Mikamaths - Mika's biography with the right dates and other numerical facts

[Prisca]

OK, when I discovered Mika in 2016, I did what most people who discovered Mika did when his career had already lasted a while: Watched interviews they could find on the internet without paying attention to the chronological order. In the beginning, I just watched the interviews. But soon I noticed, especially when I watched interviews about the same topics from different years, that Mika always used different numbers. I was confused and frustrated by this fact, to be honest, because as a new fan I wanted to know everything about Mika and numbers used to be important to me. But at some point I gave up trying to get the numbers right and thought that I would never know everything about Mika anyway and that it was probably not that important. 

 

I learned that Mika is dyslexic. But I think it took me a while to learn that dyslexia can also affect maths and not just language, that he can't read the clock or timetables and that this is the reason why he can't read music. Before I got to know Mika, I thought that dyslexics simply had problems with spelling. I would not have thought that severe forms of dyslexia could have such consequences. OK, now it's clear why Mika has problems remembering numbers. Apart from the fact that he has problems remembering the numbers, I don't think he cares that much that they are correct, but I do. 

 

And after talking in the French news thread about when Mika went to London with his family, because he said in a recent interview that it was 1987 and he would only have been four, that that can't be and we seem to have found out when it was, I decided to make this thread. It only took 7 years, but now I finally seem to know for sure when Mika moved to London. 

 

I'm going to list mostly numerical things in this thread that are not so easy to figure out because they are based only on Mikamaths and it takes research to figure out the correct data. 😅

I won't list concert dates here because they are easy to figure out (unless I suddenly have too much time on my hands ). Seems not though because I have a lot of interviews to catch up on and there are always new ones because his new album is about to be released. 

Any help is welcome. Just tell me what you know and I will update things in the first post. Let's get some order in Mika's biography.

 

 

 

18th August 1983: Mika was born in Beirut, Lebanon. (ok, this one was easy😅)

1984: When Mika was 1 year old, his family left Lebanon because of the war there with the help of US Navy and moved to Cyprus for a while.

Early 1985 (probably): From Cyprus they moved to Paris in France because of the war in Lebanon. Mika has said he was 1.5 years in more interviews than 1 year (at least in the ones I've seen). According to my calculations, that would be 1985. (please tell me if you have more information)

1990: Mika wrote at the age of 7 his first song, a piano instrumental called "Angry", which he describes as awful (I only have Mika a as source, so I'm not sure if the age is correct, but for now I'll mention it like that also as it is going to be difficult to prove the age).¹

1990: Mika's father got stuck at the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait at the start of the First Gulf War* and couldn't leave there for 6 to 9 months. *Attention: The Gulf Wars are not counted the same everywhere and in all languages. What is meant here is the war in Iraq and Kuwait between 2nd August 1990 and 5th March 1991. In German, this war is called, for example, "Zweiter Golfkrieg" (literal translation: Second Gulf War).

1991 (probably): Since the war ended on March 5, 1991, there was no longer any reason that Mika's father would stay at the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait. So it stands to reason that he came back to Paris in 1991. And since they were in debt and debtors wanted money, I guess they didn't stay in Paris too long. Hence my theory that they moved to London sometime in 1991.

1991 and/or 1992: Mika is bullied at the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in South Kensington, London, by classmates and especially by a teacher. When Mika's father found out about this from one of Mika's sisters, he confronted the teacher/school about it and Mika had to leave school. Mika doesn't go to school for between nine months and a year. He gets piano lessons by a Russian opera professional (Alla Ardakov) and spends a lot of time in the park Kensington Gardens.

16th November 1992: Mika makes his first appearance as a chorus member at The Royal Opera in Strauss's piece "Die Frau ohne Schatten" in London's Covent Garden.²

From 1992/1993: Mika returns to school, he attends the St Philip's School in Kensington, London, and is the head of the Schola Cantorum (the St Philip's Choir).³

3rd November 1997: Mika plays at The Royal Opera in "The Pilgrim's Progress" the Woodcutter's Boy.⁴

1998: Mika sang a piece of contemporary music ( lyrics in Japanese ) written by the Japanese composer Dai FUJIKURA, at Kazimierz Serocki International Composers' Competition at Warsaw Poland, Mr. Fujikura won the first prize!⁵

2001-2002 (since when?): Mika attends for sure the Westminster School in London in 2001 and 2002 (I found different things) but I don't know since when.

