Stephanie Victoria Allen (born 14 December 1991), better known by her stage name Stefflon Don, is a British rapper and singer. She rose to fame after her 2017 single " Hurtin' Me" featuring French Montana peaked at number 7 on

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. In 2016, Allen released her debut mixtape ''Real Ting'' followed by another mixtape, ''

Secure Secure may refer to: * Security, being protected against danger or loss(es) **Physical security, security measures that are designed to deny unauthorized access to facilities, equipment, and resources **Information security, defending information ...

'', in 2018.

Early life

Stefflon Don was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, England, and is of Jamaican descent. She has seven siblings, one of them being rapper

Dutchavelli Stephan Fabulous Allen (born 11 November 1993), better known by his stage name Dutchavelli, is a British rapper. His name comes in part from the fact that he and his family (including his sister, singer and rapper Stefflon Don) spent their form ...

. When she was five years old, her family moved to

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

, Netherlands. As a result, Allen is fluent in Dutch. Allen has been singing and writing music since primary school. At the age of nine, she recorded a "Hard Knock Life" hook for rapper

U-Niq Anthony Pengel (born July 10, 1976), known professionally as U-Niq, is a Dutch rapper from Rotterdam. He was part of the rap group The Most Official. Originally interested in football (he was a youth player for Feyenoord), U-Niq began rapping ...

. The song was never released, but she was surprised to hear her voice on the playback. At the age of 14, she returned to Britain to study at a London school. She worked as a cake decorator and hairdresser before her career in music.

Career

2015–2017: Career beginnings and ''Real Ting''

Don first surfaced in 2015 by releasing a cover of

Wretch 32 Jermaine Sinclaire Scott (born 9 March 1985), better known by his stage name Wretch 32, is a British rapper, singer and songwriter from Tottenham, North London. He was a member of the grime collective Combination Chain Gang, before forming The M ...

's "6 Words" and went on to be featured on tracks such as

Lethal Bizzle Maxwell Owusu Ansah (born 14 September 1984), known by his stage name Lethal Bizzle, is a British rapper from Walthamstow, London, of Ghanaian origin. He emerged in 2002 as a grime MC as part of More Fire Crew, with their grime single "Oi!" ch ...

's "Wobble",

Sneakbo Agassi Babatunde Odusina (born 25 July 1992), better known by his stage name Sneakbo, is a British rapper. His first song, " The Wave", peaked at number 48 on the UK Singles Chart and he has since released a number of top 40 hits, such as " Zi ...

's "Work" remix,

Angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles inclu ...

's Hop On and

KSI Olajide Olayinka Williams "JJ" Olatunji (born 19 June 1993), known professionally as KSI, is an English YouTuber and rapper. He is a co-founder and member of the British YouTube group known as the Sidemen. He is the CEO of Misfits Boxing and ...

's 2016 song "Touch Down", which appears on the soundtrack of the 2017 film ''

Baywatch ''Baywatch'' is an American action drama television series about lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, and Hawaii, starring David Hasselhoff. It was created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz, and Gregory J. Bo ...

''. "Fashion Killa (Papapapa)" by Mason, released 16 August 2016, was written by Stefflon Don and Mason (Iason Chronis). Don made her first appearance on an American song with the track "London" by singer

Jeremih Jeremy Phillip Felton (born July 17, 1987), known professionally as Jeremih ( ), is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. In 2009, he signed a record deal with Def Jam Recordings. Jeremih's commercial debut single, "Birthday Sex", ...

, and was later featured on

Lil Yachty Miles Parks McCollum (born August 23, 1997), known professionally as Lil Boat, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and producer. He first gained recognition on the internet in 2015 for his singles "One Night" and "Minnesota" (featuring ...

's "Better" from the album ''

Teenage Emotions ''Teenage Emotions'' is the debut studio album by American rapper Lil Yachty. It was released on May 26, 2017, by Capitol Records, Motown, and Quality Control Music. The album features guest appearances from Migos, YG, Kamaiyah, Stefflon Don, Di ...

''. On 16 December 2016, Don released her first mixtape titled ''Real Ting''. In the spring of 2016, Don was signed to 54 London a subsidiary of

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

that was created just for her. A few months later, she was featured on the dancehall track " Instruction" with

Jax Jones Timucin Lam (born Timucin Fabian Kwong Wah Aluo; 25 July 1987), known professionally as Jax Jones, is an English DJ, songwriter, record producer and remixer. He rose to fame in 2014 by featuring on Duke Dumont's number-one single "I Got U". He ...

and Demi Lovato. The trio performed the song live for the first time in June 2018 at the

Summertime Ball Capital's Summertime Ball is a mini-festival in London, held on either first or second Saturday or Sunday of June by the radio station Capital. The first ball was at Emirates Stadium in 2009, and it has since been held at Wembley Stadium. The ...

