# KABBA (singer)

Aminata Kabba (born 13 December 1994), better known by her stage name KABBA, formerly known as A*M*E, is a British singer and songwriter. KABBA was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on 13 December 1994. In 2011, A*M*E was scouted and signed by Take That frontman Gary Barlow to his label, Future Records.
On 9 December 2012, the BBC announced that KABBA – then A*M*E – had been nominated for the Sound of 2013 poll.
In January 2013, A*M*E signed to Sony Music's Epic Records after Barlow closed Future Records to focus on his own career commitments. The Duke Dumont single "Need U (100%)", featuring A*M*E and MNEK, topped the UK Singles Chart on 7 April 2013.

## Biography
### 1994–2011: Early life

At the age of eight, A*M*E moved to England after her mother's hair salon was burned to the ground and life in Sierra Leone became too dangerous. Growing up in the Catford area of south-east London, A*M*E was introduced to fellow teenage prodigy MNEK. The pair bonded over a mutual love of '90s pop music and started collaborating, quickly creating a handful of songs including "City Lights". The track was enough to pique the interest of Take That frontman Gary Barlow, who proceeded to sign her to his Future record label.

### 2012–2018: Career beginnings: A*M*E

In 2012, A*M*E released a string of promotional singles called "City Lights" (featuring Bartoven), "Ride or Die" and "Find a Boy", which she co-wrote alongside Emeli Sandé and producer Naughty Boy.
It was announced by The Guardian in September 2012 that A*M*E would release her first commercial single, "Play The Game Boy", in November 2012. Produced by Electric, the track attained positive reviews, with Digital Spy listing the song as one of its 'Top 10 tracks You Need to Hear'; commenting on "[its] insanely addictive choruses and K-pop inspired melodies" and that "it feels fresher than anything else on this week's chart."
On 9 December 2012, the BBC announced that A*M*E had been nominated for the Sound of 2013 poll alongside the likes of Angel Haze and The Weeknd.
Her collaboration with Duke Dumont, "Need U (100%)" was released in March 2013. It became both acts' most successful single at the time, debuting at number one and remaining there for two weeks, and earned her a nomination in the Best Dance Recording category at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards.
On 14 July 2014, A*M*E released her second official single, "Heartless", produced by Carl Falk and Rami Yacoub. She also featured on Monsieur Adi's single "What's Going On?", CamelPhat's "Paradigm", MK's "My Love 4 U", Tough Love's "Closer to Love", Shift K3Y's "Entirety", as well as appearing on M-22's "White Lies".

### 2019–present: KABBA and debut EP

Through an Instagram post on 8 July 2019, A*M*E announced that she would rebrand as KABBA.
KABBA announced the first single from her self titled debut EP on 12 July 2019. It is titled "Glue" and features Bartoven, who previously appeared on her song "City Lights". The song was first premiered on COMPLEX on 24 July 2019. In the article, KABBA explained the reasons behind her rebrand, stating: "KABBA is a Sierra Leonean name and part of my identity that is so precious to me. Now that I'm entering a new phase in my career, I'm free to fully embrace KABBA."
Her debut EP KABBA was released on 14 February 2020.

## Artistry
### Influences

KABBA has been heavily influenced by K-pop, saying "I love my K-pop, but I haven't really done anything with that sound yet. There's influences from it in my music – I've got some fat, solid, six-part melodies which are very K-poppy." KABBA cites Beyoncé, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and Big Bang as her influences, she also cites Janet Jackson as a major influence calling Jackson her idol.

## Discography
### Extended plays

| Title | Details |
| KABBA | Released: 14 February 2020 Label: Self-released Format: Digital download |
| Note to Self | Released: 29 October 2021 Label: Self-released Format: Digital download |

### Singles
#### As lead artist

| Title | Year | Album |
| "City Lights" (featuring Bartoven) | 2012 | Non-album singles |
| "Ride or Die" | 2012 | Non-album singles |
| "Play the Game Boy" | 2012 | Non-album singles |
| "Heartless" | 2013 | Non-album singles |
| "Glue" (featuring Bartoven) | 2019 | KABBA |
| "My Work Is Done" | 2019 | KABBA |
| "Muscle" | 2020 | KABBA |
| "Rather Be Single" | 2021 | Note to Self |
| "Mood" | 2021 | Note to Self |

#### As featured artist

| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Album |
| Title | Year | UK | AUS | BEL | DEN | IRE | NL | Album |
| "Need U (100%)" (Duke Dumont featuring A*M*E) | 2013 | 1 | 40 | 17 | 31 | 27 | 20 | Non-album single |
| "What's Going On?" (Monsieur Adi featuring A*M*E) | 2013 | – | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single |
| "Paradigm" (CamelPhat featuring A*M*E) | 2015 | – | — | — | — | — | — | Axtone Ten |
| "My Love 4 U" (MK featuring A*M*E) | 2016 | – | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single |
| "Closer to Love" (Tough Love featuring A*M*E) | 2017 | – | — | — | — | — | — | Past Present Future |
| "Entirety" (Shift K3Y featuring A*M*E) | 2018 | – | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single |

