MzVee
MzVee | |
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![]() MzVee | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Vera Hamenoo-Kpeda |
Born | Accra, Ghana | 23 June 1992
Genres | Afro pop, Hiplife, R&B, Dancehall |
Occupation(s) | Singer |
Years active | 2012–present |
Website | mzveegh |
Vera Hamenoo-Kpeda (born 23 June 1992),[1] better known by her stage name MzVee,[2] is a Ghanaian singer, afropop, dancehall and R&B artiste. Her debut solo album features several hit singles including 'Borkor Borkor (meaning – Slowly), 'Natural Girl' and 'Dancehall Queen'.[3][4] MzVee was signed to the record label Lynx Entertainment and was the winner of the New Artiste of the Year award at the 2015 Ghana Music Awards. She parted ways with Lynx Entertainment in the year 2019. She is currently a solo artist.[5][6]
Early life
[edit]MzVee was born in South La Estates, Accra to Ernest Hamenoo-Kpeda, a businessman, and Florence Hamenoo-Kpeda, a caterer. She hails from Keta in the Volta Region of Ghana.[7] She has two older sisters and a brother and attended St Martin de Porres School in Dansoman, Accra in her early years [citation needed]. She moved on to St. Mary's Girls' Senior High School where she studied Home economics.[8] She was studying Business administration at Ghana Telecom University,[9] later in 2016, she abandoned school.[10]
Music career
[edit]2012 – 2013: Early beginnings
[edit]MzVee first burst onto the Ghanaian music scene in the summer of 2012 as the lead singer of Lynx Entertainment's girl band D3.[11] The band had popular hits like "Good Girls Gone Bad" and "Gyani Gyani" before disbanding at the end of 2013 due to the young members' educational commitments.[12]
2014 – 2016: Breakthrough
[edit]MzVee launched her solo career with debut single ‘Borkor Borkor’ released in January 2014.[13] She followed this with hit single ‘Natural Girl’[14] and went on to win the 'Unsung Artiste Award' at the 2014 Ghana Music Awards.[15] Her debut album was released in November 2014[3] and features collaborations with several award-winning artistes such as Stonebwoy, VIP, Shatta Wale, Richie Mensah, M.anifest and Didier Awadi.
Following the success of her award-winning debut album, MzVee released her second album titled Verified in November 2015 to rave reviews.[16][17] The album has earned MzVee 7 nominations at the 2016 Ghana Music Awards[18] including 'Album of the Year' and 'Record of the Year' for the single 'Abofra' which features Efya. Her highly anticipated third album DaaVee was released in May 2017.[19]
2017– 2019: Hiatus
[edit]MzVee took a two-year break from the Music Industry from 2017 to 2019. In an interview with TV3[20] on Monday, 5 January 2020, she revealed that her reason for leaving the music industry was a massive depression which she was going through.[21] This has dismissed pregnancy rumors that some people were saying is the reason for her absence from the Music Industry.[22] Throughout the two-year period MzVee found help from her friend Efya who kept supporting and encouraging her until she overcame depression.[23][21] She has announced that as of 2020 she is back to music and will be releasing a single she has titled "Sheriff".[21]
2020 – 2021: inVeencible
[edit]One other thing MzVee said when she returned from her depression-induced hiatus from music was that she will be releasing two albums.[20] However, she obviously could not release the two albums as she promised due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
She rather managed to release one album dubbed inVeencible.[24] The album which featured Sarkodie, Mugeez, Efya, Medikal, Kelvyn Boy, Kojo Funds, as well as Falz and Navy Kenzoo, was released on 11 December 2020.[25] In March 2021, she partnered with TRACE TV to release her music video for her song 'You Alone'.[26]
2022: 10 Thirty
[edit]On 24 June 2022, MzVee released her fifth album, titled 10 Thirty inspired by her 10th year as a musician and to celebrate turning 30 years. 10 Thirty, a ten–tracked album featured Nigerian musicians, Bella Shmurda, Yemi Alade, Tiwa Savage and Ghanaian musicians Stonebwoy and Kofi Kinaata.[27]
Musical style and recognition
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/75/MzVee.jpeg/220px-MzVee.jpeg)
MzVee's music contains elements of afropop, R&B and dancehall and her strong vocal abilities earned her a nomination for 'Female Vocalist of the Year'[28] at the 2015 Ghana Music Awards and the award for 'Most Promising Act' at the 2015 Ghana Music Honors.[29] She is regarded as one of the stars of Ghana's dancehall scene and received the award for 'Best Female Vocalist of the Year'[30] at the 2015 Ghanaian dancehall awards, BASS awards. Her trademark natural African hair and hit single ‘Natural Girl’ has made her an inspiration to young girls across Africa who want to celebrate their natural look.[31]
MzVee's impressive rise to the top continued with a nomination in June 2015 in the 'Best International New Artist' category[32] at the BET Awards 2015. This brand new fan-voted category celebrates rising stars from across the channel's international footprint.[33]
