DANI56 Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 http://www.list.co.uk/article/715-mika/ Nice'n'Sleazy, Glasgow, Fri 17 Nov 6 POP First mentioned in the same places as fellow quirk-pop doyens Lily Allen and The Pipettes, it’s unlikely that the Beirut-born, London-raised Mika will be playing many more venues as intimate as Sleazy’s. As he played here, he was also making his national television debut before the nation on Later . . . The main superlative already flying around is ‘the new Freddie Mercury’, and - much like Freddie and another similarly crystal-voiced troubadour, Antony of ‘ . . . and the Johnsons’ fame - Mika is a singer you will either adore or despise. 23-years-old and gangly of frame, he’s like the slightly awkward school musical prodigy, a more than capable pianist and a pyrotechnic singer. His repertoire ranges from sensitive ballads to theatrical pomp-pop, but it’s the latter that will no doubt propel him to huge fame. ‘Grace Kelly’ is a truly original song, all vaulting falsetto and dynamic chord changes, while ‘Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)’ is an (apparently unintentional) descendent of ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’. He and Freddie have plenty in common, it seems Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FREDDIESDOUBLE Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 The Brighton pics really bring back some memories , the stage had nothing on it at all .. no flowers no nothing .. Loving this thread .. keep em coming:wub2: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miro Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Wow everytime I see these photos I'm amazed at how much he has changed in 2 years I like this one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mari62 Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 Awww glad you like the 3d!! You're all very welcome guys!!! I love organizing and categorizing.... Thank you for adding other news!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mari62 Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 (edited) I agree .. awesome thread :thumb_yello: One more .. he done Bestival in 2006 http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=95191623&blogID=147114511 This was Summer time , I dont know of any before this .. I "think" this was Mikas first performance that we know of Thanks! Adding gig's name to 1st post Gonna paste it here just in case it'd disappear from the site in the future MIKA'S SECRET SOCIETY Friday July 21, 2006 BESTIVAL!!! BEEN AND GONE!! BESTIVAL WAS IN SEPTEMBER, THANKS THOUGH Hey Guys, WHOS GOING TO BESTIVAL? I've got a slot, reply to this blog and let me know if you're going, I have a proposition for you! I'm playing on 10th September! Edited February 17, 2009 by mari62 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mari62 Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 From the same blog http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=95191623&blogID=178470990 Tuesday, October 10th, 2006 MIKA SUPPORTING THE FEELING! BEEN AND GONE!! THANKS FOR COMING! Hey guys... A very special gig...big deal in the world of Mika...Mika has landed support slot for THE FEELING at Shepherd's Bush Empire on Saturday 4th November 2006!!! As always, we offer our fantastic secret society the chance to come down and help out... Reply to this blog if you'd like to come, we'll get back to you... mika secret society x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FREDDIESDOUBLE Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 That secret society thingy was always strange to me .. I never fully understood it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mari62 Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 (edited) Tuesday, August 29th, 2006 MIKA UK TOUR! - CHANGES!!! PLEASE READ. THIS TOUR IS OVER! AND IT WAS AMAZING, THANKS FOR COMING & HELPING OUT! It's that time again! I've got a whole UK tour coming up in November and I need about 4 people per show (2 people with a friend each) to come down and help out/hang out! The dates are listed below: **PLEASE NOTE DATE/VENUE CHANGES!** Tue 14 Nov UK Brighton Concorde THURS 16 NOV UK - BIRMINGHAM ACADEMY 2 FRI 17 NOV UK GLASGOW - NICE 'N' SLEEZY SAT 18 NOV UK LEEDS - MINE MON 20 NOV UK MANCHESTER - BAR ACADEMY 3 TUE 21 NOV UK LONDON - DINGWALLS WED 22 NOV UK BRISTOL - FLEECE If you want to come down and help out, get into the gig for free and have a good time! Reply to this blog telling me which gig you'd like to go to and we'll get back to you asap! Who knows what sorts of cool things we'll have this tour round! Shenanigans! look forward to hearing from you guys, hope you're all well! Mika x http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=95191623&blogID=161380843 Edited February 17, 2009 by mari62 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mari62 Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 That secret society thingy was always strange to me .. I never fully understood it me neither.. was it his former myspace?