2002/2003: Mika enrolled at the London School of Economics, but changed his mind the same day and managed to enrol at the Royal College of Music a short time later.

2002/2003-2006?: Mika attends Royal College of Music at tjhe age of 19.⁶ I can't say for sure if what the article says is true, but it does say that he went to the Royal College of Music when he was 19 (so 2002/2003), which makes sense.

 

This is the beginning of the biography. I add data whenever I have time. Also of course between the dates that I wrote, as there are a lot of things missing.

 

Discography

 

5th February 2007: Release of Life in Cartoon Motion via Casablanca Records in the UK (27 March 2007 in the United States)

 

Mika's shoe size: 43.5 (Europe) [This can be seen in a shoe shape (or however this is cold) from Louboutin and he should know what shoe size Mika has. ], 9,5 (UK), 10,5 (US), 28,5 (Asia).

Mika's height: 6.3 feet. In centimeters I think I've seen everything from 190 cm to 194 cm, but in feet only 6.3, so I'm assuming that Mika is 192 cm tall because that's what I get when I convert feet to centimeters. Are you okay with that? Honestly, I've often had the urge to take a meter to an event and measure Mika myself. 

 

^{1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mika_(singer)#cite_note-mirror-16}

^{2 https://www.rohcollections.org.uk/production.aspx?production=3874&row=1 (Mika is not menitoned, only when the play took place, I will look for it, when I have time).}

^{3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mika_(singer)}

^{4 https://www.rohcollections.org.uk/SearchResults.aspx?searchtype=workprodperf&person=mica penniman}

^{5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_Fujikura,} 

https://twitter.com/daifujikura/status/22435143628?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^22435143628|twgr^b87a36083c2935db3c42085ecd9a9d1ba86e3999|twcon^s1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mikafanclub.com%2Findex.php%3Fapp%3Dcoremodule%3Dsystemcontroller%3Dembedurl%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fdaifujikura%2Fstatus%2F22435143628%3Fref_src%3Dtwsrc255Etfw257Ctwcamp255Etweetembed257Ctwterm255E22435143628257Ctwgr255E520bf1de2a2c2bd10e421cb082fb235cd4be0394257Ctwcon255Es1_26ref_url%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.mikafanclub.com%2Findex.php%3Fapp%3Dcoremodule%3Dsystemcontroller%3Dembedurl%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fdaifujikura%2Fstatus%2F22435143628

https://twitter.com/mikasounds/status/22434229833?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^22434229833|twgr^8e9ce1629bd27777bafe34e7ab11035095bb9300|twcon^s1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mikafanclub.com%2Findex.php%3Fapp%3Dcoremodule%3Dsystemcontroller%3Dembedurl%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fmikasounds%2Fstatus%2F22434229833

6 https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/introducing-the-sound-of-2007-mika-the-man-the-myth-the-music-433322.html

 

Edited January 21 by Prisca

[mellody]

1 hour ago, Prisca said:

Mika's father was kidnapped at the U.S. Embassy

 

From what I understood from Mika's interviews, his Dad wasn't really kidnapped but he couldn't leave the US Embassy in Kuwait because of the war, they were stuck there without food, the bombs falling nearby. So it was a horrible experience that changed him. Mika said his Dad was a different person when he returned, and Mika could no longer call him Dad but instead called him Mike.

 

Of course his Dad didn't earn money in the time while he was away (and I don't know if he did afterwards, after this traumatizing experience), that's why they were in debt. Mika said they had to leave Paris in a rush. But I don't think that we have info at what point this was. Maybe even while his Dad was still in Kuwait? That's how I had understood it in the early days, but I don't know if Mika ever clearly said it. Maybe that's one of the things he can't remember clearly, as he was very young and his life changed completely with these events.

 

In any case, I would agree with you that they probably moved to London some time in 1991. Just wanted to add a bit of context, like that they had to leave Paris in a rush.

 

Btw, I also recently rediscovered old quotes from interviews where he said he's a good liar and that he likes to lie in interviews because he gets bored with always the same questions. So, that doesn't make things easier. 🙈

[Prisca]

4 minutes ago, mellody said:

From what I understood from Mika's interviews, his Dad wasn't really kidnapped but he couldn't leave the US Embassy in Kuwait because of the war, they were stuck there without food, the bombs falling nearby.

