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Lisa Maffia extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Lisa Maffia
Background information
Born	16 June 1979 (1979-06-16) (age 30)
Origin	London, United Kingdom
Genres	R&B, hip hop, UK garage, electro house
Occupations	Musician
Years active	1998 – present
Labels	Independiente (2001–2003) Maffia Recordz (2004–present) Apollo/Universal (2007–present)
Associated acts	So Solid Crew, North Star, MC Romeo, Wu-Tang Clan, Sisqo

Lisa Finch Maffia¹ (born 16 June 1979, South London) is an English singer-songwriter, model, musician and presenter, who originally came to the public's attention as the main female member of So Solid Crew. Whilst in So Solid, the singer notched up 5 top 20 hits, including a platinum selling single "21 Seconds" and a platinum selling album They Don't Know. As a solo artist, she has released two top 10 singles and an award winning album including the gold selling single "All Over". She was born to an Italian mother and a black father.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life and career debut 1.2 2001-2002: They Don't Know 1.3 2003-2004: First Lady 1.4 2005-2006: The Games and Maffia Recordz 1.5 2007-2009: Celeb Air and recording for second album 2 Awards 2.1 2001 2.2 2002 2.3 2003 3 Tours 3.1 Blue's & Soul/First Lady Tour 4 Television 5 Modelling 6 Discography 6.1 Singles 6.2 Albums 7 References 8 External links

Biography

Early life and career debut

Maffia was born and raised in Brixton, London by her mother, Shirley Maffia. She has a daughter, Chelsea, born when she was 17. She trained in Latino, ballroom, tap and modern dancing and practiced gymnastics as a child. She has a god daughter named Alexus Lee-Chang whom attended virgo fidelis convent senior school which is located next to Norwood School where Lisa attended. But now she lives in Kent. She went to Norwood School in West Norwood and then went on to Brixton College to do a diploma in Photography and Art & Design. In 2000 Maffia got her career debut when she added her vocals to So Solid Crew track, "Oh No".

2001-2002: They Don't Know

On 6 August 2001, whilst with So Solid Crew, Maffia released "21 Seconds". It reached number one in the UK Singles Chart in August 2001. The single also won Best British Video at the 2002 BRIT Awards. With the success of "21 Seconds", the crew went on to release their debut album They Don't Know which ending up going platinum.

2003-2004: First Lady

On 21 April 2003, departing from the So Solid Crew, Maffia made her debut at number 2 with the hip hop, ragga styled "All Over".². It spent 3 weeks in the top 10. Lisa then released the R&B Spanish styled "In Love" which reached number 13. This led to the singer releasing her debut solo album, First Lady. The album reached number 44, although the album failed to chart well, the album still sold a total of 97,000 copies.

2005-2006: The Games and Maffia Recordz

Taking a break from music, Maffia took part in the Channel 4 reality tv show The Games. She earned a silver medal behind Kirsty Gallacher. After The Games, Maffia set up her own independent record label Maffia Recordz in which she released her underground single "Shake 4 Daddy" and signed acts such as North Star and Mc Romeo. The label also signed the soundtrack to the film, Rollin With The Nines.

2007-2009: Celeb Air and recording for second album

In May 2007, Maffia announced on her official Myspace that she has been recording her upcoming album at the Murlyn Studios, known to have penned songs for Christina Milian, Madonna, Kylie Minogue and others. On 10 September, Maffia released her single "Bad Girl At Night", whilst the single reached 36 and number 4 in the overall dance charts³, the single had success over Europe leading to Maffia doing a European tour. On 20 August 2008 it was announced Maffia would participate in ITV2's CelebAir where cameras will follow Maffia and other celebrities as they work as air hostesses. Maffia won ITV2's, CelebAir, on 23 October 2008. On 17 November 2008, it was announced by Maffia that she will finally release her second sophomore album in October 2009 ⁴. Lisa also updated fans via her twitter, that she is recording every other week (during January 2009-August 2009) working with various producers including Roger Sanchez and Bloodshy & Avant and to expect a surprise U.S. star. ⁵. While fans are patiently waiting to see the release of Maffia's new solo material, she also recorded four songs for the comeback album of So Solid Crew including their first single Since You Went Away the video of which was shot late June 2009.