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FREDDIESDOUBLE Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 me neither.. was it his former myspace?? He actually had 3 myspaces , one what he has now , the other is now one and private one and this one .. I think it was very much a 2006 thing , when he wasnt so well known , by early 2007 .. it wasnt doing anything ..no benefit at all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavi Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Thank you!!! What a great thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindemfc Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 So great to see this, I discovered him beginning 2007. But if you look to his gigs in 2006 he changed so much in just a couple of months! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miro Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 So great to see this, I discovered him beginning 2007. But if you look to his gigs in 2006 he changed so much in just a couple of months! Yeah you can see it his performance, the way he moves on the stage.. more confident! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavi Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Thanks! Adding gig's name to 1st postGonna paste it here just in case it'd disappear from the site in the future MIKA'S SECRET SOCIETY Friday July 21, 2006 BESTIVAL!!! BEEN AND GONE!! BESTIVAL WAS IN SEPTEMBER, THANKS THOUGH Hey Guys, WHOS GOING TO BESTIVAL? I've got a slot, reply to this blog and let me know if you're going, I have a proposition for you! I'm playing on 10th September! 10th Sep - my b-day sorry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindemfc Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Yeah you can see it his performance, the way he moves on the stage.. more confident! yeah!! It's so nice to see an artist grow like this:mf_rosetinted: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeiRe Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 I don't know if this has been already posted By gum! Mika goes into Orbit By Gary Ryan MOPPY of hair, foppy of demeanour, but never sloppy of songmanship: Mika is set to inherit the earth. Like all the best pop stars, the 22-year-old singer-songwriter seems to have been inoculated at birth against being conventional. Take this weekend, for instance. "I was doing Manumission in Ibiza, and went onstage at 5am in the morning. It went amazingly well. Watching people dance to my music is probably one the best moments of the past year," he beams, flashing a Colgate-white smile. Tragedy struck, however, "when I accidentally smashed one of the cables." Quelle horreur! "I didn't know what to do so I (wait for it) ended up singing I Would Walk 5,000 Miles by The Proclaimers. The crowd went mental." His idea of getting back at someone, meanwhile, isn't to pen then a sternly-worded letter (with frowny faces drawn in the 'O's', naturally), but rather to sculpt a "sod you" song, entitled Grace Kelly. "Revenge is good, isn't it?," he grins. Reminiscent of Prince's funk, it's aimed squarely at the record companies he'd previously worked with who wanted to bludgeon him into a Stepford poppet. Sample lyric? 'Should I be dirty/ Should I be flirty?... Just to be put on the shelf?' Poppy "They were saying, 'Why can't you be more like Craig David?'," he sighs. "They wanted me to sing really poppy songs on top of fake English Timbaland rip-off backing tracks." He told them where to go and his self-belief paid off, ending up with him signed by music kingpin Tommy Mottola (one word: Mariah) in the US, and Universal in the UK. Mika's life has, equally, been predictably unpredictable. Born in Beirut in the Eighties, he spent his formative years in Paris when his family was forced to flee Lebanon's civil war. Further turmoil was to descend, when his father was held hostage in Kuwait's American embassy in 1993. "That was horrible," reflects Mika. "You know what the worst thing is? Every day, we control our lives so closely and we're responsible for every decision from whether to have a latte or cappuccino, to what kind of bed we sleep on." "In war, the self-control and decision making and self-protection disappears and your life is completely in the hands of someone else. And that's a demoralising experience to go through, where real life is thrown aside." When Mika was nine, his family pitched up in London. "I feel it's my home now. But having moved around, I don't have those landmarks people tend to. I don't have that big tree where I lost my virginity. I can't go: 'Oh look at that church where we buried my gran'.'' Classmates He was bullied at the killing fields of school - both by classmates and teachers - so relentlessly that "I completely shut down. I forgot how to read and write. And ended up having to be pulled out." Mamma Mika guided him towards music. "When I was a child, I was