Shakka (singer)

2009-2011: Early projects and Shakkapellas

Shakka self-released his first official EP, Foolishness, in July 2009 which was recorded at a local youth centre. With production from both Shakka and TE1, this was Shakka's introduction into the music industry. Shakka consciously decided to sing with his British accent as opposed to an American-influenced accent that many of his contemporaries were using at the time and this formed part of his trademark sound.

He then went on to release a conceptual mixtape, The Shakka Crown Affair, in 2011 which gained Shakka much respect amongst his peers, solidified him as a emerging creative phenomenon in the UK and brought him to the attention of successful British rapper Wretch 32.

Having developed a fanbase in the UK, Shakka went on to release a series of YouTube covers and mashups entitled Shakkapellas in 2012 which gained him fans globally and put him on the radar of music industry tastemakers.

2013–2014: Rise To Fame

2013 proved to be a very successful year for Shakka, collaborating with various artists, most notably featuring on Wretch 32's single "Blackout" which reached number 6 in the UK singles chart. He was also selected to perform on the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury Festival, and then toured globally with Basement Jaxx as their guest vocalist.

This year also saw Shakka receive extensive recognition named in MTV's top 20 Unsigned Artists of 2013 list and receiving two MOBO Award nominations; including Best Newcomer. BBC's Radio 1Xtra were early champions of Shakka's music playing some of his Shakkapellas on the station and have supported him throughout his rise to fame.

Noted television performances in 2013 included performing on 'The Graham Norton Show' alongside Wretch 32, as well as on 'Sunday Brunch' and Channel 5's 'The Wright Stuff'.

He followed this growing success with another independent project entitledTribe EP in 2013. In July 2013 he released the single by "Spin", taken from his EP Tribe. In November 2013 he released the single "Just Want to See You".

In 2013 Shakka was also chosen to perform in, and produce music for, a National Theatre production called "Home" directed by Nadia Fall which ran for two months during late summer. During this production he had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Antonia Thomas (E4's Misfits) and BAFTA award winning Michaela Coel (E4's Chewing Gum).

2015–Present: Breakthrough

In 2014/ 2015 Shakka released a collection of remixes aptly named Shakka B-Sides which featured the massive remix of Ten Walls' 'Walking With Elephants' ft Frisco (BBK) which racked up over 8 million views on youtube before signing to Pitched Up/ Sony Music in 2015.

The Lost Boys and The Island

In 2015, Shakka released his debut major label EP The Lost Boys and a new single entitled "Say Nada".

Shortly afterwards, he released a remix of Say Nada featuring two verses by Jme (BBK), which has accumulated over 5 million YouTube views. The solo version of the song features on his EP entitled The Lost Boys, released 6 November 2015.

In 2016 he returned with the follow-up EP, The Island, which debuted at number 17 on the iTunes Charts and earned Shakka his second MOBO Award for Best R&B/Soul Act alongside a spot in The Independent's Ones to Watch 2017 list.

Shakka is currently featuring on Ghetts' new record "Know My Ting" released on 27 January 2017 on Black Butter Records.

Shakka is also the music producer for E4's award winning Chewing Gum TV series, which is in its second series and is being broadcast in January/ February 2017, showing once again that he is a man of many talents. He really enjoys working on the music for this show as it's a great opportunity to express his quirky side and work with his friend Michaela Coel who he has worked with in the past and actually brought him onto the project.