Lisa Maffia (born
1 October 1979,
South London) is an
English singer-songwriter, model,
musician and
presenter, who originally came to the public's attention as the main female member of
So Solid Crew. Whilst in So Solid, the singer notched up 5 top 20 hits, including a platinum selling single "21 Seconds" and a platinum selling album
They Don't Know. She was born to an
Italian mother and a
black father. (a similar ethnic background to
Alicia Keys)
Lisa Maffia was born and raised in Brixton, London. Her mother is Shirley Maffia and her father is unknown. Lisa is trained in Latino ballroom, tap and modern dancing and practised gymnastics as a child. She went to Norwood School in West Norwood and then went on to Brixton College to do a diploma in Photography and Art & Design. In 2000 Lisa Maffia got her career debut when she added her vocals to So Solid Crew track Oh No.
On August 6th 2001, whilst with So Solid Crew, Lisa released 21 Seconds. It reached number one in the official UK Singles Chart in August 2001. The single also won Best British Video at the 2002 BRIT Awards. With the success of 21 Seconds, the crew went on to release their debut album They Dont Know which ending up going platinum.
On 21st April 2003, departing from the So Solid Crew, Lisa made her debut at number 2 with the hip hop, ragga styled All Over [1]. It spent 3 weeks in the top 10. Lisa then released the rnb spanish styled In Love which reached number 13. With Lisa doing so well this led to the singer releasing her debut solo album First Lady. The album reached number 44, although the album failed to chart well, the album still sold a total of 97,000 copies.
