Mohombi facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Mohombi
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Mohombi in 2019
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| Birth name | Mohombi Nzasi Moupondo |
| Born | 17 October 1986 Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) |
| Origin | Stockholm, Sweden |
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| Years active | 2005–present |
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Mohombi Nzasi Moupondo (born 17 October 1986) is a talented musician, singer, composer, and dancer. He has roots in both the Congo and Sweden. Mohombi grew up in Norsborg and Kista, which are towns near Stockholm, Sweden. He was the very first artist to sign with 2101 Records, a music label that works closely with Universal Music Group.
From 2000 to 2008, Mohombi was part of a Swedish hip hop group called Avalon. He was in this group with his brother, Djo Moupondo. Mohombi started his solo career in August 2010 with his first song, "Bumpy Ride". This song became a big hit all over the world and was very popular in many countries. After that, he released his first solo album, MoveMeant, in February 2011.
Contents
Biography
Early life and education
Mohombi was born to a Swedish mother and a Congolese father. He has many brothers and sisters. In 1999, when Mohombi was 13, his family moved from the Congo to Stockholm, Sweden. His parents made sure he listened to many different kinds of music when he was growing up.
Mohombi went to Rytmus Music High School in Stockholm. He also performed on stage early in his career, including in a Swedish show called Wild Side Story in 2002. He earned a bachelor's degree in music from the Royal College of Music, Stockholm. Mohombi can speak many languages, including English, French, Lingala, Spanish, Swahili, and Swedish.
Being part of the duo Avalon
In Stockholm, Mohombi and his brother Djo Moupondo formed a music group called Avalon. Djo was a local club DJ known as DJ Djo. Their music mixed dancehall and hip hop with the unique African sounds they grew up with.
Between 2004 and 2008, Avalon sold over 500,000 records. They also won the All African Kora Awards, which is like the Grammy Awards for African music. Mohombi also became a great songwriter during this time. In 2005, Avalon tried to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 at Melodifestivalen 2005 with their song "Big Up." They also performed at the "sthlm" music festival.
On 2 June 2007, Avalon performed at the Hoodsfredsfestivalen in Kista. On 21 December 2007, Avalon released their album Afro-Viking, which was mostly for the African music market. Avalon also worked with other artists and songwriters like Bob Sinclar and Million Stylez.
Starting a solo career (2010–2012)
Mohombi worked with Swedish rapper Lazee on a song called "Do It." It came out in Sweden on 31 May 2010 and quickly became popular. In Los Angeles, Mohombi met the Swedish-Moroccan music producer RedOne. Mohombi's first solo song, "Bumpy Ride," was the first song released on RedOne's music label, 2101 Records. This song came out in the United States on 24 August 2010.
Mohombi released "Miss Me" as his first song in the United Kingdom on 31 October 2010. It featured American rapper Nelly. His third song, "Dirty Situation," came out in Europe on 11 November and featured R&B singer Akon. Mohombi's first album, MoveMeant, was released in Europe on 28 February 2011. Mohombi also sang on the song "Hoola Hoop" from the 2011 Stella Mwangi album Kinanda. Another one of Mohombi's songs, "Coconut Tree," featured the singer Nicole Scherzinger.
In 2011, Mohombi performed at the MAD Video Music Awards in Athens, Greece. He sang a duet with Katerina Stikoudi of "Coconut Tree." On 2 September 2011, Mohombi released another song called "Maraca." He also recorded "Suave (Kiss Me)" with Nayer and Pitbull. He was nominated for Best Swedish Act at the 2011 European Music Awards.
Later musical projects
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In 2014, Mohombi decided to leave Universal Music and start his own music label, La Clique Music. He then released his album Universe.
In July 2015, Mohombi was asked to represent the youth of his country at a meeting organized by the United Nations in New York City. He was also a judge for the 2015 Best of the Best All Stair season, which is a big talent show in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In 2015, Mohombi worked with Pitbull and Wisin on the song "Baddest Girl in Town". In 2016, Mohombi also worked with Joey Montana and Akon on the remix of "Picky".
In 2016, Mohombi won a Grammy Award for his work on Pitbull's album Dale. This award was for the Best Latin Album of the year.
He took part in Melodifestivalen 2019 with his song "Hello" and made it to the final, finishing in fifth place. In 2020, he participated in Melodifestivalen 2020 again with the song "Winners". He reached the final and finished in twelfth place.
On 8 December 2022, Mohombi announced that he would run for president in his home country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Awards and nominations
- Melodifestivalen 2005
- Kora Awards:
- Kora All African Music Awards 2003
- Kora All African Music Awards 2004
- 2008/2009: Nominated for Kora All African Music Awards – Best African Artist/Group.
- MTV European Music Awards 2011 – Nominated for Best Swedish Singer of the Year.
- 2011: Nominated for a Swedish Grammis for his song "Bumpy Ride."
- Latin Italian Music Awards 2015 – Mohombi won an award for his work on Pitbull's album DALE.
- U.S Grammy Award 2016 – Best Latin Album. Mohombi won a Grammy for his work on Pitbull's album DALE.
- Billboard Music Award 2016 – Mohombi won a Billboard Award for his work on Pitbull's album DALE.
- Big Apple Music Award 2017 – Best African Act Awards.
- 2018: Nominated for the Daf Bama Music Awards in the category of Best African Artist of the Year.
- 2018: Nominated for the Latin Grammy Awards as a composer for J Balvin's album Vibras.
- Melodifestivalen 2019
- 2019: Mohombi won a BMI Award 2019 for Contemporary Latin Song of the Year. This was for his work as a composer on the song Mi Gente by J Balvin.
- Melodifestivalen 2020
Discography
- MoveMeant (2011)
- Universe (2014)
- Rumba 2.0 (2020)
See also
In Spanish: Mohombi para niños
