Jahmila Adderley, known professionally as Mila Jam, is an American transgender singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, and LGBTQ activist.

Early life and education

Jam was born in the

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

suburb of

Aurora, Illinois Aurora is a city in northeastern Illinois, United States. It is located along the Fox River (Illinois River tributary), Fox River west of Chicago. It is the List of municipalities in Illinois, second-most populous city in Illinois, with a popul ...

on February22, 1989. She was raised in

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee ...

, by her mother, Stephanie Adderley, an IT technician, and Phillip Adderley, a lab technician at

Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF), commonly called Jefferson Lab or JLab, is a US Department of Energy National Laboratory located in Newport News, Virginia. Since June 1, 2006, it has been operated by Jefferson Scienc ...

. She attended Columbus High School. Before continuing her career in New York City at the

American Musical and Dramatic Academy The American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) is a private conservatory for the performing arts in New York City and Los Angeles, California. The conservatory offers master's degrees, bachelor's degrees, associate degrees, and certificates ...

, she performed in several national stage productions and television commercials.

Career

YouTube, stage, and television

Mila Jam performed as the popular YouTube impersonator Britney Houston. She was known for creating parodies of popular videos and posting them on YouTube within days of the original videos' releases. She began creating her parodies while in the national touring company of ''

Rent Rent may refer to: Economics *Renting, an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property *Economic rent, any payment in excess of the cost of production *Rent-seeking, attempting to increase one's share of e ...

''. Several of her parodies have over a million hits, with her parody of

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman, and actress. One of the List of music artists by net worth, wealthiest musicians in the world, List of awards and nominations received by Rihanna, her vario ...

's song "

Umbrella An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is usually designed to protect a person against rain. The term ''umbrella'' is traditionally used when protec ...

" having over two million. For her parody of the

Pussycat Dolls The Pussycat Dolls were an American girl group and dance ensemble, founded in Los Angeles, California, by choreographer Robin Antin in 1995 as a neo-burlesque troupe. At the suggestion of Jimmy Iovine, Antin decided to take the troupe mainst ...

' song "When I Grow Up", Jam recruited four drag queens to serve as the "Britney Cat Dolls". She choreographed and starred in the 2008

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

original television pilot ''Newsical'', which was not picked up. Jam has appeared on

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

's ''

Lily Allen and Friends ''Lilium'' ( ) is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large and often prominent flowers. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. Most species are ...

'',

, and ''MTV News''. She has also hosted episodes of the YouTube talk show ''I’m From Driftwood''.

Music

Jam recorded the song "And the Crowd Goes", which was written and produced by

Jonny McGovern Jonny McGovern (born July 12, 1976) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, musician, songwriter, and podcaster. He has written the lyrics for many of his own songs, and recorded three comedy/dance-pop albums (including some under his alter-e ...

and released on his compilation, ''The East Village Mixtape 2: The Legends Ball''. The song also features New York rapper

Jipsta John Patrick Masterson (born October 13, 1974), known professionally as Jipsta, is an American rapper, songwriter, and music producer. Jipsta has released six studio albums: ''Bandoozle'' (2011), ''Turnt Up'' (2013), ''Ban2oozle'' (2017), "Swagge ...

. Jam has performed alongside

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

Mark Ronson Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a British-American DJ, record producer, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year for Amy Winehouse's album '' Back to Black'' (2006), as well as two for Record ...

Laverne Cox Laverne Cox (born May 29, 1972) is an American actress and LGBTQ advocate. She rose to prominence with her role as Sophia Burset on the Netflix series '' Orange Is the New Black'', becoming the first transgender person to be nominated for a ...

Travis Wall Travis Michael Wall (born September 16, 1987) is an American dancer, instructor, and choreographer specializing in contemporary and jazz dance styles. He rose to international attention in 2006 as a competitor on the second season of the Fox ...

Jody Watley Jody Vanessa Watley (born January 30, 1959) is an American singer, songwriter and producer whose music crosses genres including pop, R&B, jazz, dance and electronic soul.Paoletta, Michael (February 22, 2003) "Watley Relaxes In The Setting of The ...

, Lady Kier of

Deee-Lite Deee-Lite was an American House music, house and Dance music, dance music group formed in New York City. The group's Single (music), single "Groove Is in the Heart", which was released in 1990 from their debut studio album, ''World Clique'' (19 ...

, and

Natasha Bedingfield Natasha Anne Bedingfield (born 26 November 1981) is a British and New Zealand singer, songwriter and record producer. She released her debut album, '' Unwritten'', in 2004, which contained primarily up-tempo pop songs and was influenced by R& ...

. The music video for Jam's song "Faces" was released to coincide with

International Transgender Day of Visibility International Transgender Day of Visibility, often simply Trans Day of Visibility (often shortened online as TDOV), is an annual event dedicated to celebrating transgender people raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people, ...

and featured appearances by

Tituss Burgess Tituss Burgess (born February 21, 1979) is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in several Broadway musicals and is known for his high tenor voice. He is best known for starring as Titus Andromedon on the Netflix comedy series '' Unbre ...