Awards

2001

• Mobo Awards
  • Best UK Garage Act With So Solid Crew Winner ⁶
  • Best UK Newcomer With So Solid Crew Winner ⁶
  • Best UK Act With So Solid Crew Nominated⁷

2002

• Brit Awards
  • Best British Video (With So Solid Crew) 21 Seconds Winner
  • Best British Newcomer (With So Solid Crew) Nominated
  • Best British Single (With So Solid Crew) Nominated

• Mobo Awards
  • Best UK Garage Act (With So Solid Crew) Nominated

2003

• Mobo Awards
  • Best UK Garage Act Winner
  • Best UK Act Nominated
  • Best UK Newcomer Nominated

Tours

Blue's & Soul/First Lady Tour

The First Lady Tour (also known as the Blues & Soul Tour) was a series of short concert-like promotional appearances at University and club-type venues by Lisa Maffia that took place from April to July 2003⁸

• 15/04/03 – Brentwood, Sam’s

• 16/04/03 - Bognor Regis, Butlins

• 17/04/03 – Watford, Destiny

• 18/04/03 – Ashford, M20

• 19/04/03 – Southsea, Bar Bluu

• 20/04/03 – Basildon, Ikon & Diva

• 20/04/03 – London, Turnmills

• 21/04/03 – Preston, Tokyo Jo’s

• 23/04/03 - Bognor Regis, Butlins

• 23/04/03 – London, Bagley’s

• 25/04/03 – Croydon, Blue Orchid

• 25/04/03 – Uxbridge, Discothèque Royale

• 26/04/03 – Huddersfield, Club Non

• 27/04/03 – Bognor Regis, Butlins

• 02/05/03 - Hull University (Blues & Soul Tour)

• 03/05/03 - Loughborough University, Students Union (With Asher D)

• 04/05/03 – Windsor, Liquid

• 05/05/03 - Nottingham University, Hugh Stewart Hall (Blues & Soul Tour)

• 06/05/03 - Leeds University, Lotherton Hall (Blues & Soul Tour)

• 08/05/03 - Bournemouth University, The Old Fire Station (Blues & Soul Tour)

• 10/05/03 - Essex University, Square 3 (Blues & Soul Tour)

• 13/05/03 - Reading University, Whiteknights (Blues & Soul Tour)

• 14/05/03 - University Of Surrey, Union House, Guildford (Blues & Soul Tour)

• 15/05/03 - Keele University (Blues & Soul Tour)

• 16/05/03 - University of Central Lancs, Preston (Blues & Soul Tour)

• 24/05/03 – Bristol, The Station

• 25/05/03 – Cardiff, Creation

• 30/05/03 – Colchester, Kings

• 12/06/03 – Leeds, Rehab

• 20/06/03 – Canterbury, Christchurch University

• 13/07/03 – Clapham London, Inferno

Television

Maffia has appeared/performed on a number of different television shows including Top Of The Pops, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, CD:UK, Popworld and appeared in series three of The Games. She also won 2008's series of Celeb Air

Modelling

Maffia has said in many interviews recently that she will be launching her first official calendar later on this year. She has quoted that the calendar is set around many different settings including in studio and Ibiza, and has been working with up and coming photographers. Maffia is also not a stranger to magazine polls. She ranked #91 (2002) in FHM 's 100 Sexiest Women, She ranked #77 (2002) in Loaded 's Hot 100 Babes. In September 2007, Maffia was voted number 33 in the top 50 sexiest brunettes poll in Nuts magazine.

Discography

Singles

Year	Title	Chart positions						Album
		UK Singles Chart9	UK Dance Charts	AUS	NZ	NET	FIN
2000	"No Good 4 Me"	6	3	—	—	—	—	Execute
2001	"21 Seconds"	1	1	—	—	—	—	They Don't Know
2003	"All Over"	2	—	42	23	42	—	First Lady
	"In Love"	13	—	—	—	—	—
	"Women of the World"	—	—	—	—	—	—
2007	"Bad Girl at Night" (Dave Spoon feat. Lisa Maffia)	36	4	—	—	—	10	Miss Boss

Albums

• First Lady

UK #44⁹ Released:August 2003

• Miss Boss

UK #? Released:October 2009 ¹⁰

References

External links

• Official Lisa Maffia Twitter
• Official Lisa Maffia Myspace
• Official Lisa Maffia site
• Lisa Maffia Fansite
• Phoenix FM radio interview with Lisa Maffia 25-10-2007