MNEK: Everything you need to know about the talented singer-songwriter 🎶
What a voice!
MNEK is one of the most talented singer-songwriters the UK has ever seen! With hits like 'Never Forget You' with Zara Larsson, 'The Rhythm', 'Who You Are' with Craig David and featuring on Gorgon City's 'Ready For Your Love'. His most popular song to date is 'Head & Heart' with Joel Corry, which was the UK's Number 1 in the charts for SIX WEEKS! MNEK also teamed up with Nathan Dawe for latest song 'Ten (Get Back Up)'.
Not only is he an incredible artist, but he's a very talented songwriter too! There's SO much more to know about the Grammy-award nominated singer and songwriter — with an enormous back catalogue of songwriting credits, you're bound to find out things you never knew about MNEK...
What is MNEK's real name?
MNEK's stage name comes from the sound of his last name, which is known as a gramogram. His full name is Uzoechi Osisioma 'Uzo' Emenike.
How old is he?
MNEK was born on 9th November 1994, making him currently 30-years-old!
MNEK's pronouns
On Instagram, MNEK has listed pronouns as being: 'he/him/she/they'. In 2019, he replied to a fan on Twitter (now X) who had stated they weren't sure which pronouns to use, writing that he/him was good to use!
How tall is he?
He's pretty tall at 6ft 4. MNEK confirmed his height in a post on X where he told fans his size in 2018, and his height.
When did MNEK start writing music?
MNEK revealed all about how his career began in an interview with Build LDN: "I started writing poems and writing songs around the age of eight or seven and I started playing around with production software from really young as well. I then put some stuff up on MySpace finally when I was 14."
He described how he'd sent two songs out to some of his favourite artists, and one replied - CocknBullKid, now Anita Blay, forwarded them onto her publisher: "At the time I had no idea what a publisher was. It became this flurry of people wanting to be my publisher and then that was me in the industry."
He added: "I've had to grow in the industry – I've been learning on the job – because I was still in school. I was managing how to work that around it because my parents weren't gonna let me leave school."
This led to MNEK working with songwriting and production team Xenomania, writing for the likes of The Saturdays and The Wanted, before working with Rudimental and A_M_E, who provided vocals for Duke Dumont's 'Need U (100%)'. The pair also co-wrote it with Dumont and MNEK provided backing vocals. It was nominated at the 2014 Grammy Awards for Best Dance Recording.
WATCH: Duke Dumont feat. A_M_E - 'Need U (100%)' (Official Video)
After that, he co-wrote 'Ready For Your Love' by Gorgon City and provided vocals for the song, which went to Number 4 in the UK charts and was one of the biggest songs of the summer. It's safe to say that if he wasn't already in the mainstream awareness, this thrust MNEK right into the spotlight!
WATCH: Gorgon City ft. MNEK - 'Ready For Your Love' (Official Video)
Who has MNEK written songs for?
MNEK has written and/or produced songs for LOADS of other artists - including the likes of Jax Jones, Little Mix, Dua Lipa, Anne-Marie, Clean Bandit, Becky Hill, Years & Years, Kylie Minogue and Beyoncé...
Take a look at artists MNEK has written for:
The Saturdays
MNEK co-wrote two of The Saturdays' hits 'All Fired Up' (2011) and 'What Are You Waiting For?' (2014).
Misha B
'Home Run', released in 2012, was Misha B's debut song. It was written and produced by MNEK.
Duke Dumont
Duke Dumont and AME's hit in 2013, 'Need U (100%)', was written by Duke Dumont and AME, along with MNEK.
Gorgon City
'Ready for Your Love' was a hit for Gorgon City featuring MNEK in 2014. The song reached Number 4 in the UK and was co-written by MNEK, who also featured on the track.
Becky Hill
Becky Hill and MNEK are good friends and have worked together on a number of songs, either writing, singing or producing. Below are a list of the songs they've worked on together.