forced to practise to the point of tears. It was really tough. Especially in classical music. "I'm really dyslexic. I don't know how to read music and I can't spell. So it was just to get me on my feet. She knew I had to work hard at something. And as it couldn't be academic. And it couldn't be books. What else was I going to do apart from draw or do music?" Fortunately, he resisted the lure of the Spirograph and started to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Beethoven (the composer, as opposed to the loveable talking dog) and, er, Victoria Wood by teaching himself the piano. His first gig was at coltish 11, at the Royal Opera House, which certainly beats The Roadhouse in the prestige stakes. Gruelling By the time he was 15, Mika already had a gruelling schedule. "I did an Orbit chewing gum advert. All I remember was going in and repeating (sings) 'Orbit chewing gum. And it's good for your teeth, too!' 400 times, so I got every inflection right." I did British Airwaves in-flight music. I was a right little whore. The problem was, I never really got paid for any of it. I got é45 for that advert, so I never actually had anything in my Junior Barclays Account" Still, it was all "valuable experience", meaning that Mika can now perform the kind of dynamic vocal gymnastics that would make Paris Hilton give up and go home (which is reason enough to love him). Having abandoned a Ryvita-dry academic LSE degree after just one day, he enrolled in The Royal College of Music, using his student loan to record demos in Miami. His forthcoming album, Life In Cartoon Motion, fizzes like space dust, throwing the likes of Queen, Scissor Sisters and Nilsson into a party-popper and pulling the string. Karaoke "My aim is that no one else can sing the records that I make. You can't do my songs at karaoke," he explains. "I love records that sound big. I'm a solo artist. I can do things that most bands could never do because I don't have to compromise." With his sister responsible for his artwork and illustration ("all of my family are going to end up in the arts or design - we'll be a Mafia to contend with in the next few years"), Mika's aiming high. "With the touring, I really want a troupe with me. I want my jugglers and I want women dressed up in Elizabethan costumes handing out free drink," he adds, eyes (the kind that could have been gorged directly from a puppy) widening. And with that, he's off to perform his second ever gig, at London haunt The Borderline. "Do I have a warm-up routine?" he laughs. "I always have to brush my teeth. Say a couple of prayers." A pause. "And in that moment of desperation, speed-dial the shrink." Mika plays Academy 3 on Monday, November 20. é7. Call 0161 832 1111. Check out: http://www.myspace.com/mikamyspace or http://www.mikasounds.com. Published: Fri, 01 September, 2006 http://www.citylife.co.uk/music/news/5117_by_gum__mika_goes_into_orbit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mari62 Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 (edited) I don't know if this has been already posted By gum! Mika goes into Orbit By Gary Ryan I don't think so.. didn't find it on MFC I had forgotten to post the articles... thanks for reminding me!!! Edited February 17, 2009 by mari62 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mari62 Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 (edited) Mika Q&A JUNE http://www.mikafanclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5281&highlight=mika+june Review of Mika December Gig at Christ Church, Spitalfields: http://www.mikafanclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=888&highlight=Leo+Sayer+Scissor+Sister MTV ask "Who Is Mika? http://www.mikafanclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18&highlight=is+being+touted Edited February 17, 2009 by mari62 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mari62 Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 Amy Winehouse pays tribute to a soul legend At special charity gig Nov 24, 2006 This is the part about Mika: <<Earlier, singer songwriter Mika played a selection of Broadway- esque pop including recent single 'Relax, Take It Easy', 'Billy Brown' and 'Stuck In The Middle'. The Beirut born singer said : “It's an honour to be asked to take part in this concert for Mencap.”