Mya has also taken violin lessons since the fourth grade, and bagan to learn to play to the drums in '98. Singing, however, was a different story. "The first time I went to my grandmother's church it was the night before Easter. I was eight and my father was rehearsing to sing "I Wanna Thank You God" the next day. I really wanted to get up and sing too so I learned the song by myself that night. But I was too shy to say anything." The same was true throughout her school years, whether it was talent shows or Christmas pageants. "I really wanted to audition but I never had the guts to just go ahead and do it. I don't want to do anything on stage unless I'm good. One day, I asked my mom, 'Can you listen to me sing and tell me if I can? My father didn't find out I could sing until I was 14."
Her father performed in R&B bands, her mother was an accountant, as Mya grew up in a suburban Maryland the oldest of three children and the only girl. Her strict upbringing emphasized the value of school and working hard to get good grades. But when her father finally heard her sing, he had her record a couple of demo tapes and took them to a club where he was playing. There he met Haqq Islam, President and CEO of University Music. Islam listened to the tapes and agreed to come to Mya's home, where she sang him two EnVogue songs. "That the head of a record label would take enough interest to come to my living room to hear me sing," says Mya who had just graduated from Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt at the age of 16, "was incredible. I was tense at first but once I was singing, I relaxed. I was determined, and now when I'm determined to do something, I do it."
Though signed to a deal, she later enrolled in the University of Maryland in speech communications. But preparations for the album were taking too much of her time and she left after one semester. "I always had the feeling I'd be in the business. It's was I've always loved. It's not about being a star. I'd still be singing, dancing, writing songs, if this had never happened. Being around the entertainment business, I've learned not tot say 'I'm all that' You take your talent and do your best and give it to people. I just want to make people, and myself, happy. I never dreamed of a record deal, especially living in the DC area which is not big in the record business."
Mya and Interscope spent the next two years working on her debut record, hiring an impressive list of collaborators, including Darryl Pearson, Babyface, Diane Warren, Raphael Brown, Wyclef Jean, Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, and Sisqo and Moko from Dru Hill. The resulting album was a smooth urban song cycle about love and growing up; it was released in April of 1998. Two years later, her latest, more mature second album Fear of Flying, which features collaborations with Lisa "Left Eye" Lopez, Jadakiss, Wyclef Jean and Swizz Beatz, has arrived.
Mya is many things -singer, dancer, songwriter, choreographer (including her first video "It's All About Me" video), even a fashion designer (the provocative red outfit she wears in the video is hers) and artist. "In school, I'd draw for people and get paid $5 for each one. But the most fun was just seeing their reactions to what I created for them. I love that." Mya admits that, among the many things she is, she's also a bit of a tomboy. "Guys will just go out and do something. Females will talk about it -a lot. I don't care if I break a nail. You have to be aggressive to get the same respect as the guys."