### Promotional singles

| Title | Year | Album |
| "Find a Boy" (A*M*E featuring Mic Righteous) | 2012 | Non-album single |

### Guest appearances

| Title | Year | Artist | Album | Notes |
| "One Thousand" | 2012 | Cheryl Cole | A Million Lights | Un-credited backing vocals |
| "Future X Girl" | 2014 | Neon Jungle | Welcome to the Jungle | Un-credited backing vocals |
| "WTF (Interlude)" | 2017 | Brayton Bowman | 22 Minutes Later | Un-credited speaker |
| "All In" | 2018 | Throttle | Non-album single | Writer and un-credited lead vocalist |
| "White Lies" | 2019 | M-22 | Non-album single | Writer and un-credited lead vocalist |

### Songwriting credits

| Year | Artist | Album | Song | Co-written with |
| 2012 | f(x) | Electric Shock EP | "Beautiful Stranger" | Mich Hansen, Jason Gill |
| 2013 | Samsaya | Bombay Calling | "Stereotypes" | Sampda Sharma, Iain Farquarson, Fredrik Ball |
| 2013 | Duke Dumont | Non-album single | "Need U (100%)" (featuring A*M*E) | Uzoechi Emenike, Robbie Bergin |
| 2014 | Neon Jungle | Welcome to the Jungle | "Future X Girl" | Anita Blay, Benjamin Berry |
| 2015 | Duke Dumont | Non-album single | "The Giver (Reprise)" | Adam Dyment, Hal Ritson, Kelli-Leigh Henry-Davila, Uzoechi Emenike |
| 2016 | JKAY | Non-album single | "Stranger" (featuring Shola Ama) | Jonathan Keep, Marvin Humes, Uzoechi Emenike, Caroline Furoyen, Sinai Tedros |
| 2018 | Mike Williams | Non-album single | "Give It Up" | Michael Willemsen, Stevie Appleton |
| 2018 | Throttle | Non-album single | "All In" | Uzoechi Emenike, Robbie Bergin |
| 2019 | Ryan Ashley | Non-album single | "Familiar" | Ryan Campbell, Roberto Manfredi |
| 2019 | M-22 | Non-album single | "White Lies" | Andre Nookadu, Andrew Bullimore, Frank Sanders, Matthew Humphrey |
| 2020 | Sleepwalkrs | Non-album single | "More Than Words" (featuring MNEK) | Roberto Manfredi, Thomas Hollings, Samuel Brennan, Uzoechi Emenike |
| 2020 | KSI | All Over The Place | "Really Love" (featuring Craig David and Digital Farm Animals) | Olajide Olatunji, Craig David, James Murray, Mustafa Omer, Nicholas Gale, Eugen Nwohia, Ronald Nwohia, Michael Ashley, Paul Newman, Steve Wickham |
| 2020 | Amun | Non-album single | "Done Me" | Uzoechi Emenike, Raoul Chen, Alexander Montell, Amun Ahmed |
| 2021 | Like Son | Non-album single | "One Night Only" | Conor Blake, Joseph Paul Murphy, Nathan Richards, Samuel Brennan, Tom Hollings |
| 2021 | Joel Corry | Non-album single | "I Wish" (featuring Mabel) | Harlee Jayne Sudworth, Jess Glynne, Joel Corry, Lewis Thompson, Mabel McVey, Neave Applebaum, Paul Harris, Poppy Baskcomb, Robert Harvey, Uzoechi Emenike |
| 2021 | Amun | No Ceilings | "Press Delete" | Tyler Hotston, Amun Ahmed |

## Music videos

| Song | Year | Artist | Director |
| "City Lights" | 2012 | A*M*E (featuring Bartoven) | Ashur Yelda, Aram Antabil, Ashley McDermott & Chantelle Fiddy |
| "Ride or Die" | 2012 | A*M*E | Ashur Yelda, Aram Antabil, Ashley McDermott & Chantelle Fiddy |
| "Play the Game Boy" | 2012 | A*M*E | Patrick Killingbeck |
| "Heartless" | 2013 | A*M*E | |
| "Rather Be Single" | 2021 | KABBA | Amaka Lin |
| "Mood" | 2021 | KABBA | Oliver Marshall |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Organisation | Award | Result |
| 2012 | BBC Sound of 2013 | Sound of 2013 | Nominated |
| 2014 | Grammy Awards | Best Dance/Electronic Recording: "Need U (100%)" | Nominated |