Stella Nyambura Mwangi (born 1 September 1986) is a Kenyan-Norwegian singer. Much of her music concerns the situation in her home country Kenya, and discrimination her family had to endure after moving to Norway in 1991. Her work has been used in films such as American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile and Save the Last Dance 2, and also in TV-series such as CSI: NY and Scrubs. In Norway, she won the Melodi Grand Prix 2011, and in that same year represented Norway at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Early and personal life
Stella was born in Murang’a in Central Province of Kenya in 1986 and spent her first 5 years there before her family moved to Eidsvoll in Norway in 1991. She started to practice playing music when she was eight years old. She also plays the piano. Her father made sure she and her siblings learned Gikuyu language and Swahili even far away from home. He used cultural music and poetry to teach them the languages and this inspired Stella’s music and her connection to the Kenyan culture.
Mwangi’s father was killed in a hit-and-run accident in February 2012.
Eurovision Song Contest 2011
In 2011, Mwangi participated in the Norwegian national selection Melodi Grand Prix 2011 to represent Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, which was held in Düsseldorf, Germany. On 12 February 2011, Mwangi emerged as the winner.
On 10 May, she represented Norway at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Haba Haba“ but failed to qualify for the Eurovision final, despite being one of the big favourites of the contest.
Mwangi first topped the official singles chart in Norway in week 6, 2011 with her winning song “Haba Haba”.
Melodi Grand Prix 2018
Stella competed in the Melodi Grand Prix for the chance to represent Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 along with Alexandra Rotan with the song You Got Me. They placed third overall.
External links
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Didrik Solli-Tangen |
Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 |
Succeeded by Tooji |
Discography
Albums
| Album Title | Album details | Chart positions | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NOR |
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| Living for Music |
|
— | |||||||||||||||||||
| Kinanda |
|
15 | |||||||||||||||||||
| “—” denotes an album that did not chart or was not released. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Singles
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NOR |
AFR |
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| 2007 | “Take It Back” | — | — | Living for Music | |||||||||||||||||
| 2008 | “The Dreamer” | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||
| “Makelele Remix” | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2010 | “Smile” | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | “Haba Haba“ | 1 | — | Kinanda | |||||||||||||||||
| “Lookie Lookie” | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||
| “Take My Time” (feat. Mohombi) |
— | — | |||||||||||||||||||
| “Hula Hoop” | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2012 | “Bad As I Wanna Be” | — | — | Non-album singles | |||||||||||||||||
| 2013 | “Shut it Down” | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2014 | “Stella Stella Stella” | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||
| “Koolio” | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||
| “Biashara” (featuring Kristoff and Khaligraph Jones) |
— | — | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2015 | “Chukua Hatua” | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||
| “Obe Baba” (featuring Raj Okemwa) |
— | — | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2016 | “Identify Yourself” | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||
| “Big Girl” | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2017 | “Work” | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||
| “Not Your Ordinary” | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2018 | “No Games” | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2019 | “Ma Itu” | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||
| “—” denotes a single that did not chart or was not released. | |||||||||||||||||||||
