Quick Facts
Biography
Uzoechi "Uzo" Emenike (born 9 November 1994), professionally known as MNEK, is a British singer, songwriter and record producer. In 2016, he received the ASCAP Vanguard Award for his contribution to songwriting. His recent writing and production credits include Beyoncé, Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Diplo, Zara Larsson, MØ, Lianne La Havas, Rudimental, Naughty Boy, Little Mix, JoJo, Gorgon City, Clean Bandit, Chris Malinchak, Bondax, The Saturdays, Oliver Heldens, Karen Harding, Sub Focus, Duke Dumont, Bastille, A*M*E and Stormzy.
Career
2012–13: Breakthrough
In February 2012, he featured on Rudimental's single "Spoons" with Syron. The song features on their debut studio album Home (2013). In December 2013, he was one of 15 artists to make BBC's Sound Of 2014 long list.
2014–present: Small Talk
In January 2014, he featured on Gorgon City's single "Ready for Your Love". The song peaked to number 4 on the UK Singles Chart. On 20 April 2014, he premiered "Every Little Word" on 1Xtra, the "buzz" single from his debut studio album. On 9 May 2014, the remix EP, featuring Joe Goddard and Fred V & Grafix among others was released. Emenike has said we can expect to hear collaborations with Moko, Snakehips and Jimmy Napes on the record. The lead single "Wrote a Song About You" premiered on Annie Mac's BBC Radio 1 show on 13 June 2014. In June 2014, Oliver Heldens' track "Gecko (Overdrive)", which MNEK wrote, debuted at number one on both the UK Dance Chart and the UK Singles Chart. In 2014, he also worked with Madonna on her album, Rebel Heart, and produced the song "Feels So Good" by Kylie Minogue, from her album Kiss Me Once. On 22 July 2014, MNEK released the promotional single "In Your Clouds" as part of an iTunes Ones to Watch campaign. The song will feature on his debut studio album. His debut extended play (EP) Small Talk was released on 20 March 2015. In March 2015, JoJo announced that she worked with MNEK on her new studio album.
In September 2015, MNEK released "Never Forget You" with Swedish singer Zara Larsson. The single premiered as Annie Mac's Hottest Record on BBC Radio 1 and to date has been certified Platinum in the UK, 3× Platinum in Sweden, 2× Platinum in Australia and Denmark and Platinum in Norway. In the US, "Never Forget You" has been certified Platinum, reaching the number one spot on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs chart for three consecutive weeks and the top 10 of the national airplay chart.
Discography
Extended plays
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Small Talk |
|
Singles
As lead artist
| Single | Year | Peak chart positions | Ceritifications | Album | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | AUS | DEN | FIN | GER | NL | NOR | NZ | SWE | US | ||||||||
| "Every Little Word" | 2014 | 184 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Small Talk | |||||
| "Wrote a Song About You" | 66 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
| "The Rhythm" | 2015 | 38 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 20 | — |
| |||||
| "Never Forget You" (with Zara Larsson) | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 20 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 13 |
| So Good | |||||
| "At Night (I Think About You)" | 2016 | 87 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | TBA | |||||
| "Don't Stop Me Now" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
| "—" denotes a song that did not chart or was not released. | |||||||||||||||||
As featured artist
| Single | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | IRE | GER | NL | |||
| "Spoons" (Rudimental featuring MNEK and Syron) | 2013 | — | — | — | — | Home |
| "Christmas in Downtown LA" (Far East Movement featuring MNEK) | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | |
| "Ready for Your Love" (Gorgon City featuring MNEK) | 2014 | 4 | 41 | 58 | 98 | Sirens |
| "Common Emotion" (Rudimental featuring MNEK) | 2016 | — | — | — | — | We the Generation |
| "House Work" (Jax Jones featuring Mike Dunn and MNEK) | 85 | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |
| "Hands" (with Various artists) | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Freak Like Me" (Lee Walker & DJ Deeon featuring Katy B & MNEK) | 80 | — | — | — | ||
| "SXWME" (Far East Movement featuring Jay Park and MNEK) | — | — | — | — | Identity | |
| "WORSHIP" (The Knocks featuring MNEK) | 2017 | — | — | — | — | Testify EP |
Promotional singles
| Single | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "In Your Clouds" | 2014 | Small Talk |
Songwriting and production
| Year | Title | Artist | Role | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | "All Fired Up" | The Saturdays | Producer | On Your Radar |
