MICA PARIS

Mica Paris is one of the UK’s finest and most respected female singers with a career full of Top 10 hit singles and albums worldwide. She is currently recording a long-awaited new album of original material featuring legendary guest singers and musicians to be released early in 2012. An incredible live performer, Mica stole the show at the Royal Albert Hall's glittering Dusty Springfield celebration in May 2011 with her rendition of Dusty's 'All I See Is You' which bought the sell-out London crowd to its feet. In April at the same venue as a special guest of Paul Rodgers, Mica was sensational and earned praise from the critics for her duet with the Free/Bad Company singer: "Then one of the first surprise guests was welcomed by Rodgers for a duet that turned out to be an absolute highlight: statuesque soul singer Mica Paris. Mica and Paul belted out 'Be My Friend' as if their lives depended on it. Indeed it seemed like the battle of the voices took place. A scorcher of a number performed by two passionate artists who both are blessed with incredible vocal skills. Combined, they were pure dynamite and set the stage ablaze with their energy…" The range, power, and sheer soulfulness of Mica Paris' singing made an immediate impact on the UK music scene in 1988 when she released her debut, platinum-selling album, 'So Good from which she had her first top ten hit, 'My One Temptation'. This led to a collaboration with American soul singer Will Downing and a further smash hit with 'Where Is The Love'. (During May 2011, 'So Good (The Deluxe Version)' will be released as a remastered 2-CD on Cherry Red Records in the UK and Europe and is set to receive excellent reviews throughout the music press). More worldwide hit albums and singles followed, including 'Black Angel', 'Stay' and 'Carefree' together with collaborations with respected artists such as David Gilmour, Prince, Jimmy Barnes, Jools Holland, James Morrison and more, before Mica turned her many talents to London’s West End stage. In 2002 Mica extended her talents into broadcasting and presented 'The Gospel of Gospel', a TV documentary tracing the influence of gospel on American popular music with interviews with Ray Charles, BB King, Al Green, Issac Hayes and Chaka Khan. She also hosted the popular 'Gospel Singer of the Year' competition for UK TV. Mica also hosted her own radio show, 'Soul Solutions' for BBC Radio 2 and with an average of a million listeners, it became the most successful soul and R&B show in the UK. 2003 saw Mica presented with the "Gold Badge Award" by the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters for her special contribution to the British entertainment industry. She is also proud to be an ambassador for Fairtrade and also the face of their beauty range. In 2004 Mica was in the Top 10 list of the "100 Great Black Britons" which was compiled to celebrate the achievements and contributions made by the British Black community over the centuries. Towards the end of that year, Mica recorded a soul album based on her BBC Radio 2 show before leaving for Australia for a series of special live performances in Sydney. Upon her return, Mica began a sell-out residency at Ronnie Scott's Club and began what would be two seasons of the BBC 1 TV show 'What Not To Wear'. Her time on the show created record-breaking ratings. Other TV shows have followed with Mica being an expert judge on Gok Wan's 'Miss Naked Beauty 2008' for Channel 4 and ITV's 'CelebAir'. She also wrote an empowering book 'Beautiful Within' which was published by Simon and Schuster to critical acclaim and was an instant hit. Most recently Mica has been honoured as an "Icon" at Windsor Castle by the Duke Of Edinburgh and will return later this year to perform for his 90th birthday celebrations. Mica has been a special guest of legendary artists such as Dionne Warwick and Michael Bolton and more, while performing her own incredible solo concerts throughout the world, meeting fans old and new and showing her millions of fans what first put her in the public eye over twenty years ago.