Lamya

Lamya was a female R&B and dance music singer, born in Kenya of Omani descent and raised in Sheffield, United Kingdom. A remix of her song "Empires" hit #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in 2002.

Aged just 16, Lamya sang lead vocals on "Ready 4 Love" by DJ Vaughn Mason (under the guise 'Razette') an answer track to the single "Break 4 Love" by "Raze", previously a hit in 1988. Lamya's version reached No.77 in the UK Charts in August 1989. Soon afterwards, she was chosen to perform lead vocals for Soul II Soul on the tracks "Love Come Through" and "In the Heat of the Night", from their sophomore album Vol. II: 1990 - A New Decade aged just 16. In 1993, she joined Duran Duran for their two-year Wedding Album tour, and related television appearances, including MTV Unplugged. She also performed with David Bowie and James Brown.

In 2002, Lamya released her first and only album, Learning from Falling. She produced and composed the songs, using poems she had written since the age of eleven. It included the singles "Empires (Bring Me Men)" and "Black Mona Lisa". In its review of the album, Blender described her as "the Kenyan Björk". She appeared in Nelson Mandela's February 2003 AIDS benefit concert and opened for Macy Gray later that year. The album debuted at #16 on the Top Heatseekers chart, but neither of its singles entered the Billboard Hot 100.

Lamya was scheduled to release her sophomore album, Hiding in Plain Sight, in 2009, but died of a sudden and unexpected heart attack on 8 January, 2009, while in Oman. She was only 35.

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