Mamadee

Mamadee grew up with her parents, two sisters, and her grandparents in a small village called Altrottmannsdorf,{{cite web | url=http://issuu.com/stadtmagazinkompass/docs/01_14 | title=MAMADEE | publisher=Kompass, Das Stadtmagazin für Zwickau, Vogtland und Erzgebirge | date= 1 January 2014 | accessdate=3 January 2014}} near Zwickau as the youngest daughter of a father from Sierra Leone and a German mother.[http://www.brotherskeepers.org/film_mamadee.php Mamadee Wappler] (in German) When she was five years old, she started to learn to play piano. In 1999, she moved to Cologne, where her sister lives, to become a singer.[http://www.ohrenpropaganda.de/info/mamadee%20promo%2006.pdf MAMADEE SOUL ZWISCHEN GENTLEMAN UND SISTERS KEEPERS] (in German)

Her first engagement in Cologne was as background singer for Pauls Club, a band which specialized in jazz and soul classics. After approaching the movement/band Brothers Keepers with her first own song Farbgesetz Mamadee, she became a member of their female version Sisters Keepers in 2000.{{cite web |last=Lorentz |first=Frank |date=6 January 2002 |title=Mit Rhytmen voller Seele |url=https://www.welt.de/print-wams/article599450/Mit-Rhytmen-voller-Seele.html |accessdate=6 January 2014 |publisher=Die Welt}}[http://sisters-music.com/sisters/we-are/973-2/ Mamadee] Later she belonged to the management board of Sisters e.V.[http://www.ohrenpropaganda.de/info/sistersflyer.pdf Sisters e.V.] (in German)

Since her 2002 concert tour through Germany, she has accompanied Gentleman as a background singer until 2012. Her song Good Days, which she wrote and performed with the American singer Tamika, appears also on the album Gentleman & The Far East Band Live. She also contributed to several albums of other artists like Mellow Mark and Seeed.

File:Mamadee in milano.jpg, Italy in March 2007]]

Mamadee sings not exclusively reggae but also jazz, gospel and soul music.

In 2005 her first own EP Lass los was released which contained nine tracks (besides six versions of the title song also Give Something an exclusively for Mamadee composed song by the Jamaican singer-songwriter Jack Radics, Hör nicht auf written by Mamadee herself and Trust In You produced by Gentleman). It was published by the label Bushhouse Records, which was founded by Gentleman and his manager Stephan Schulmeister in 2005. Lass los reached position 79 in the German charts.[http://www.hitparade.ch/showitem.asp?interpret=Mamadee&titel=Lass+los&cat=s Swiss Charts] She also worked with Seeed and Andrew Tosh as background singer.

Together with Gentleman she performed "Lass los" at the Bundesvision Song Contest 2005 for the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia where they shared last place in the competition with Sandy Mölling who competed for the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

In 2013, Mamadee published her first solo album Beautiful Soul which was recorded in Miami and produced by Conrad Glaze, founder and president of the music label Born Free Records.

In 2007, director Sven Halfar produced the documentation Yes I Am in which the lives of Mamadee, Adé Bantu and D-Flame were portrayed. The film shows the career development of Afro-German musical artists and the problems they have encountered due to their skin color.{{cite web|url=http://www.monstersandcritics.de/artikel/200750/article_47296.php/DVD-Kritik-Yes-I-Am|title=Wer bin ich?|last=Seeberg|first=Vera|date=18 December 2007|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100115042729/http://www.monstersandcritics.de/artikel/200750/article_47296.php/DVD-Kritik-Yes-I-Am|archivedate=15 January 2010}} (in German)[http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/4278/Yes-I%20Am Yes I Am]

File:Mamadee UnCantoPorAfrica 2012.jpg

Due to her own experience with discrimination during her teenage years in East Germany Mamadee champions against intolerance and xenophobia. She tried to come to terms with her own history in her song Farbgesetz which was featured in the Yes I Am documentation and did educational work for youths in schools since she joined in 2000 the non-profit association Sisters e.V. In February 2009 Mamadee finished her studies with a BA degree as certified social pedagogue.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt2ZIMh-LWw Video interview Mamadee]

;Albums

• Beautiful Soul (2013)

;Single

• Who I Am (feat. Born Free, Pyton & Hurricane, 2010)
• Africa Is Calling (feat. Ky-Mani Marley, 2011)

;EP

• Lass Los (2005)
• Good Days (with Tamika, 2007)

;Contributions

• Turtle Bay Country Club: Kein Leichter Weg (with the songs "Baby" and "Kein leichter Weg")
• Brothers Keepers: Lightkultur (with the Sisters Keepers' song "Liebe & Verstand", 2001)
• Mellow Mark: Sturm ("Babies" feat. Mamadee, 2003)
• Gentleman & The Far East Band: Live (CD, DVD) (Backgroundsängerin; with the song "Good Days", 2003)
• Seeed: Musik Monks ("What You Deserve Is What You Get" & "Double Soul" feat. Mamadee, 2004)
• Gentleman – Diversity Live (DVD) (DVD 2: Live concert from the 25th anniversary of Summerjam Festival 2010 with the song "Beautiful Soul", 2011)

{{reflist}}

{{cc}}

• {{IMDb name|2485531|Mamadee}}
• {{Allmusic|class=artist|id=MN0002094353}}
• [https://www.facebook.com/mamadee.wappler Mamadee] on Facebook
• [https://www.youtube.com/user/Mamadeemusic YouTube channel]
• [http://www.riddim.de/new.php?id=120 Interview on riddim.de] (in German)
• [http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/4278/Yes-I%20Am Yes I Am documentation]

{{Authority control}}

Category:German reggae musicians

Category:German women singer-songwriters

Category:German singer-songwriters

Category:1979 births

Category:Living people

Category:German people of Jamaican descent

Category:German people of Sierra Leonean descent

Category:21st-century German women singers