. On 15 August 2017, she released the lead single " Hurtin' Me" with French Montana from her debut EP titled ''Hurtin' Me – The EP'', which reached number 7 on the

. The EP was later released on 12 January 2018. On 29 November, Don took home the award for Best Female at the 2017

MOBO Awards The MOBO Awards (Music of Black Origin, also known as the MOBOs) are an annual British music award presentation honouring achievements in " music of black origin", including hip hop, grime, UK Drill, R&B, soul, reggae, jazz, gospel, and ...

2018–2020: ''Secure''

In March 2018, Don appeared on the front cover of the final print edition in the 66-year run of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

''. In March 2018, Don was featured on the remix for American singer Halsey's "Alone" along with American rapper

Big Sean Sean Michael Leonard Anderson (born March 25, 1988), known professionally as Big Sean, is an American rapper. Anderson began his music career in 2007 and gained popularity in 2010 with his third mixtape '' Finally Famous Vol. 3: Big''. He then s ...

. The song peaked at number 66 on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streamin ...

, becoming her first entry on the chart and also earned Don her first Dance Club Songs number one. The music video was released on 6 April 2018. In March 2019, Don was featured on the Mariah Carey remix for the song "

A No No "A No No" is a song by American singer and songwriter Mariah Carey from her fifteenth studio album, '' Caution'' (2018). The song was written by Carey, Robert "Shea" Taylor, Priscilla Hamilton, Mason Betha and Camron Giles. Since the track ...

" from her 2018 album '' Caution''. In June 2018, Don was included in the '' XXL'' Freshman Class. On 17 August 2018, Don released her second mixtape ''

''. In March 2019, she collaborated with

Wiley Wiley may refer to: Locations * Wiley, Colorado, a U.S. town * Wiley, Pleasants County, West Virginia, U.S. * Wiley-Kaserne, a district of the city of Neu-Ulm, Germany People * Wiley (musician), British grime MC, rapper, and producer * Wiley Mil ...

on the song "

Boasty "Boasty" is a song by British rappers Wiley, Stefflon Don and Jamaican rapper Sean Paul featuring vocals from English actor and musician Idris Elba. It was originally released by Wiley featuring Mucky in August 2018, and remixed for release with ...

". In July 2019, her vocals were featured on

XXXTentacion Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy (January 23, 1998 – June 18, 2018), known professionally as XXXTentacion, was an American rapper and singer-songwriter. Though a controversial figure due to his widely publicized legal troubles, XXXTentacion ga ...

's posthumous track "

Royalty Royalty may refer to: * Any individual monarch, such as a king, queen, emperor, empress, etc. * Royal family, the immediate family of a king or queen regnant, and sometimes his or her extended family * Royalty payment for use of such things as int ...

2021–present

On 25 August 2021, Don was featured on a Kiss My (Uh Oh) ''Girl Power Remix'' along with Anne-Marie, Little Mix,

Raye Raye may refer to: * Raye (singer) (born 1997), British singer and songwriter *Raye, English dub name of anime character Sailor Mars Given name *Raye Hartmann (born 1990), Canadian footballer *Raye Birk (born 1943), American film and television ...

and

Becky Hill Rebecca Claire Hill (born 14 February 1994) is a British singer from Bewdley, England. She rose to prominence after appearing on the first series of the then BBC (now ITV) talent contest '' The Voice UK'', auditioning with John Legend's "Ord ...

. On 4 June 2022, she participated in the

Platinum Party at the Palace The Platinum Party at the Palace was a British music concert, held outside Buckingham Palace on The Mall in London on 4 June 2022, in celebration of the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. The concert began at 20:00 ( BST). Comedian Lee ...

, performing with

and Nandi Bushell, to mark the

Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II The Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II was the international celebration in 2022 marking the Platinum jubilee, 70th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952, the first British monarch to ever celebrate one. In the Un ...

Personal life

She gave birth to her first child, a son named Jaylen, at 17 years old. She is the sister of rapper

. In September 2019, she held a giveaway on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

after reaching a billion streams as an artist. British artist

Shocka Kenneth Erhahon (born 8 July 1988), better known by his stage name Shocka, is a rapper and mental health advocate from Tottenham, London. He gained recognition for being one/third of Grime collective Marvell alongside Double S and Vertex. After ...

reached out to her stating that he was in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

for cancer treatment for his mother. She decided to give away the money for his mother's treatment. Allen began dating Nigerian singer Burna Boy in 2018. They broke up in 2022.

Discography

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Don, Stefflon 1991 births Black British women rappers British hip hop singers English women rappers English people of Jamaican descent Living people Motown artists Rappers from Birmingham, West Midlands Polydor Records artists Quality Control artists British women hip hop musicians