-of-birth-missing-(living-people)"] topic_path: "geography/south-africa" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mpho" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]

Field	Value
name	Mpho
birth_name	Mpho Skeef
birth_date
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 ), 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". Mpho spent her first birthday imprisoned in Caledon Square, Cape Town with her mother who was an anti-apartheid campaigner. 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.

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. 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. 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. To fund extensive promotion of the album Pop Art, Wall of Sound brokered Mpho a five-album deal with EMI's Parlophone subsidiary.

Mpho's first single on Parlophone, the Switch-produced "Box N Locks" (which samples Martha and the Muffins' "Echo Beach"), 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. 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". 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.

Discography

EPs

Don't Like You (EP, 2005)

Singles

2004: "Booty La La" (with Bugz in the Attic) – UK No. 44
2005: "Comin' for Ya"
2005: "Holla" (with Baby J.)
2006: "What You Waiting For?"
2009: "Box N Locks"
2009: "See Me Now" (feat. Wale)

References

"New British talent | Culture". [[The Guardian]].
Staff. "MPHO".
[[Daily Record (Scotland). 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. link. (1 January 2024 25 June 2009 By Bev Lyons)
(8 October 2009). "Mpho • Pop Art | Wears The Trousers magazine | a women in music compendium".
(2 June 2006). "Ras Kwame – Ras in Ghana". BBC.
Elle J Small. "The women at the heart of new British soul | Music | The Observer". [[The Guardian]].
(14 December 2005). ["beyondjazz.net] Articles – Interview – Mpho Skeef". Archive.beyondjazz.net.
"Mpho Skeef – Don't Like You – EP". Kudosrecords.co.uk.
"Video Premiere: MPHO "Box 'N Locks"". Arjanwrites.com.
(21 March 2009). "MPHO & THE ART OF POP – FREE DOWNLOAD – MistaJam".
"Mpho Skeef: Popping off « RWD".
(30 March 2009). "Wall of Sound to collaborate with EMI on Mpho | Complete Music Update". Thecmuwebsite.com.
"Pop Art – MPHO – User Reviews".
Miranda Bryant. (19 November 2010). "Busy Brixton traders are in the market to open all week – News – London Evening Standard". Standard.co.uk.
(15 June 2009). "MPHO – Music Interview".
(26 January 2006). "Eska and Mpho Skeef: Breaking Out". XLR8R.
(21 July 2013). "Interview #447: MPHO – I Like Music".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::