Misha Amber Bryan (born 10 February 1992), known by her stage name Misha B, is a British singer. She rose to notability as a contestant on the eighth series of The X Factor in 2011, where she was the thirteenth contestant eliminated. Several publications have praised her use of rap-singing.
In April 2012, Misha B released a free mixtape entitled Why Hello World; it contained a sample of her debut single "Home Run", which charted at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart in July. Misha B released "Do You Think of Me" on 4 November 2012, which reached number 9 on the UK Singles Chart. In Autumn 2012, she supported American rapper Nicki Minaj on the United Kingdom leg of her Pink Friday: Reloaded Tour and was nominated as Best Newcomer at the MOBO Awards. In 2013, she released her second mixtape Knock Knock and her third single "Here's to Everything (Ooh La La)" which peaked at number 35 on the UK Singles Chart. Misha B is a joint patron of the UK's annual National Diversity Awards.
Early life
Misha B was born Misha Amber Bryan on 10 February 1992, to Florence Bryan and an unknown father. She is of Jamaican heritage. From three months old Misha B and her sister were raised by their maternal aunt Lily. Misha B spoke of her upbringing, "I will always look upon Lily as my mum, I've never had that relationship with my birth mum... we don't know each other. But I respect the fact she carried me for all those months, but when it comes to my mum Lil...she's a great role model in everything she does."
Misha B grew up in the Longsight, Hulme and Moss Side districts of Greater Manchester. As a teenager Misha B attended Trinity C.E. High School in Hulme, where she played football for the Manchester United under-16s. She started by writing poetry, moved on to rapping and then progressed to singing. Misha B began to take her vocals abilities more seriously aged fourteen - describing music as her only outlet and saying that singing assisted her self-understanding.
Aged 18, in 2010 she joined a vocal artist course at the Manchester Music Base, at Trafford College in Manchester. There, she was coached by Leanne Brown, who as part of Sweet Female Attitude, had a hit in 2000 with "Flowers". Misha B entered the Manchester open mic circuit aged eighteen, and performed as a busker outside Manchester's Arndale Centre to tackle her stage fright.
Career
The X Factor Misha B's breakthrough into the music industry came in 2011, through her appearance on the eighth series of The X Factor. In her first audition in front of judges Louis Walsh, Gary Barlow, Kelly Rowland and Tulisa, she sang Aretha Franklin's cover of "Respect". The Voice recounted her performance as being "confident" and "show-stopping", and as a promising sign of Misha B's future in the competition. Noted for her "Lauryn Hill-like rap-singing style", she progressed through to bootcamp and then to judges' houses, where she was put through to the live shows by Rowland in her Girls category (individual female contestants aged 16–24) alongside Amelia Lily, Janet Devlin and Sophie Habibis. A variety of sources including The Daily Telegraph, Digital Spy and bluesandsoul.com have regarded Misha B as one of the more gifted and exciting acts ever to have come out of a talent competition. BBC 1xtra noting her "show-stopping performances", considered her to be one of the most credible artists to emerge from the show and a "break from the traditional X Factor contestant". In a review of the series, The Daily Telegraph picked her performance of "Rolling in the Deep" (Adele) as one of the highlights of the series, saying she "oozed star quality from the start... Like a 21st century Grace Jones or an urban Lady Gaga, the teenager seemed like a proper pop star already."
Misha B was in the bottom two in week 4 with Sophie Habibis but was saved by Walsh, Tulisa and Rowland, later Barlow confirmed he would have saved her if he had to vote. However voting statistics revealed that Habibis received more votes than Misha B meaning if the result went to deadlock, Habibis would have been saved. Misha B ended up in the bottom two a second time in week 6, this time with Kitty Brucknell and was saved again. However, Brucknell received more votes from the public than Misha B meaning if the result went to deadlock, Brucknell would have been saved. The following week, Misha B finished second in the public vote, receiving 22.5% which gave her a place in the quarter-final in week 8. Misha B was in the bottom two for the third time in the quarter-final with Janet Devlin but was saved, as Walsh and Tulisa voted to send her through while Rowland abstained from voting between her two acts, and Barlow confirmed he would have voted to send her through if he had to vote. However, voting statistics revealed that Devlin received more votes than Misha B meaning if the result went to deadlock, Devlin would have advanced to the semi-final. After receiving the fewest votes in the semi-final in week 9, Misha B was eliminated from the show.
Misha B was involved in a controversy during the third live show when Tulisa accused her of making "mean comments" and Louis Walsh accused her of being a "bully" to other contestants backstage. No evidence was ever provided to support either allegation and both accusers apologised the next day. The other two judges and her fellow contestants defended Misha B during and after the show, and Barlow later said he believed the wrongful allegations had ended Misha B's chances of winning the competition. Misha B was asked about her experience on The X Factor and said "I one hundred percent appreciate the platform it gave me...but it's not for the faint-hearted lol. You have to remember that at the end of the day it's an entertainment show for TV." "Things are said which are out of all of our hands as contestants. I wasn't asked any questions, I was just accused."
