The Story of a Boy...

Pop magpie Mika's bright kaleidoscopic music has drawn comparisons to everyone from Queen to Elton John to the Scissor Sisters and Rufus Wainwriight. Born Michael Holbrook Penniman in Beirut to a Lebanese mother and American father, Mika and his parents moved to Paris while he was still a very young child and, eventually London by the time he was nine years old. The frequent moves, incidents like his father being taken hostage at Kuwait's American embassy, and bullying at school affected yonug Mika to the point where he stopped talking and was taken out of school for six months.



At this point, music became Mika's lifeline and he soon began formal musical training, which included voice lessons. Alon with studies at the Royal College of Music, in his teens and early twenties Mika also recorded with the Royal Royal Opera House and created a jingle for Orbit chewing gum. He dropped out of school to concentrate on his take on pop music, inspired by freewheeling songwriters like Prince and Harry Nilsson.