Candis Cayne Candis Cayne (born August 29, 1971) is an American actress and performance artist. Cayne performed in New York City nightclubs in drag since the 1990s, and came out as transgender in 1996; Cayne came to national attention in 2007 for portraying ...

Geena Rocero Geena Rocero (born 1983) is a Filipino-born American model, TED speaker, and transgender advocate based in New York City. Rocero is the founder of Gender Proud, a media production company that tells stories of the transgender community worldwi ...

Peppermint Peppermint (''Mentha'' × ''piperita'') is a Hybrid (biology), hybrid species of Mentha, mint, a cross between Mentha aquatica, watermint and spearmint. Indigenous to Europe and the Middle East, the plant is now widely spread and cultivated in m ...

Zackary Drucker Zackary Drucker (born 1983) is an American multimedia artist, cultural producer, LGBT social movements, LGBT activist, actress, and television producer. She is an Emmy Awards, Emmy-nominated producer for the docu-series ''This Is Me'' (2015), a co ...

Trace Lysette Trace Lysette (born 2 October 1981) is an American actress whose most notable roles include Shea in the television series '' Transparent'' (2014–2019) and Tracey in the feature film '' Hustlers'' (2019). As a trans actress, she also featured in ...

, and

Nathan Lee Graham Nathan Lee Graham (born September 9, 1968) is an American actor and singer. He is known for film roles such as ''Zoolander'' and ''Theater Camp'' and stage roles such as ''The Wild Party (LaChiusa musical), The Wild Party'' and ''Priscilla, Queen ...

. The song has been called an anthem for the LGBTQ movement and focuses on self-acceptance, inner beauty, and sense of belonging. Jam described the song as being "about looking in that mirror and hearing, 'Do I belong, am I enough, will someone love me for who I really am?' We wear smiles all the time but hide in fear and loathing because we feel different. The journey is universal no matter who you are."

Awards

Mila was awarded Best Video and Dance Artist at the 2013 GLAM Nightlife Awards and she was named Odyssey Nightlife Awards Breakthrough Artist in 2015 .

Discography

EPs

* ''Bruised'' (2018) * ''Pretty One'' (2021) * ''A Mila Jam Christmas'' (2022)

Singles

* "Walk" (2010) * "This is Love" (2011) * "Warrior" (2011) * "Masters of the Universe" (2013) * "Faces" (2017) * "Cheesecake" (2018) * "Like the Last Time" (2019) * "Twilight Zone" (2019) * "Masquerade (2019) * "Eye on You" (2019) * "Call It Love" (2019) * "Number One" (2020) * "Timewaster" (Evangeline Wong and Mila Jam, 2021) * "Too High" (2021) * "Just Sayin'" (2021) * "It's Raining Them" (2021) * "The Holidays Are Cancelled" (2021) * "Catch This Love" (2022) * "Over & Over" (2022) * "God & Guns" (2022) * "Be My Heartbreak" (2022) * "DMTA" (2022) * "Popstar" (2022) * "SXGME" (2022) * "Magic" (2023) * "Inside/Somebody" (2023) * "Fierce" (

Ultra Naté Ultra Naté (born March 20, 1968) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, DJ, and promoter who has achieved success on the pop charts with songs such as "Free (Ultra Naté song), Free", "If You Could Read My Mind" (as part of Stars o ...

Angelica Ross Angelica Ross (born November 28, 1980) is an American actress, businesswoman, and transgender rights advocate. A self-taught computer programmer, she went on to become founder and CEO of TransTech Social Enterprises, a firm that helps employ tr ...

, and Mila Jam A2, 2023) * "Pretty One Rock" (2023) * "Say Your Name" (2023) * "LMNTL" (2023) * "

Running Up That Hill "Running Up That Hill" (also titled "Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)") is a song by the English singer-songwriter Kate Bush. It was released in the UK as the lead single from Bush's fifth studio album, '' Hounds of Love'', on 5 August 19 ...

" (2023)

Singles as featured artist

* "Better Days" (Kayu feat. Mila Jam, 2018) * "Summer Sex Magic (Hot NYC Mix)" (

Keo Nozari Keo Nozari is an American pop singer-songwriter, music producer, DJ, screen actor, and writer. 2005-2013: Music & ''Billboard'' Chart success Years of live performances in the early 2000s—including solo shows in New York City at former CBG ...

feat. Mila Jam, 2022)

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jam, Mila Living people 1989 births 20th-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century African-American women singers 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American LGBTQ people American choreographers American Internet celebrities American LGBTQ singers American Musical and Dramatic Academy alumni African-American LGBTQ people LGBTQ people from Georgia (U.S. state) LGBTQ people from Illinois LGBTQ YouTubers Musicians from Columbus, Georgia People from Aurora, Illinois Transgender women singers