>> http://www.nme.com/news/amy-winehouse/25202 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mari62 Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 (edited) From The Times August 26, 2006 Dressed for success He has a great voice, but will Mika be a pop star? You can bet your shirt on it Mike Pattenden Is something wrong? You seem distracted.” It’s true. I can’t tear my eyes away from the hideous designer shirt that the pop debutant Mika is sporting. “It’s the shirt, isn’t it?” he nods, causing Amadeus locks of hair to quiver. “It’s Italian. I like that it says ‘groovy’ on it.” It says gravy, actually. “Does it?” he says, twisting his head to examine it. “I could have sworn it was ‘groovy’.” Don’t be fooled by this gauche, fish-out-of-water act; the 23-year-old Mika is a deeply ambitious and resourceful character. His debut single, Relax (Take It Easy), is a slice of contagious house-lite stamped with the soon-to-be unmistakable imprint of his trademark falsetto. It seems primed to pep up Europe’s dancefloors as summer fades while sitting perfectly alongside the smart, primary-coloured pop of the Scissor Sisters. Add some Robbie Williams and a soupçon of Freddie Mercury and you have Mika’s market squared quite neatly. Born to a Lebanese mother and an American father, whom he describes rather vaguely as being “in finance”, Mika was forced to flee Beirut in 1984 when he was just 12 months old after the outbreak of fighting. After a brief spell in Paris, the family moved to London. For the young Mika these upheavals proved disruptive to his development. Resettled in London, he forgot how to read and write and withdrew into himself. Music proved to be a healer and set him on the path signposted pop. “I was stuck at home all day in my shell, so my mother hired a music teacher. She was a really strict Russian lady, but she brought me out of myself.” Once he had begun to open his mouth again, he revealed the voice of “a young female soprano”, which won him a role in the chorus of the Royal Opera. At the same time his mother, who sounds like an endlessly resourceful woman, signed him up to an ad agency. Mika’s youthful tones were soon gilding advertising campaigns and assorted TV shows, and by the age of 12 he had decided that his future lay in being a pop star. “It seemed inevitable to me. I was writing lots of songs. Bad ones, admittedly. Then the writing became obsessive. I didn’t fit in at school, so songwriting was my escape.” Confused as ever, he signed up to the London School of Economics, only to realise his error on the first day. Two weeks later he enrolled at the Royal College of Music, passing an audition on the strength of his singing. Putting this head-scratching mistake to one side, he stretches credulity further by revealing that he spent the student holidays giving demos of his own material in Miami. Surely daddy was bankrolling his music biz ambition by this time? “No. Really,” he demurs. “As soon as you say the word ‘finance’ people assume that means you’ve been well off all your life, but it has not always been easy, believe me. I just met someone who liked what I was trying to do.” The songwriter who took Mika under her wing was Jodi Marr, best described as the Latin Linda Perry. Together the two worked up a polished demo tape that made executives at Universal sit up. The song that doubtless convinced them was his soon-to-be signature tune, Grace Kelly, a paean to being true to oneself. With another soaring falsetto hook it sounds like a hit in waiting, but after all the effort he has invested in becoming a star has he ever contemplated the possibility of failure? “Never,” he says, obviously shocked at the suggestion. “If I thought about stuff like that I might as well have stayed at the LSE. Some people are going to hate what I do, but I’d rather be Marmite than something that people think is just ‘nice’. Like I’d rather you hate my shirt than think it’s nice. If that’s the case I might as well shop at M&S.” Relax (Take it Easy) is released on Sept 18; Mika plays Borderline, London W1 (http://www.meanfiddler.com 020-7534 6970) on Aug 30, and the Bestival, Isle of Wight (http://www.bestival.net), Sept 9 PS: can't find it online anymore EDIT: found http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article616109.ece Edited March 9, 2009 by mari62 adding link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mari62 Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 Flash forward From Lebanon to London and a stint with Royal Opera, Mika has had an unusual life. Now, writes Paul Flynn, the time is surely ripe for his flamboyant poperatics Sunday August 13, 2006 Observer Music Monthly It is a rare sort of man that can get away with a chorus that begins ,'I tried to be like Grace Kelly/But all her looks were too sad'. But then the 22-yearold singer/songwriter Mika (he won't reveal his full name) is nothing if not a rare sort. His pop debut finds the crosspoint between a Baz Luhrmann soundtrack and a classic Seventies episode of Top of the Pops. Before his tenure as an interesting pop star officially begins, he already feels like one. Beneath his mane of curls and androgynous pout there is a certain audacity to him. 'Does the world need another pop star?' he asks, perched at the dining table in his west London basement flat. 'No. There are hundreds of Paris Hiltons to go round. Does the world need another artist? Sure.' Born in Beirut, the son of a Lebanese father and American mother, he was schooled in Paris, before the family decamped to London when Mika was nine. After his early travels he cast himself as the eternal outsider. 