Irma (singer)

Irma
Irma during a charity concert for SOS Racisme on 14 July 2011.
Background information
Birth name	Irma Pany
Born	(1988-07-15) 15 July 1988 Douala, Cameroon
Origin	Paris, France
Genres	Folk, blues, pop
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Voice
Years active	Since 2007 (2007)
Labels	My Major Company, Universal Republic Records
Website	http://irmaofficial.com/

Irma Pany (born 15 July 1988), better known as Irma, is a Cameroonian singer-songwriter living in France.

Early life and education

She was born in Douala to a family with musical background. Her father is a guitarist and her mother was in a church choir.

As a child Irma was performing at masses too. At age 15, she went to a high school in Paris, France, to improve her school education.

In 2008, Irma entered the ESCP Europe and participated in the Master in Management.^[1]

Career

By 2007, she had posted her first videos on YouTube. Those included her own compositions, including "Letter to the Lord" and a piano piece "Somehow", as well as cover versions of songs including "I Want You Back" by The Jackson 5, "Bubbly" by Colbie Caillat and "New Soul" by Yael Naim.

She released several home-made videos with acoustic covers on YouTube in collaboration with French and international musicians, including Tété ("Hey Ya!"), Matthieu Chédid ("Rolling in the Deep"), Gad Elmaleh ("Isn't She Lovely?"), Tom Dice ("Talkin' 'bout a Revolution") from Belgium and Patrice ("The Times They Are a-Changin'") from Germany. Together with will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas she performed a cover version of "I Want You Back".

In the summer of 2008 she met Michael Goldman (son of a French musician Jean-Jacques Goldman), who in 2007 co-founded the music label My Major Company. Irma signed a record deal with My Major Company and released her first album Letter to the Lord in February 2011 in France, where it peaked in the top ten and was certified platinum a year after the release. In Switzerland, she debuted at number 46 and in Wallonia, Belgium, at number 18. The first single "I Know" reached number two in France^[2] The music video was directed and shot by J.G. Biggs.

In 2011 she went on tour around Europe.

In late 2011, she signed a record contract to release her debut album in the US with Universal Republic Records.

In early 2012, she was featured in a European Google Chrome ad which chronicles her rise to fame after posting videos on YouTube.^{[citation needed]}

At the 2012 MTV Europe Music Awards, she was nominated for the best French act.

In early 2013, she released her single "I Know" again in Germany with German singer-songwriter Mic Donet as duet partner.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Others

• 2012: "I Know" (Remix Street version) (featuring Youssoupha)^[7]

Awards

See also

References

External links

• Irma at AllMusic
• Irma et... Will.i.Am en duo sur "I Want You Back"
• Profile at My Major Company
• Profile at Doubleveeconcerts