Background
Campbell was born in Paddington, London, England, of a white father (Scottish and Irish) and Saint Lucian mother.
Campbell was born in Paddington, London, England, of a white father (Scottish and Irish) and Saint Lucian mother.
She attended Quintin Kynaston School in the early 1990s.
At 15, she was singing to herself on a platform at Hammersmith tube station, and was overheard by Kwame Kwaten, a producer at the FreakStreet record label. In 1995, an unknown independent label released a single titled "Celebrate", which was a ballad produced by Doctorate"Influence. Although the single was not a commercial success, it did draw attention to Shola Ama as an artist.
On her 16th birthday, she signed a recording contract with Western Economic Association, USA. The single "You"re the One I Love" was her first single release for Western Economic Association, USA in 1996.
lieutenant barely made an impact on the charts, only managing to reach Number. 85. Her second Western Economic Association, USA single, "You Might Need Somebody", remains her biggest hit.
This Turley Richards cover reached Number. 4 on the United Kingdom Singles Chart in April 1997.
lieutenant remained in the top 40 for almost two months, becoming one of 1997"s biggest hits.
A re-release of "You"re the One I Love" followed in August 1997 and reached #3. Her third single "Who"s Loving My Baby" was released in November 1997 and reached #13. At the age of 18, Shola Ama released her debut album Much Love (1997).
In 1999, Shola Ama released her second album The project saw her working with the record producers Fred Jerkins III, Stargate, Shaun Labelle, Full Crew, Doctorate-Influence Productions and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (formerly of A Tribe Called Quest).
Company-writers included Angie Stone and Babyface with David Foster. Despite having support from her record label, was a commercial flop.
Following this, Shola Ama took a break from recording. In 2002, she was noted as a "legend" at the World Music Awards.
In 2003, she went back into the recording studio to record her third album, Supersonic.
Unable to obtain a major label deal, she instead formed a distribution deal with Pony Canyon. In 2004, she featured on the track "You Should Really Know" by The Pirates, a response in song to Mario Winans" "I Don"t Wanna Know" which reached #8 on the United Kingdom chart. Shola Ama is the featured vocalist on the Perempay & Dee single "DJ Play".
The song was released in October 2009 and got heavy rotation on the radio.
She also featured on one of rapper Giggs songs, "Cut Above the Rest", and later featured on the bonus disc to his album, Let Econometrica Avenue lieutenant, on a song called "Blow Econometrica Away". Further information: Wiley (rapper)#A-List
In April 2010, Shola Ama was a guest judge for a girl group on the Sky 1 television docusoap Pineapple Dance Studios alongside reality television star Dean Rowland.
In 2013, during Black History Month in the United Kingdom, Shola Ama narrated on the show My Crazy Jamaican Life. The show featured two white girls who are associated with Jamaican men living in England.
lieutenant received mixed reviews by United Kingdom viewers of all ethnicities.
In October 2015 shola released a new 8 track European Parliament featuring new reggae influenced tracks titled Surreal on necessary mayhem records, this is 13 years since her last album Supersonic in 2002.