Stella Mwangi
Norwegian singer
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Biography
Stella Nyambura Mwangi (born 1 September 1986), also known by the stage name STL, is a Kenyan-Norwegian singer, songwriter and rapper. Mwangi writes a lot of her music about the situation in her home country Kenya, and about discrimination both Stella and her family had to go through 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. She has won several awards including; the Kisima Awards, Clops Awards and Jeermaan Awards, she is one of the most popular singers in Norway after winning the Melodi Grand Prix 2011. She started to practice playing music when she was eight years old. She also plays the piano.
Mwangi represented Norway at The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany, one year after her country hosted the event, and was eliminated in the first semi-final.
Mwangi has had hits in Kenya, Senegal, and Gambia.
Mwangi's father was killed in a hit-and-run accident in February 2012.
Early 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 a small village in Norway in 1991. She went to school there and learned to speak Norwegian. 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.
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.
Stella first topped the official singles chart in Norway in week 6, 2011 with her winning song "Haba Haba".
Discography
Albums
| Album Title | Album details | Chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| NOR | ||
| Living for Music |
| — |
| Kinanda |
| 15 |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NOR | AFR | |||
| 2007 | "Take It Back" | – | — | Living for Music |
| 2008 | "The Dreamer" | – | — | |
| "Makelele Remix" | – | — | ||
| 2010 | "Smile" | – | — | |
| 2011 | "Haba Haba" | 1 | — | Kinanda |
| "Lookie Lookie" | – | |||
| "Take My Time" | – | — | ||
| "Hula Hoop" | – | |||
| 2012 | "Bad As I Wanna Be" | – | — | TBA |
| 2013 | "Shut it Down" | – | — | |
| 2014 | "Stella Stella Stella" | – | — | |
| "Koolio" | – | — | ||
| "Biashara" (featuring Kristoff and Khaligraph Jones) | – | — | ||
| 2015 | "Chukua Hatua" | – | — | |
| 2016 | "Identify Yourself" | – | — | |