A*M*E

A*M*E (now releasing music as KABBA) is a pop singer from South East London. She began her recording career in 2012 after the release of her first viral single, "City Lights". She is best known for her Duke Dumont collaboration, Need U (100%). A*M*E was born Aminata Kabba in Sierra Leone on 13 December, 1994. She moved to Lewisham, London after her mother's hair salon burned down, and life in her hometown became too dangerous. She formed her own girl group, Independent Girls, in the school playground. From that age, she knew she wanted to pursue a career as a solo artist. As a teenager, she joined her school choir Vocalize - performing multiple renditions of songs such as Rihanna's "Don't Stop The Music" and Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me A River". She began working with producer Andy Gilbert on a number of tracks, which were sent to multiple A&Rs and labels. Some of these continue to be performed today by Vocalize, co-incidentally. She then went on to meet MNEK in 2011, and wrote multiple songs with him - which include "Stacey", "Hold Me Back" and her very first single, "City Lights". These soon caught the attention of Gary Barlow, who subsequently signed her to his ex-label Future Records in June 2011. A*M*E spent the majority of 2011 recording for her debut album with high-profile producers such as Quiz & Larossi, Rami Yacoub and Carl Falk. "City Lights" featuring Bartoven, her first viral single, was released in January 2012. She began a promo tour of schools around the UK during January 2012, and released the first issue of her own magazine, The A*M*E; closely followed by the release of "Ride or Die" and "Find a Boy" during March and July 2012. She supported both Jessie J and JLS (along with playing various festivals) during summer 2012. In September, A*M*E announced she would be releasing her first commercial single, "Play the Game Boy" in November 2012. In January 2013, A*M*E left Future Records due to its disbandment, and joined Epic Records. Duke Dumont debuted a new track titled "Need U (100%)", which features guest vocals by A*M*E and MNEK, in November also. It is nominated for a Grammy award for Best Dance Recording. Officially released in March 2013, it gave all three acts their first UK number one single. Her second commercial single will be "Heartless", produced by Rami Yacoub and Carl Falk - released on July 14th. Premiered in December 2012, the video was released on June 10th of this year to mixed responses. In July 2013, her collaboration with Monsieur Adi, What's Going On?, was released. A*M*E remained quiet regarding solo releases - with an EP being announced in March 2014 but failing to materialize - however, she featured on two singles in that year; Embody's "Give Me Your Love" and Paris Lover's "Feel Me". In January 2015, her collaboration with CamelPhat, "Paradigm", was released. In February 2015, it was announced that A*M*E signed to Black Gold Management, a joint venture between independent label Cooking Vinyl and John Black; it is assumed that A*M*E left Epic Records, and future releases will be distributed by Black Gold. Along with her recording career, A*M*E is also a songwriter and fanzine distributer. She wrote "Beautiful Stranger" for girl group f(x) in 2012, which peaked at #1 in South Korea. Alongside this, she revealed in an interview with Gay Times that her track, "Fugitive" will be recorded by Girls' Generation (소녀시대) in the near future. Other co-write credits include Samsaya's "Stereotype" and Neon Jungle's "Future X Girl". Her own fanzine, The A*M*E, is published through Issuu and created by A*M*E herself. Her official website and other links can be found on www.ameofficial.com Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.