| 2012 | "City Lights" | A*M*E | Writer, producer | none |
| "Ride or Die" | ||||
| "Fast Girls" (featuring MNEK) | Jack Beats | Writer, vocals | Careless | |
| "Rumbae" | The Very Best | Vocals | MTMTMK | |
| "Home Run" | Misha B | Writer, producer | TBC | |
| "Wings" | Little Mix | Producer | DNA | |
| 2013 | "Hell Could Freeze" (featuring Angel Haze) | Rudimental | Writer, backing vocals | Home |
| "Hide" (featuring Sinéad Harnett) | Writer | |||
| "Baby" (featuring MNEK and Sinéad Harnett) | Writer, vocals | |||
| "Need U (100%)" (featuring A*M*E) | Duke Dumont | Writer, backing vocals | TBC | |
| "Too Much Heaven" (featuring MNEK) | DEVolution | Writer, vocals | Transition | |
| "Admire" (featuring Aaron Soul) | Writer | |||
| "Hold On" (featuring MNEK) | Duke Dumont | Writer, vocals | TBC | |
| "Wanna Go" (featuring Little Nikki) | Maxsta | Writer | TBC | |
| "The Finest Things" | Colette Carr | Writer, producer | Skitszo | |
| "Lovesong" | Javeon | TBC | ||
| "Close" (featuring MNEK) | Sub Focus | Vocals, writer | Torus | |
| "Indiana" | Tom Aspaul | Producer | TBC | |
| "Bad 4 U" | Tanika | Writer, producer | TBC | |
| "Nothing Feels Like You" | Little Mix | Salute | ||
| 2014 | "Feels So Good" | Kylie Minogue | Producer | Kiss Me Once |
| "Here for You" (featuring Laura Welsh) | Gorgon City | Writer | Sirens | |
| "Better Than This" | Bred For Pleasure | Vocals, writer | TBC | |
| "Cologne" (featuring Nikki Cislyn and Javeon) | Clean Bandit | Writer | New Eyes | |
| "Gecko (Overdrive)" (featuring Becky Hill) | Oliver Heldens | TBC | ||
| "What Are You Waiting For?" | The Saturdays | Finest Selection: The Greatest Hits | ||
| "Bad News" (featuring MNEK) | Bastille | Vocals, backing vocals | "Bastille vs. (Other People's Heartache, Pt. III)" | |
| "Happiness" (featuring MNEK) | Chris Malinchak | Writer, vocals | TBC | |
| "All I See" | Bondax | Writer | TBC | |
| "Sing That Song" | TIEKS | TBC | ||
| "Losing" | Becky Hill | TBC | ||
| "Special" (featuring Maxine Ashley) | Billon | TBC | ||
| "Say Something" | Karen Harding | TBC | ||
| "Climbin (Piano Weapon)" (with Doorly) | Shadow Child | TBC | ||
| "18" | Etta Bond | TBC | ||
| "Last All Night (Koala)" (featuring KStewart) | Oliver Heldens | TBC | ||
| "Living for Love" | Madonna | Writer, backing vocals | Rebel Heart | |
| "Hold Tight" | ||||
| 2015 | "Fingertips" | Leo Kalyan | Writer | Kiss Me Once |
| "Common Emotion" | Rudimental | Writer, vocals | We the Generation | |
| "Rumour Mill" | Writer | |||
| "Foreign World" | ||||
| "We the Generation" | ||||
| "Belong" | EDX | TBC | ||
| "Feel Good (It's Alright)" (featuring Karen Harding) | Blonde | TBC | ||
| 2016 | "Hold Up" | Beyoncé | Lemonade | |
| "Basically Over You (B.O.Y.)" | Alex Newell | Producer, writer | POWER | |
| "Final Song" | MØ | TBC | ||
| "False Alarm" (with Becky Hill) | Matoma | Producer | Hakuna Matoma | |
| "Change My Love" | Craig David | Co-writer | Following My Intuition | |
| "Everybody's Free" | Nat Conway | Producer | TBC | |
| "Natural" (featuring KStewart) | Shift K3Y | Co-writer, producer | NIT3 TALES | |
| "Ain't My Fault" | Zara Larsson | So Good | ||
| "Good Thing" | JoJo | Mad Love | ||
| "Warm" | Becky Hill | Co-writer, backing vocals | TBC | |
| "Time" | Sabina Ddumba | Co-writer, producer | TBC | |
| "Touch" | Little Mix | Producer | Glory Days | |
| "Press Rewind" | Kaiser Chiefs | Co-writer | Stay Together | |
| "SXWME" (featuring Jay Park and MNEK) | Far East Movement | Co-writer, producer, featured artist | Identity | |
| "No Question" (featuring MNEK and Ryan Ashley) | Shift K3Y | Co-writer, featured artist | NIT3 TALES | |
| "Messy" | Tom Aspaul | Co-writer, producer, backing vocals | LEFT EP | |
| "You Don't Know Me" (featuring RAYE) | Jax Jones | Co-writer, backing vocals | TBC | |
| "My Love 4 U" (featuring A*M*E) | MK | Co-writer | TBC | |
| 2017 | "Worship" (featuring MNEK) | The Knocks | Featured artist, co-writer, co-producer | Testify EP |
| "World to Me" (featuring MNEK) | Tchami | Featured artist, co-writer | TBC | |
| "Worry Too Much (Intro)" | Brayton Bowman | Co-writer, producer, backing vocals | 22 Minutes Later | |
| "Puff Puff Pass" | Co-writer, co-producer, backing vocals | |||
| "WTF (Interlude)" | Backing vocals | |||
| "The Second I'm Rich" | Co-writer, co-producer | |||
| "What's Really Good" | Co-writer, producer | |||
| "Kustom Made" | ||||
| "Broke n' Down (Interlude)" | Backing vocals | |||
| "Feel You" | Co-writer, producer | |||
| "What They Say" | Zara Larsson | Producer | So Good | |
| "Rude Love" | Becky Hill | Co-writer, producer, backing vocals | TBA | |
| "Not for The Radio" (featuring MNEK) | Tinie Tempah | Co-writer, producer | Youth | |
| "Blinded By Your Grace, Pt.2" (featuring MNEK) | Stormzy | Co-writer | Gang Signs & Prayer |