'I was an absolute dork at school. I didn't fit in with any gangs. I never have done and I probably never will do.' Wary of traditional education, he removed himself from school and began training his voice at the Royal Opera school. His stage debut was as a chorus member in Richard Strauss's Die Frau Ohne Schatten for the Royal Opera in Covent Garden. David Hockney designed the costumes and set. 'That's the poster from it there,' he says, pointing to the far corner of the room, still clearly enthralled .'I learnt there and then that music could transport you to another world. It had its own imaginary landscape.' In a traditional household - his flat is in the basement of the family home - he wasn't exposed to pop music as a teenager and has given himself a crash course in it over the past four years. 'I'm very much of the greatest hits generation,' he notes, explaining his ear for a killer hook, all self-penned or co-written, on his debut album Life In Cartoon Motion on which the voluble singing, with a clear ear tipped to Freddie Mercury's poperatics, is matched by a plush musical landscape that he found alongside producer Greg Wells in LA. The result is gloriously flamboyant.' If it sounds huge then that is because it is supposed to,' he notes. Mika's music is made with one premise in mind: 'It has to be unique.' The premise is neatly made on the album. His paean to screen legend Grace Kelly is only the start. There is a string-led mood piece about the stillness in London after 7/7,'Relax', released in September as a single, and backed by 'Billy Brown', his baroque tale of a married man who leaves his wife for a gay affair. Mika sees no contradiction in his classical training and his new pop glory. 'I can listen to the trashiest piece of pop and think it's genius and then listen to Shostakovitch and think that that's genius, too.' The paradox somehow becomes him. ·'Relax (Take it Easy)'/'Billy Brown' (Casablanca) is released on 18 September http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2006/aug/13/shopping.popandrock1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mari62 Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 Thank you for the articles! Haha, chicken in the first one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanessa Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Thanks a lot Marina .Glad to see him in the early years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mari62 Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 (edited) I agree .. awesome thread :thumb_yello: One more .. he done Bestival in 2006 http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=95191623&blogID=147114511 This was Summer time , I dont know of any before this .. I "think" this was Mikas first performance that we know of Bestival '06 last updated : Wed 7th Jun 06 Date: Friday 8th - Sunday 10th September 06 Location: Robin Hill Countryside Adventure Park, Downend, Nr Arreton, Isle of Wight.. PO30 2NU - MAP Cost: £95 w/e with camping (non-Island residents), or £40 for any day Back for a third year, Bestival will be at Robin Hill Country Park on the Isle of Wight on the 8th, 9th, 10th September 2006. Expect 100s of live acts and DJS over three days as well as other things to keep you entertained. For the acts confirmed so far - including Saturday headliners Pet Shop Boys and Sunday headliners Scissor Sisters, and loads more - click here for the details. Tickets are on sale, priced at £95 for the weekend, or £40 for any day - click here to buy. This year's Bestival Fancy Dress Party theme is Circus - start planning your costume! Bestival is really pleased to be teaming up with Amnesty International with their Make Some Noise project who will be the main charity association for this year’s festival. Make Some Noise is a global project by Amnesty International – a mix of music, celebration and action that aims to protect individuals wherever freedom, justice and equality are denied. Thanks to an extraordinary gift from Yoko Ono – the recording rights to ‘Imagine’ and John Lennon’s entire solo songbook – Amnesty International is harnessing the power of music to inspire a new generation to stand up for human rights at >http://www.amnesty.org/noise. There'll be more information here when available. Edited February 18, 2009 by mari62 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mari62 Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 That secret society thingy was always strange to me .. I never fully understood it Guess the reason of the "secret" thing is that he's always liked intriguing, teasing, drawing others' attention and arousing others' curiosity and fantasy He actually had 3 myspaces , one what he has now , the other is now one and private one and this one .. I think it was very much a 2006 thing , when he wasnt so well known , by early 2007 .. it wasnt doing anything ..no benefit at all Think so Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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