Samantha Mumba - Woman (2002)

Samantha Tamania Anne Cecilia Mumba was born on 18 January 1983 in Dublin, Ireland, to a Zambian father and an Irish mother. When she was 15 she was discovered on the RTÉ–Radio Television Ireland talent show 'Let Me Entertain You' by Irish music executive Louis Walsh (manager of Boyzone and Westlife), who was impressed enough by her talent to arrange for her to be signed to Polydor Records. She subsequently spent several months moving between Denmark, Sweden, UK, and Ireland, where she co-wrote and recorded her debut album, 'Gotta Tell You', eventually dropping out of school to focus on her music career. Her first single, 'Gotta Tell You', was released in 2000 and peaked at number one in Ireland and New Zealand, number two in the UK, number three in Australia, and number four in the US, as well as reaching the top twenty in several countries across Europe. Her debut album of the same name followed later that year when she was just 17, reaching the top ten in both Ireland and the UK, and number 67 on the Billboard 200. Following the success of 'Gotta Tell You', she was chosen to play Mara in the film 'The Time Machine', alongside co-star Guy Pearce, and her real-life brother, Omero. In 2001 she contributed to the track 'You Raise Me Up' by the Celtic Tenors, and an EP titled 'Samantha Sings Christmas' was released at Christmas 2001, which included covers of 'White Christmas' and 'All I Want for Christmas Is You'. In 2002 she released a new single 'I'm Right Here', becoming her fifth UK and Irish top five single, but as rumours began to circulate that she was getting ready to release her second album 'Woman', she was dropped by her label, citing poor sales of the lead single 'I'm Right Here' in the US, and its short-lived time on the UK chart. Mumba has since confirmed that she was unable to release any new material due to contract restrictions following the restructure of Polydor Records, but whatever the reason, the proposed second album was shelved. Her second venture into films was in 2003, where she appeared in the film 'Spin The Bottle', and a compilation album was released in 2006, but it was to be seven years before we heard anything more from her, when in June 2013 she confirmed her musical comeback on Twitter, appearing on the RTÉ television show 'The Hit' to compete for a spot in the show's final. The song selected for chart battle was 'Somebody Like Me' which was released on iTunes immediately afterwards and competed against 'Thinking Of You' by Irish band Republic Of Loose, peaking at number five on the Irish Singles Chart, and marking her first hit single in 11 years. Since then she's appeared on Irish and UK television, most notably on 'Loose Women' in the UK, and she released a couple of singles in 2020, but for now here if that abandoned second album, 'Woman', shorn of the covers and remixes that tend to be added to it online, as they don't really add anything to the record. 

Track listing 

01 I'm Right Here
02 You're My Boo
03 Put Your Money On Me
04 Branded With A Kiss
05 Wet 'N Wild
06 Home Alone (feat. Beenie Man)
07 Wow
08 Shuttin' You Down
09 Nobody Knows
10 Relationships
11 Untouchable
12 Read My Mind
13 Can You Deliver
14 Point Of View
15 Sensuality
16 Wish Upon A Star