OK, I changed that.

 

10 minutes ago, mellody said:

Of course his Dad didn't earn money in the time while he was away (and I don't know if he did afterwards, after this traumatizing experience), that's why they were in debt. Mika said they had to leave Paris in a rush. But I don't think that we have info at what point this was. Maybe even while his Dad was still in Kuwait? That's how I had understood it in the early days, but I don't know if Mika ever clearly said it. Maybe that's one of the things he can't remember clearly, as he was very young and his life changed completely with these events.

Yes, I don't know, but I always thought that they only left Paris when his father came back. The family certainly wanted to know how he was doing and it would have been so difficult for him to contact his family. How did that work exactly? With faxes? Did his father write it himself or did the ambassady write it? And I don't know, but were they able to write back? If they could write, could they give him the new address? Would they risk that it wouldn't work and they couldn't be reached? But it's true, I can't remember if Mika said that they went to London when his father was back or if I just imagined it that way.

 

18 minutes ago, mellody said:

In any case, I would agree with you that they probably moved to London some time in 1991. Just wanted to add a bit of context, like that they had to leave Paris in a rush.

 

Yes, I forgot he said "in a rush." Then it was probably 1991. And yes, Mika was of course very traumatized.

 

20 minutes ago, mellody said:

Btw, I also recently rediscovered old quotes from interviews where he said he's a good liar and that he likes to lie in interviews because he gets bored with always the same questions. So, that doesn't make things easier. 🙈

🙈

 

Not sure he would lie about something so important. I guess that he rather doesn't tend to correct the interviewer when he says something wrong, especially when it comes to numbers, because he often doesn't know it very well himself.

[mellody]

40 minutes ago, Prisca said:

Yes, I don't know, but I always thought that they only left Paris when his father came back. The family certainly wanted to know how he was doing and it would have been so difficult for him to contact his family. How did that work exactly? With faxes? Did his father write it himself or did the ambassady write it? And I don't know, but were they able to write back? If they could write, could they give him the new address? Would they risk that it wouldn't work and they couldn't be reached? But it's true, I can't remember if Mika said that they went to London when his father was back or if I just imagined it that way.

 

From what I got, they didn't hear from him at all. Mika said (might have been on Le Divan but not sure) that they watched CNN, hoping his Dad wouldn't be on the news because that would have meant something bad had happened.

[Prisca]

3 minutes ago, mellody said:

 

From what I got, they didn't hear from him at all. Mika said (might have been on Le Divan but not sure) that they watched CNN, hoping his Dad wouldn't be on the news because that would have meant something bad had happened.

Yes that could be right. I remember it now.

 

But if they had no contact at all, I don't think they would have gone to London without their father. How would he have found them? 

[SusanT]

@Prisca wrote

"He gets piano lessons and spends a lot of time in a park"

 

In Le Divan Mika says the park was Kensington Gardens.

[CharlotteL]

I really like the idea of this thread and I have to say that I am very happy the term Mikamaths is catching on. My work in this fandom is done!

 

4 hours ago, mellody said:

Mika said they had to leave Paris in a rush. But I don't think that we have info at what point this was. Maybe even while his Dad was still in Kuwait? That's how I had understood it in the early days, but I don't know if Mika ever clearly said it.

Coincidentally I rewatched a Norwegian interview yesterday where talks about these events:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyopUgdeLFo

 

He explains (as you have established) that his dad got stuck because of the war and had to seek refuge in the American embassy and effectively (important word there!) got taken hostage.

And here he explicitly says "But when he came back, we moved over to London" and that he was 9 so that would be 1992 or 1993. But if he first performed at the royal opera house in November 1992 that can't be right.

[Prisca]

9 minutes ago, CharlotteL said:

He explains (as you have established) that his dad got stuck because of the war and had to seek refuge in the American embassy and effectively (important word there!) got taken hostage.

Thank you, I did think that Mika talked about his father been taken hostage.

 

10 minutes ago, CharlotteL said:

And here he explicitly says "But when he came back, we moved over to London"

OK, so it's also clear that they moved to London with their dad, I don't think he would confuse with this.

 

11 minutes ago, CharlotteL said:

nd that he was 9 so that would be 1992 or 1993.