In October 2015, MzVee was appointed the World Bank Ambassador for their 'End Extreme Poverty Campaign'.[34] She released the official campaign song titled 'End Poverty'[35] and became a World Bank #Music4Dev Guest Artist; a role which has been held in the past by a number of award-winning artists including D'Banj and Fally Ipupa.[36][37]
MzVee was named in MTV Base's list of the top African artists to watch out for in 2016. This list featured the breakthrough hit makers of 2015 on the African continent.[38][39] She has also been nominated in the ‘Best Urban Artist’ category at the 2016 KORA Music Awards[40][41] and received 7 nominations at the 2016 Ghana Music Awards[42] including Songwriter of the Year[43] with Richie Mensah and Efya, Album of the Year[44] and Best Female Vocalist.[45]
On 20 May 2016, MzVee was nominated for the BET Awards 2016 – Best International Act: Africa category and became the first Ghanaian female musician to be nominated for a major BET Award.[46] She was also nominated in the Best Female category in October 2016 for the MTV Africa Music Awards.[47]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/97/MzVee_in_concert.jpg/272px-MzVee_in_concert.jpg)
MzVee continues to receive both critical and commercial acclaim for her work and was awarded the Best Female Artist Honour[48] at the Ghana Music Honours on 4 March 2017. She was also nominated for Reggae/Dancehall Artiste of the Year, Best Female Vocalist and Overall Artiste of the Year at the 2017 Ghana Music Awards.[49] She is the first Ghanaian musician to be featured on the Grammy's 'Press play at home' platform.[50]
Discography
[edit]- Re-Vee-Lation (2014)
- Verified (2015)
- DaaVee (2017)
- InVeecible (2020)
- 10 Thirty (2022)
Awards and nominations
[edit]Year | Organization | Award | Work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | Ghana Music Awards | Unsung Artiste of the Year | Herself | Won[52] |
4syte Music Video Awards | Best Discovery | Won[53] | ||
2015 | Bass Awards | Best Female Vocal Artist | Won[54] | |
Ghana Music Honors | Most Promising Act | Won[55] | ||
Ghana Music Awards | Artiste of the Year | Nominated[56] | ||
Reggae/Dancehall Artiste of the Year | Nominated[56] | |||
Best New Artiste of the Year | Won[57] | |||
Album of the Year | Re-Vee-Lation | Nominated[56] | ||
Reggae Dancehall Song of the Year | Natural Girl | Nominated[56] | ||
Best Female Vocal Performance | My Everything | Nominated[56] | ||
BET Awards | Best New International Artist | Herself | Nominated[32] | |
2016 | KORA Music Awards | Best Urban Artist | Hold Me Now | Nominated[40] |
Ghana Music Awards | Album of the Year | Verified | Nominated[44] | |
Songwriter of the Year | MzVee, Richie Mensah and Efya | Nominated[43] | ||
Best Female Vocalist of the Year | Hold Me Now | Won[45] | ||
Reggae Song of the Year | Nominated[58] | |||
Afro Pop Song of the Year | Abofra | Nominated[59] | ||
Record of the Year | Nominated[60] | |||
Reggae/Dancehall Artist of the Year | Herself | Nominated[61] | ||
BET Awards | Best International Act Africa | Nominated[62] | ||
Nigerian Entertainment Awards | African Female Artist (Non-Nigerian) | Nominated[63] | ||
AFRIMMA | Best Female West Africa | Nominated[64] | ||
MTV Africa Music Awards | Best Female | Nominated[47] | ||
2017 | Ghana Music Honours | Reggae/Dancehall Artist Honour | Nominated[65] | |
Best Female Artist Honour | Won[66] | |||
People's Choice Artist Honour | Nominated[65] | |||
Ghana Music Awards | Reggae/Dancehall Artiste of the Year | Nominated[67] | ||
Best Female Vocalist | Nobody Else | Nominated[67] | ||
Overall Artiste of the Year | Herself | Nominated[67] | ||
4syte Music Video Awards | Best Female Video | Rewind | Nominated[68] | |
Best Choreography Video | Nominated[68] | |||
BASS Awards | Artiste of the Year | Herself | Nominated[69] | |
Reggae Song of the Year | Nobody Else | Nominated[69] | ||
Performer of the Year | Herself | Nominated[69] | ||
Female Vocalist of the Year | Nobody Else | Nominated[69] | ||
Reggae Collaboration of the Year | Nobody Else (feat. Black Prophet) | Won[70] | ||
Dancehall Artiste of the Year | Herself | Nominated[69] | ||
Reggae Video of the Year | Nobody Else | Nominated[69] | ||
2018 | Ghana Music Awards | Female Vocalist of the Year | Herself | Nominated[71] |
Reggae/Dancehall Artiste | Nominated[72] | |||
Reggae/Dancehall Song of the Year | Rewind | Nominated[73] | ||
Collaboration of the Year | Sing My Name (feat. Patoranking) | Nominated[74] | ||
Afropop Song of the Year | Nominated[75] | |||
Album of the Year | Daa-Vee | Nominated[76] | ||
2019 | Ghana Music Awards | Best Music Video of the Year | Come and see my Moda" ft Yemi Alade
Directed by Xbills Ebenezer |
Won[77] |
2021 | Ghana Music Awards | Best Reggae Dancehall Song of the Year | Sheriff | Nominated[78] |
Best Music Video of the Year | Baddest Boss | Won | ||
Album of the Year | Inveecible | Nominated[79] |
References
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- ^ "MzVee Calls Out To All Natural Girls". Twi Movies.
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- ^ "BET Awards 2015: MzVee nominated in new category". Viasat 1.
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- ^ "Music4Dev Guest MzVee Calls for An End to Poverty Through Song". World Bank.
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