• Ms Dynamite joins 'Inner City Lives'

  Music-News - Found Jun. 4, 2009 ... place at Ocean in Hackney on Friday 26th June and features live sets by multi-award winning artists Ms Dynamite and Akala - in addition to new...

• Teenage talent shares Somerset House stage with Ms Dynamite

  London Evening Standard - Found May. 26, 2009 Singer Ms Dynamite is spearheading a music project which will see London teenagers perform with her in a special concert at Somerset House.

• Ms Dynamite downplays return to music

  Digital Spy - Found Apr. 17, 2009 ... want to do.' Earlier this year, Lily Allen predicted that Ms Dynamite's return would be 'massive'. More articles about Ms. Dynamite, Lily Allen...

• Hell's Kitchen: Ms Dynamite sacked by the public

  STV.tv - Found Apr. 24, 2009 But one person had to go and the public chose Niomi - aka rapper Ms Dynamite.

• Hell's Kitchen celebrity grilling: Ms Dynamite

  STV.tv - Found Apr. 10, 2009 Niomi MacLean-Daley aka Ms Dynamite has already admitted she hates sharing a kitchen (good start), so we caught up with her to find out what else is

• Ms Dynamite might blow in kitchen

  MSN UK - Found Apr. 7, 2009 Ms Dynamite has confessed she might lose her temper if she is given a roasting by Hell's Kitchen's Marco Pierre White.

• MS Dynamite hints at comeback

  Stroud News and Journal - Found Apr. 26, 2009 Rap star Ms Dynamite hinted that a comeback could be on the cards after her eviction from Hell's Kitchen.

• MS Dynamite hints at comeback

  Rugby Today - Found Apr. 26, 2009 Rap star Ms Dynamite hinted that a comeback could be on the cards after her eviction from Hell's Kitchen.

• MS Dynamite hints at comeback

  Lichfield Mercury - Found Apr. 26, 2009 Rap star Ms Dynamite hinted that a comeback could be on the cards after her eviction from Hell's Kitchen.

• MS Dynamite hints at comeback

  Pendle Today - Found Apr. 26, 2009 Rap star Ms Dynamite hinted that a comeback could be on the cards after her eviction from Hell's Kitchen.

Niomi Arleen McLean-Daley (born; 26 April 1981) and popularly known as Ms. Dynamite is a double Brit Award and three time MOBO Awards winning R&B, UK garage, and hip hop singer and rapper.

Biography

Ms Dynamite was born and raised in Archway, a district in North London, to a Scottish mother and a Jamaican father. Her heritage also included Barbadian, English, Irish and Grenadian. She grew up listening to reggae and hip hop music. Though she wanted to become a schoolteacher or social worker, her biggest aspiration was to be a musician. She is the eldest of eleven siblings, one of whom is a grime artist known as Akala, and attended Acland Burghley School in Tufnell Park.

Career

Ms Dynamite (originally called Lady Dynamite) was first known for her vocals on the UK garage underground track "Booo!", which was regularly played on London pirate radio stations and was later released as a single. Whilst working at the radio station RAW FM, Ms Dynamite was discovered by Richard Forbes at a West End club. After working briefly with the UK garage act So Solid Crew, she released her debut album, A Little Deeper in 2002, featuring the hit songs "It Takes More" and "Dy-Na-Mi-Tee". In 2003, the album was released in the United States to critical acclaim. In 2002, Dynamite won the prestigious Mercury Music Prize,¹ for A Little Deeper. She donated the £20,000 prize to the NSPCC.

Her first public performance was at the closing ceremony of the 2002 Commonwealth Games at the City of Manchester Stadium. On 2 July 2005, she performed at the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park, London. Among the songs performed was "Redemption Song" - a Bob Marley penned song.

On 11 September 2005, she returned to the limelight (having taken time off to have her son, Shavaar) with a new album entitled Judgement Days. Featuring more social commentary, in songs such as the single, "Judgement Day," and the Tony Blair critique, "Mr Prime Minister," reviews of the album were not as favourable as those of her debut. However "Judgement Day" reached #25 in the UK Singles Chart.²

On the 6 January 2006 Ms Dynamite was arrested outside a London nightclub, after a brawl in which she punched a male police officer in the face whilst in custody. She was convicted and sentenced to sixty hours of community service. The second single from Judgement Days was due to be "Fall In Love Again" (previously titled "When I Fall In Love"), with a release date of 30 January 2006. A video was shot for the track but, due to her arrest, the single was cancelled. The video did not surface until June 2006, when it was leaked on to the web.

In February 2006, she won the Naomi Award for Worst Urban Act.

Since her trouble in January 2006 and her disappearance from the public eye, Ms Dynamite confirmed that the much rumoured 'A Little Darker' album would be released in March 2006 as a mixtape. After the confirmation, the album was pushed back to June 2006. Also, in April 2006, Ms Dynamite confirmed that there would be no more releases from her Judgement Days album, and that she was due to start working on new material.

A collection of new and upcoming UK hip-hop and garage artists,³ was compiled by Ms Dynamite and her rapping brother Akala, who was voted Best Hip Hop Act at the MOBO Awards in September 2006.

In November 2006 she took part in a television show called The Race on Sky1. This was a week long event in which ten celebrities had to compete against each other on the track in different races building up to a thirty lap Formula Ford race on Sunday 12 November 2006. After about ten laps into the race disaster struck, and Ms. Dynamite hit the wall on the pit straight at about 100mph. She was air lifted to hospital for overnight observations but later released.

After taking a break from the music scene for a couple of years, Dynamite guest hosted BBC Radio 1Xtra, and stated she would be releasing a third album 'Democracy' in 2009. The first single from the new album will be "Bad Gyal".⁴

Ms Dynamite appeared on Hell's Kitchen on ITV1 in 2009. ⁵ She was voted out by public vote on 24 April 2009 finishing fourth.

Ancestry

As stated on the programme Ms. Dynamite: In Search of Nanny Maroon in addition to her Jamaican-Scottish parentage, she shares Bajan, English, Irish and Grenadian ancestries.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Solo

Soundtracks

• "DYNAMITE" (On the Ali G Indahouse soundtrack)

Awards and honours

• Mercury Music Prize - Album of the Year 2002 ¹
• 100 Great Black Britons - 2003 - No14
• The South Bank Show Awards 2003 - Best Pop (A Little Deeper)
• Race In The Media Awards 2003 - Media Personality Of The Year
• MOBO Awards 2003 - Best Single
• MOBO Awards 2003 - Best Newcomer
• MOBO Awards 2003 - U.K Act Of The Year
• Brit Awards 2003 - British female solo artist
• Brit Awards 2003 - Best British Urban Act

References

External links

• Official website
• Ms Dynamite at Allmusic
• Ms Dynamite Fans information and photos website