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Samantha Tamania Anne Cecilia Mumba (born 18 January 1983) is an Irish singer and actress.
Her first album was released in 2000. Her most notable role was Mara in the 2002 film The Time Machine. She has also appeared in a number of Irish independent films.
Mumba was born in Dublin, Ireland. Her father, Peter Mumba, is from Zambia and was formerly an aircraft engineer, her mother is Irish. Mumba attended Dublin's Billie Barry Stage School from the age of three to fifteen. When Mumba was 15 she was discovered on an RTÉ TV talent show Let Me Entertain You by Irish music Svengali Louis Walsh (manager of Boyzone and Westlife). Walsh was impressed by her talent and she was signed to Polydor Records. She subsequently spent several months moving between Denmark, Sweden, the UK and Ireland, where she co-wrote and recorded her debut album, Gotta Tell You. She eventually dropped out of school to focus on her music career, explaining that it was becoming difficult to stay in school and work on her music.
1999–01: Debut Album
Samantha sings contralto. Mumba's first single, "Gotta Tell You", was released in 2000 and reached No. 1 in the Irish charts. It later reached No. 2 in the British charts. Mumba also had success in the USA, with the song peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album Gotta Tell You stayed on the charts for six months and was eventually certified platinum for sales of 1 million copies. Five more Top 10 hits followed in the UK and she had another top 50 hit in the US. Another hit from this album was "Baby, Come Over (This Is Our Night)", a remixed version of "Baby, Come on Over" and features on the US edition of the album. To date, her first album has sold over 4 million copies worldwide. In 2001, Mumba contributed to the track "You Raise Me Up" by the Celtic Tenors. An EP titled Samantha Sings Christmas was released at Christmas 2001; it is also a bonus disc on rare special editions of Gotta Tell You.
2002–07: The Collection
In 2002, Mumba released a new single "I'm Right Here" with a laid-back sound. The video features Damien Marley, son of Bob Marley. The single became Mumba's fifth UK top 5 single and her fifth top 40 single in Ireland. In the US and Germany, the song was less successful, peaking at 80 and 81.
Rumors circulated that Mumba was getting ready to release a second album, Woman, but due to the poor sales of the lead single "I'm Right Here" in the US and a short lived time on the UK chart, she was dropped from her label, but Mumba stated on the Late Late Show (February 3, 2007) that there never was a second album, and the tracks leaked on the internet were attempts by her to find a new sound.
In December 2005, she collaborated with Filipino R&B singer Jay-R to sing Just the Way You Are.
On October 23, 2006, a compilation album, The Collection, was released. The album features songs from Gotta Tell You, B-sides and two new tracks including her single "I'm Right Here".
The singer sold just a handful of tickets for a highly-publicised comeback concert in Dublin, which lead to it being cancelled in February 2007.
2008–10: Dancing on Ice and retirement from music
On 17 January 2008, Mumba appeared on UK daytime TV show Loose Women. After discussing her time away from the music scene, and her appearance on ITV reality TV show Dancing on Ice, which ended after three weeks, the singer stated that she had almost finished recording a new album, and hoped it would be released in summer 2008.
Irish DJ Micky Modelle made a remix of Mumba's hit song "Gotta Tell You" and Mumba re-recorded some of the vocals to fit the song. A video for it was filmed in London and Belfast and was premiered in June 2008. The song failed to chart on the UK Singles Chart but did however chart at Number 36 on the UK Dance Chart.
In a January 2009 interview, Mumba suggested that the new album would be released early in 2010, but it never surfaced and in late 2010, Mumba confirmed she would no longer be releasing new material and would be concentrating on her acting career.
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