Jhene Aiko

Real Name : Jhene Aiko Efuru Chilombo

Born: 16/03/1988 (35 yo)
Birth place: Los Angeles, Californie (USA)

Citizenship : USA
Ascendant : Japan
Ethnicity : mother mix Japanese, Spanish, and Dominican & father mix African American, Native American, and German Jewish descent

Occupation : Singer

Summary

Jhené Aiko Efuru Chilombo, also known simply as Jhené Aiko is an American singer, songwriter and recording artist from Los Angeles, California. Formerly signed to The Ultimate Group and Epic Records, she left both labels in order to continue her education. Aiko began her career being known as "Lil' Fizz's cousin", however she is not actually related to him. It was used as a marketing tool suggested by Sony and Epic to promote her through the R&B group B2K and attract an audience, though Aiko affirms that she and Lil' Fizz grew up together and were close like family.

On December 16, 2011, Aiko signed a recording contract with record producer No I.D.'s record label Artium, distributed through Def Jam Recordings. She has been described as having gentle and pop-tinged vocals.

Biography

Jhené Aiko was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Christina Yamamoto and Dr. Karamo Chilombo (birth name Greg Barnes), a pediatrician. She is of mixed race background—her mother is of Japanese, Spanish, and Dominican descent, while her father is of African American, Yaqui, Choctaw, Cherokee, Navajo, and German Jewish descent. She also has French ancestry. She often states her ethnicity as "Japanese, African American, Native American, etc." based on percentages but identifies with all parts of her heritage. Her older sisters Miyoko and Jamila were in the R&B group Gyrl and toured with Immature, who were signed to MCA/Silas Records. This led to Jhené’s first meeting with producer Chris Stokes when she was five years old, and eventually he heard her sing. When B2K signed with Epic Records, Jhené was signed as well. She served as the opening act for B2K on their Scream Tour 3.

Career

2002–06: Musical beginnings, hiatus and return

Aiko began her musical career contributing vocals to several B2K releases in 2002. She featured on tracks five through eight of the R&B group's remix album B2K: The Remixes – Volume 1. "Santa Baby", a cover she recorded, was also featured on their album Santa Hooked Me Up and she appeared as a guest vocalist on the song "Tease" from Pandemonium!. Her song "Dog" appeared as a bonus track.

Aiko also appeared in numerous music videos including O'Ryan's debut video, "Take It Slow", B2K's debut video Uh Huh and Why I Love You, P.Y.T.'s Same Ol' Same Ol' (Remix) featuring Sarai, Play's "M.A.S.T.E.R. (Part 2)" featuring Lil' Fizz video and Morgan Smith's 2004 video "Blow Ya Whistle". Jhené also has songs featured on the soundtracks of "Barbershop", "The Master of Disguise", You Got Served, "The Proud Family" and Byou. She released a video for her single NO L.O.V.E (re-recorder from Tha' Rayne version in 2002) which debuted on BET's 106 & Park when she was 15 years old.

Jhene was set to release her self-titled debut album but the album was never released due to tension at the record label Epic, in which Aiko asked to be released from the label. Aiko then began to focus on school.[27] In 2007, Aiko made a return to music, in an interview she spoke on the choice saying “Shortly before I conceived my daughter, I stepped back into the field and took a meeting with a label head . In this meeting, I was innocently told, to ‘sell’ myself when walking into these meetings. “That’s when I decided I would ‘sail’ myself rather than sell myself.”

2011–present: Sailing Soul(s) and Def Jam debut

She released a mixtape on March 16, 2011 entitled Sailing Soul(s) via her official website, JheneAiko.com. All the songs on the mixtape were written by Aiko, except “July” which was written by Micah Powell and most of the songs were produced by Fisticuffs, except “July” and “You vs Them” which were produced by Bei Maejor, “Real Now” which was produced by Roosevelt, “Do Better” which was produced by J. Lbs and “Growing Apart” which was produced by Tae Beast. The album's artwork was shot by photographer Jay 3. The mixtape also features collaborations from Miguel, Drake and Kanye West as well as others. In 2011, she also began working closely with artists from Carson-based independent record label Top Dawg Entertainment such as, Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul.

In 2012, Aiko met with No I.D., record producer and vice president of A&R at Def Jam, who ended up signing Aiko to his Artium Records imprint through Def Jam. Aiko released the track "3:16AM" which was made available for digital download on iTunes September 4, 2012. The song was released as the first single from Souled Out. In October 2012, after performing at SOB's in New York City, Aiko revealed to The Singers Room that she is recording a project with No I.D. and the rest of Cocaine 80s and that they would also be featured on her upcoming Def Jam debut, Souled Out: "Me and the Cocaine 80s is made up of musicians, singers and producers. I told them I wanted to be a part of the Cocaine 80s. I wanted to be the female voice of the group. They will be featured on ‘Souled Out’. Yes, we are definitely working on a mixtape or album together. That is definitely in the works.

In 2012, Aiko was also the opening act on the highly-anticipated “Life Is Good/Black Rage” concert tour headlined by fellow American artists, rapper Nas and singer-songwriter Lauryn Hill.

In June of 2013, Aiko was featured in the song "Beware" by Big Sean, which ended up reaching the top 40 in the United States. This was her first song to chart on the Billboard Hot 100.

Jhené Aiko is set to released her second mixtape Sail Out on October 29, 2013. "Bed Peace" featuring Childish Gambino was released as the albums lead single on September 17, 2013, the singles artwork was inspired by John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Bed-Ins for Peace, protest against the Vietnam War. The mixtape will contain guest appearances by Wiz Khalifa, Kendrick Lamar, Big Sean, and Ab-Soul among others.

Personal life

At the age of 20, Aiko became pregnant by American R&B singer O'Ryan and gave birth to her daughter Namiko on November 19, 2008. Before losing her brother Miyagi to cancer on July 19, 2012, Jhené Aiko recorded "For My Brother" on her laptop, which was initially intended only for her brother's ears. He passed away soon after hearing the record. On August 27, 2013, Jhené Aiko was involved in a car accident in Los Angeles along with her daughter Namiko, older sister Miyoko, and her daughter's father O'Ryan. Aiko suffered a broken wrist, chipped tooth and had stitches in her chin. Her daughter, however, was unharmed in the accident.