No, 1993 is not possible. And unlikely in 1992. Because his parents didn't know at first that he was being bullied at school and the worst part: also by a teacher. If they had gone in January 1992, they would have noticed after a month what conditions were in the school. If he had gone back to school after his first performances at the Royal Opera House. But I don't know when he went back to school? 

 

And I think with rush Mika means that they had to leave as soon as their father came back.

[CharlotteL]

1 minute ago, Prisca said:

If they had gone in January 1992, they would have noticed after a month what conditions were in the school.

Well if he was 9 when they moved that would be after August 1992 (right? I'm very bad at maths myself) and that's not possible because there wouldn't be enough time for all these events (starting school, being bullied, being taken out of school, training to sing for months) before his first performance. So he must be mistaken about being 9 when they moved.

But I agree I'm not surprised he's getting the specific number of his age mixed up but I do think it's true that they moved after his dad returned.

[Prisca]

Just now, CharlotteL said:

Well if he was 9 when they moved that would be after August 1992 (right? I'm very bad at maths myself)

You're right, it can't be true that he was nine.

[krysady]

7 hours ago, Prisca said:

Early 1985 (probably): Mika moves with his family from Beirut to Paris in France because of the war in Lebanon. Mika has said he was 1.5 years in more interviews than 1 year (at least in the ones I've seen).

 

To be more precise, when he was 1 year old, his family left Lebanon with the help of US Navy and moved to Cyprus for a while, then from Cyprus they went to Paris. So maybe that's why these two different numbers, probably he was 1,5 years old when they landed in Paris 😉

[Prisca]

21 minutes ago, krysady said:

 

To be more precise, when he was 1 year old, his family left Lebanon with the help of US Navy and moved to Cyprus for a while, then from Cyprus they went to Paris. So maybe that's why these two different numbers, probably he was 1,5 years old when they landed in Paris 😉

Ah thank you, I didn't know they were also in Cyprus for a while. 

[krysady]

6 minutes ago, Prisca said:

Ah thank you, I didn't know they were also in Cyprus for a while. 

Yes, Cyprus is very close to Lebanon and I remember very well him saying that in some interview  

[dcdeb]

 

On 10/15/2023 at 2:54 PM, krysady said:

Yes, Cyprus is very close to Lebanon and I remember very well him saying that in some interview  

 

Yes, I came here to mention the family's stop in Cyprus before moving to Paris, but you beat me to it. I can't find any interviews at the moment, but I remember him saying it, too, more than once.

[dcdeb]

I was looking for something else and discovered this, which is something else I wanted to find anyway! LOL

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/outlook/news/story/2007/04/070420_mika_uk.shtml

 

20 April, 2007 - Published 13:40 GMT

Mika: still pining for Lebanon

 

	Mika said that he'd love to go back to perform live in Lebanon

He's been described as 'the breakout superstar of the next few years' but Mika took time out to talk to Outlook about his continuing attachment to the land of his birth: Lebanon.

"My mother is Lebanese," he told presenter Fred Dove, "Anyone who is partly Lebanese will know that even if it's only a half - or even a quarter - that quarter will most certainly take up the entire cultural background of your family life."

 

Listen to Mika on Outlook

 

Mika was born in Lebanon in 1983 but, with the Civil War becoming increasingly violent, was evacuated by the US Navy to Cyprus in 1984.

 

From there he went with his family to Paris where he was to spend 8 years - but his family life was again disrupted when his father found himself in Kuwait when Saddam Hussein invaded the country in 1991.

 

I like the prospect of going back to Lebanon to play live - maybe at one of those amazing places like Balbec

"He had four hours to get out," recalled Mika, "Some friends actually tried to get some Bedouin to sneak him out through the desert but it was too risky - so he ended up seeking refuge at the American embassy."

His father ended up being stuck at the embassy for about seven months.

When he was eventually released, Mika remembers being shocked that his father had lost a lot of weight and had grown "a hideous beard".

"He was so skinny," he said, "I think he was living off fruit juice and tuna fish."

Once reunited, the family set off for London and Mika was sent to London's French Lycee where he remembers that he had difficulty settling in: difficulties that were compounded by his dyslexia.

"I started to have particular problems with one teacher that got completely out of control," he said, "I stopped talking for a while and was asked to leave the school.

"I left and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I started doing music."

 

	Mika with a couple of happy melodies

In fact, however, Mika had been "doing music" for sometime before that. He'd been making cassette tapes for his own enjoyment.