Misha B's performances during The X Factor ShowSong choiceThemeResultAuditions"Respect" (Aretha Franklin)Free choiceAdvancedBootcamp 1"Born This Way" (Lady Gaga)Bootcamp challengeAdvancedBootcamp 2"Survivor" (Destiny's Child)Bootcamp songsAdvancedJudges' houses "Fly" (Nicki Minaj featuring Rihanna)Free choiceAdvancedLive show 1"Rolling in the Deep" (Adele)Britain vs AmericaSaved by RowlandLive show 2"Would I Lie to You?" (Charles & Eddie)Love and heartbreakSafe (5th)Live show 3"Purple Rain" (Prince)RockSafe (3rd)Live show 4"Tainted Love" (Soft Cell)Halloween Bottom two (10th)Live show 5"Proud Mary" (Creedence Clearwater Revival)Dancefloor fillersSafe (3rd)Live show 6"Born this Way" (Lady Gaga)Lady Gaga vs. Queen Bottom two (7th) Live Show 7"I Have Nothing" (Whitney Houston)MoviesSafe (2nd)Quarter-Final"Girls Just Want To Have Fun" (Cyndi Lauper)Guilty pleasures Bottom two (5th)"Killing Me Softly With His Song" (Roberta Flack)Musical heroesSemi-Final"Dancing in the Street" (Martha and the Vandellas)Motown Eliminated (4th)"Perfect" (P!nk)Song to get you to the final
Why Hello World Shortly after Misha B left The X Factor, she performed a live freestyle F64 for SB.TV on 24 December 2011. In February 2012 it was announced that she had signed a record deal with the Relentless Records; Charlene Grant from Modest! Management was responsible for her management. She then began touring as part of The X Factor Top 9 contestants from 25 February to 4 April. Whilst on the tour, Misha B spent time working on her first mixtape, Why Hello World, mixed by DJ Stylus and released for free download on 27 April. The following week it became BBC Radio 1Xtra's mixtape of the week. The mixtape features a collection of original material including samples of original songs – "Big Dreaming", "Last Forever" and "Home Run" (plus covers of "Rolling in the Deep", "Mirror", "Unpretty", "Run the World", "Crew Love" and "Climax"). The mixtape received positive reviews and gained over 16,000 downloads and 25,000 streams.
Her debut single "Home Run", co-written and produced by British songwriter MNEK, was released on 15 July by Relentless Records and charted at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart. The music video for the single which was directed by Rohan Blair-Mangat, premiered on 15 June. An accompanying EP was released, with remixes from artists including Kat Krazy and Zed Bias; and she recorded various performances of "Home Run", including an acoustic version for i-D magazine and for SB.TV on 11 July. Misha B performed "Home Run" at both the nominations and awards ceremony for the MOBO Awards. She also performed "Home Run" at the BBC 1Xtra Live 2012 concert at the Manchester Apollo, singing Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" and a new song "Runway"; duetting with Daley on his single Remember Me covering for Jessie J.
Misha B headlined Manchester Pride on 27 August with crowds of 150,000 to celebrate LGBT culture. 21 October to 7 November 2012, Misha B toured as Nicki Minaj's support act on the United Kingdom leg of the Pink Friday: Reloaded Tour.
Her second single, "Do You Think of Me", co-written by herself, Ayak Thiik and TMS and co-produced by herself and TMS, was released on 4 November, and the music video was released on 8 October. "Do You Think of Me" peaked at number 9 on the UK Singles Chart on 11 November. The Official Charts Company recorded that the single reached numbers 3 and 2 on their 1Xtra Singles Top 40 chart and VH1 Urban Chart Top 20, respectively on 10 November. In October, performed an acoustic version for Trevor Nelson's 1Xtra Live Lounge, plus a cover of Labrinth and Emeli Sande's "Beneath Your Beautiful". Misha B also performed an acoustic cover for MSN, plus a Halloween-themed acoustic cover of Michael Jackson's Thriller.
"Ride or Die", the B-side to Angel's "Time After Time", featured Misha B and was released on 29 November, with a music video published a week later on 6 December. The track was composed by Misha B, Sirach Charles (Angel) and Kassa Alexander. 4music described their joint work as "pretty impressive, pretty soulful and pretty darn emotional too!"
Knock Knock
In January 2013, Misha B headlined the half-time show for the American National Basketball Association (NBA) game between the Detroit Pistons and New York Knicks in London. "Here's to Everything (Ooh La La)" was premiered on The Hits Radio in February. A lyric video and an official video followed in February and March, respectively.4Music: Misha B releases Here's To Everything (Ooh La La) music video On 12 February, she released her second mixtape, Knock Knock, which contained six snippets of original songs (including "Here's To Everything", "Alien Avenue / I Need a Dollar", "Ugly Love" and "Silent Cry") and two covers Otis Redding's "Respect" and an a cappella version of American girl-group SWV's song "Weak".
During 2013, Misha B performed at various locations including Clyde Auditorium, the farewell party for Lord Mayor Gavin Robinson and the JLS Foundation and Cancer Research UK fundraiser in London. She also performed her first non-European gig at the NRJ Music Tour 2013 in Beirut, Lebanon. She continued performing, including at the Yahoo Wireless Festival, V Festival and Manchester Pride Festival. On 10 August, she sang the National Anthem at Wembley Stadium for the annual FA Community Shield fixture.