'Gecko (Overdrive)' (Oliver Heldens and Becky Hill) - 2014
'Losing' (Becky Hill) - 2014
'Piece of Me' (MK and Becky Hill) - 2016
'False Alarm' (Matoma and Becky Hill) - 2016
'Back & Forth' (MK, Jonas Blue and Becky Hill) - 2018
'Find A Place' (Becky Hill featuring MNEK) - 2019
'I Could Get Used to This' (Becky Hill and Weiss) - 2019
'Heaven on My Mind' (Sigala and Becky Hill) - 2020
'Run' (Becky Hill and Galantis) - 2022
Karen Harding
Karen Harding's 'Say Something' (2014) and Blonde featuring Karen Harding's 'Feel Good (It's Alright)' released in 2015, were both written and produced by MNEK.
Madonna
MNEK provides backing vocals for Madonna's 2014 hit 'Living For Love' and also joined some of the writing sessions.
Rudimental
Rudimental's 2015 song 'Rumour Mill' featuring Anne-Marie and Will Heard. It was written by the band along with MNEK with Will Heard and Jess Glynne.
Jax Jones / RAYE / Martin Solveig
MNEK has worked with Jax Jones for many years, he's even sampled on many of Jax's song at the beginning saying "Whatcha Whatcha gonna do!". Along with Jax, he's also worked with RAYE and Martin Solveig as well as some other big names, take a look at the list below.
'House Work' (Jax Jones featuring Mike Dunn and MNEK) - 2016
'You Don't Know Me' (Jax Jones featuring RAYE) - 2016
'Instruction' (Jax Jones featuring Demi Lovato and Stefflon Don) - 2017
'Breathe' (Jax Jones featuring Ina Wroldsen) - 2017
'Ring Ring' (Jax Jones featuring Mabel and Rich the Kid) - 2018
'Play' (Jax Jones and Years & Years) - 2018
'This Is Real' (Jax Jones and Ella Henderson) - 2019
'Tequila' (Jax Jones, Martin Solveig and RAYE) - 2020
'Where Did You Go?' (Jax Jones and MNEK) - 2022
Beyoncé
Co-written by Beyoncé, MNEK and a team of songwriters, 'Hold Up' was a track off her sixth studio album, 'Lemonade'. The song reached Number 11 in the UK.
Zara Larsson
MNEK has written and produced two songs with Zara Larsson, as well as featuring on one of the songs. 'Ain't My Fault' and 'Never Forget You' featuring MNEK, were both released in 2016.
Little Mix
Dating back to 2016, Little Mix have released several songs that MNEK has worked on including:
'Touch' - 2016
'Strip' featuring Sharaya J - 2018
'Told You So' - 2018
'Sweet Melody' - 2020
'Confetti' featuring Saweetie - 2020
'Happiness' - 2020
'Not a Pop Song' - 2020
'No Time for Tears' Nathan Dawe and Little Mix - 2020
'Love (Sweet Love)' - 2021
'No' - 2021
Stormzy
MNEK featured on Stormzy's hit 'Blinded by Your Grace, Pt. 2' in 2017.
Dua Lipa
Co-written by Dua Lipa with MNEK and a songwriting team, 'IDGAF' was a big hit in 2018 for Dua.
Anne-Marie
MNEK co-wrote and co-produced Anne-Marie's song 'Heavy' in 2017. The pair also co-wrote Anne-Marie's album track 'Better Not Together' in 2021. MNEK was also a writer on 'Way Too Long' by Nathan Dawe, Anne-Marie and MoStack, also released in 2021.
Hailee Steinfeld
Back in 2018, Hailee Steinfeld featured on MNEK's song 'Colour'.
Joel Corry
In 2020, Joel Corry released 'Head & Heart' featuring MNEK, the pair co-wrote the song with a team of writers. It was a very popular song staying a Number 1 for many weeks and being nominated for Song of the Year at The BRITs.
The pair worked together again for 2022 track 'What Would You Do?', this time getting none other David Guetta involved too as well as Bryson Tiller.
KSI
MNEK co-wrote KSI's 2020 song with Craig David and Digital Farm Animals, 'Really Love'.
Sigala
MNEK co-wrote 'Radio' with Sigala. The song was released on 6th January 2023 and is a French disco-inspired dance track.
Mabel
MNEK worked on Mabel's 2018 song 'Ring Ring' featuring Rich the Kid, her 2019 Christmas single 'Loneliest Time of Year' and her 2021 hit 'Let Them Know'. He also worked on Mabel's collab with Joel Corry, 'I Wish', in addition to the 2022 track 'Good Luck' by Mabel, Jax Jones and Galantis.