"The tapes were not categorised by the type of music or by who did it," he said, "They were categorised by melody: happy melodies, angry melodies, different types of melody.

"It sounds banal but when you actually sit down to write your own, you realise it's a lot more complicated than you think."

Mika's hit Grace Kelly went to number one in the UK singles charts in January of this year. He appeared on Outlook to promote his new album Life in Cartoon Motion.

He said that he would love to return to Lebanon to sing.

"I want to spend more time there," he said, "I like the prospect of going back there to play live - maybe at one of those amazing places like Balbec."

 

At the end of the interview Fred Dove announced that there was a CD of Life in Cartoon Motion to give away - to the person who comes up with the best suggestion as to what Mika and he might be saying to each other in the following photograph. The funniest or cleverest caption gets the CD.

 

What are they saying to each other? The best caption wins a CD of Life in Cartoon Motion

 

[holdingyourdrink]

14 minutes ago, dcdeb said:

"I like the prospect of going back there to play live - maybe at one of those amazing places like Balbec."

Look at him manifesting what he wants - he did play there a few years later! 

[CharlotteL]

2 hours ago, dcdeb said:

Listen to Mika on Outlook

Thank you Deb! Is the audio file also still available somewhere?

I always love listening to interviews I haven't heard before but this link no longer works.

[dcdeb]

1 hour ago, CharlotteL said:

Thank you Deb! Is the audio file also still available somewhere?

I always love listening to interviews I haven't heard before but this link no longer works.

 

I have some old audio, but I don't think I have this one. I'll take a look, though.

[dcdeb]

Believe it or not, I did have the audio and have posted it here, in our section for media:

 

And with that, I'll give Prisca her thread back!

[Faustin]

On 15/10/2023 at 18:16, CharlotteL said:

J'aime beaucoup l'idée de ce fil et je dois dire que je suis très heureux que le terme Mikamaths fasse son chemin. Mon travail dans ce fandom est terminé !

 

Par coïncidence, j'ai revu hier une interview norvégienne qui parle de ces événements :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyopUgdeLFo

 

Il explique (comme vous l'avez établi) que son père s'est retrouvé coincé à cause de la guerre et a dû se réfugier à l'ambassade américaine et effectivement (mot important là !) a été pris en otage.

Et ici, il dit explicitement "Mais quand il est revenu, nous avons déménagé à Londres" et qu'il avait 9 ans, donc ce serait en 1992 ou 1993. Mais s'il a joué pour la première fois au Royal Opera House en novembre 1992, cela ne peut pas être vrai. .

Comment savez vous qu’il a jouer pour la première fois en 1992 ?

[Prisca]

20 hours ago, Faustin said:

Comment savez vous qu’il a jouer pour la première fois en 1992 ?

Mika has often said that he had his first performances at the Royal Opera House with Die Frau ohne Schatten:

 

https://www.rohcollections.org.uk/production.aspx?production=3874&row=1

[kreacher]

Thank you for this topic @Prisca!

 

The inconsistences in his stories frustrate me to no end when i'm trying to work on the mikapedia thing 

[Kumazzz]

Search result from ROH.

https://www.rohcollections.org.uk/SearchResults.aspx?searchtype=workprodperf&person=mica penniman

 

Woodcutter's Boy

Mica Penniman

The Pilgrim's Progress 3 November 1997 Evening Opera: Performance details Company: The Royal Opera Venue: Barbican Hall, London Performance status: Original season Conductor Richard Hickox Chorus Director Terry Edwards Concert Master Vasko Vassilev

[Faustin]

Il avait donc 14 ans et pas 9 ans je pense 

[Kumazzz]

In 1998,

Mica Penniman sang a contemporary music ( lyrics in Japanese ) written by a Japanese composer Dai FUJIKURA,

Mr.Fujikura won the first prize !

 

Mika was there with his mom and Fortune.

 

• wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_Fujikura

 

On 4/6/2018 at 6:36 AM, Kumazzz said:

 

I have no idea...

 

In 1998, young Mica Penniman sang a contemporary music ( lyrics in Japanese ) written by a Japanese composer Dai FUJIKURA

at Kazimierz Serocki International Composers' Competition at Warsaw Poland.

 

 

Dai FUJIKURA's tweets

 

• wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_Fujikura
• Kazimierz Serocki International Composers' Competition