About Nneka (African singer)

Full name: Nneka Egbuna.
Born: Dec. 24, 1980 in Warri, Nigeria and raised in Nigeria. She now splits her time between Lagos, Nigeria and Hamburg, Germany.

Nneka was born and raised in Warri, Nigeria, and is the daughter of an African man and German woman. At an early age, she developed a passion for music, and grew up singing in school and her church choir. When she was in her late teens, Nneka moved to her mother's home country of Germany and settled in Hamburg to pursue a music career as well as a degree in anthropology. It was while in Hamburg that she began paying her musical dues as an artist, writing music and performing live and attending college at the same time.

In 2003, Nneka began working on music with music producer DJ Farhot, and performing on tour as an opening act for established artists, including Sean Paul and Lenny Kravitz. Her debut EP, The Uncomfortable Truth, was released independently in Europe in early 2005. The EP, like most of her music that came after it, was a mixture of spiritual, social and political songs, mostly relating to her home continent of Africa, as well as her experiences in Western Europe. Her first U.S. release, a compilation of material from her first two albums called Concrete Jungle, was released independently in February 2010, followed by her fourth studio album, Soul is Heavy, two years later.

Upon the release of her debut album in Europe in the second half of 2005, a number of music critics favorably compared the album to Lauryn Hill's solo debut, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Due to her political and social messages, as well as her incorporation of reggae and hip-hop into her music, she's also been compared to Nina Simone, Bob Marley and Erykah Badu. Nneka herself, however, has said that she's partially influenced by the music of Fela Kuti, the Nigerian Afrobeat singer-musician and human rights activist who died in 1997.

"The cultural differences between Germany and Nigeria were extreme. The way they dress, the way they carry themselves, their religion. For two years I was overwhelmed." -- Nneka, circa 2004, regarding moving from Africa to Europe while in her teens.

2012: Soul Is Heavy
2010: Concrete Jungle (compilation)
2008: No Longer at Ease
2005: Victim of Truth
2005: The Uncomfortable Truth