Has he worked with the Sugababes?
On 11 May 2021, the Sugababes released a remix of 2001 single 'Run for Cover', featuring MNEK, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their debut album 'One Touch'.
WATCH: Sugababes – 'Run For Cover' (MNEK Remix)
MNEK's songwriting camp for LGBTQ+ artists
MNEK has been able to share his incredible gift for songwriting, working on a writing camp for LGBTQ+ artists with Pride In Music in 2019 with artists like L Devine, Olly Alexander and Rina Sawayama.
He told Gay Times about the importance of creating "space where minorities feel safe", saying: "They can be their true selves, and they can work to their best ability. But it’s more so about having fun. I really did think it would just be fun to have all of us together, split up, switched around, working with people we probably haven’t worked with before, and channeling new sides of ourselves.
"Warner Chappell were so nice to let me use their studios, Pride In Music have been a great support, and this is the first of many I’d like to do, every Pride. I want to continue to find new LGBTQ writers, producers and creators and making this camp a great thing, and a safe space."
In 2021, MNEK spoke out about potentially launching a record label in order to "develop artists", telling PRS for Music: "I'm now stepping into this era where I've left my record label, so I'm an independent artist, and I'm gonna start developing artists and start my own label and really honing in on that."
"It's all good and well working with the big names and stuff. But I think it's great when you're able to make a success story from the ground up."
The songwriting camp has since become an annual event.
MNEK's record label Muzo By Uzo
MNEK stayed true to his word and launched his own record label in February 2024! Taking to Instagram, he explained that it was his passion to nurture new artists and work with them as much or as little as they needed.
Explaining that it's a dream he'd had since childhood, MNEK said: "My intention with the label is advocating for artists' development. I think that we're in a time where everyone is fixated on instant success and virality, and I've been doing this for 15 years and I'm all about the long game."
The first artist to release a song on his label was Tyler Lewis, releasing 'Downtime' at the end of January 2024. MNEK wrote about her: 'I’ve been so excited to share this with you all ❤️ This is Tyler Lewis, a truly gifted singer/songwriter who I’ve been working with for the past 3 years.
'Her debut single is called ‘downtime’ (which I’ve co written and produced) and it is out today. She really is a one of a kind talent and I love being a part of her journey. This is the first piece of some brilliant music she’s been writing and will be releasing this year!'
His feature on Jax Jones' songs
MNEK is actually the voice behind the iconic 'Whatcha whatcha gonna do' that Jax uses on almost all of his songs! He told us all about it in an interview...
What awards has he been nominated for?
MNEK has been nominated for and won several awards over the years. In 2014, he was nominated for Best Newcomer at the MOBO Awards and also a GRAMMY for Best Dance Recording for 'Need U (100%)' with Duke Dumont.
In 2016, MNEK won Breakout Artist of the Year at the Attitude Awards and in 2018 he was nominated for a UK Music Video Award for Stormzy's 'Blinded By Your Grace pt. 2' which he sang on.
'Head and Heart', his collaboration with Joel Corry, was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2021 BRIT Awards, and he's also been nominated for two prestigious Ivor Novello Awards: Most Performed Work and Songwriter of the Year.
Joel Corry and MNEK's 'Head and Heart'
MNEK features on Joel Corry's 'Head & Heart' which went to Number 1 when it was released in July 2020. Joel revealed that he very nearly didn't release it, but thankfully he did because it was certified Platinum a few weeks after release and became the pair's most successful song - spending a total of six weeks at Number 1 and 11 weeks in the Top 10!
In October 2021, 'Head & Heart' won a Winning Hot Dance/Electronic Song Award at the ASCAP London Music Awards 2021. MNEK posted a video on Twitter thanking ASCAP for the award and thanking the people he worked with to create the song.
When was MNEK on RuPaul's Drag Race?
MNEK appeared as a vocal coach on series one of RuPaul's Drag Race UK and a celebrity guest judge on the second series of Drag Race UK in 2021!
You can hear songs by MNEK on Northsound 1.
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