Background
Mvula grew up in the Birmingham suburbs of Selly Park and Kings Heath with two younger siblings, and was influenced by the girl band Eternal. Her mother is from Saint Kitts and her father is from Jamaica.
Mvula grew up in the Birmingham suburbs of Selly Park and Kings Heath with two younger siblings, and was influenced by the girl band Eternal. Her mother is from Saint Kitts and her father is from Jamaica.
Mvula graduated from the Birmingham Conservatoire at the Birmingham City University with a degree in composition.
Her debut album Sing to the Moon was released on 4 March 2013 with an orchestral re-recording released on 11 August 2014. In 2008, she formed a jazz/neo-soul group called Judyshouse, singing lead vocals and writing material for the band. Mvula was Director of the Lichfield Community Gospel Choir, founded by Black Voices and Lichfield Festival in 2009.
She has also previously directed the Alvechurch Community Choir.
While she was working as a supply teacher in a Birmingham secondary school, she started writing songs on her laptop. She was working as a receptionist when she sent out two demos to several people in the music industry.
One of them, Steve Brown, heard the songs and sent them to his manager, Kwame Kwaten, who would become Mvula"s manager. In a 2013 podcast for The Daily Telegraph, Mvula admitted to suffering from "crippling stage fright".
2012-2014: Sing to the Moon After several showcases, Mvula was signed by Colin Barlow to Sony subsidiary Radio Corporation of America. She released her debut extended play, She, on 16 November 2012.
The title track, "She", is the first song Mvula ever wrote. Her debut studio album, Sing to the Moon, was released on 4 March 2013. She worked on the album with producer Steve Brown and mix engineer Tom Elmhirst.
Paul Lester from The Guardian described her music as "gospeldelia", calling it a new musical genre.
The album was preceded by the single "Green Garden". The song is an elegy to her home in Kings Heath.
On 9 December, she was nominated for the British Broadcasting Corporation"s Sound of 2013 poll, and finished in fourth position. On 1 February 2013, she gave her first live television performance on The Graham Norton Show on British Broadcasting Corporation One, singing "Green Garden".
Mvula stated her influences include Nina Simone, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill.
In March 2014, Mvula re-recorded an orchestral version of her debut album Sing to the Moon in collaboration with the Metropole Orkest, conducted by Jules Buckley. This was released on 23 June 2014 as a high quality download via Bowers & Wilkins" Society of Sound and on Civil Defense on 11 August 2014. On 19 August 2014, Mvula performed with the Metropole Orkest at the Albert Hall as part of the 2014 British Broadcasting Corporation Proms Season, supported by Esperanza Spalding and ElectricVocals.
In January 2016, Mvula released the single "Overcome", a collaboration with Nile Rodgers.
She began promotion for the album by performing the lead single "Overcome" on The Graham Norton Show on 29 January 2016 and on The Andrew Marr Show on 14 February 2016. On 22 March 2016, she previewed the entire album at Islington Assembly Hall.
She also recorded "Sing to the Moon" with Snarky Puppy for the album Family Dinner - Volume 2 which was released on 12 February 2016. Sing to the Moon Tour (2013–2014).