Shakila Karim (; born 13 November 1997) is an English singer-songwriter and musician, known professionally as Shakila K.

Early life

Karim was born at the

Royal London Hospital The Royal London Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is part of Barts Health NHS Trust. It provides district general hospital services for the City of London and Tower Hamlets and sp ...

Whitechapel Whitechapel () is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is the location of Tower Hamlets Town Hall and therefore the borough tow ...

Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a borough in London, England. Situated on the north bank of the River Thames and immediately east of the City of London, the borough spans much of the traditional East End of London and includes much of ...

, London, England and is of

Bangladeshi Bangladeshis ( ) are the citizens and nationals of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centred on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the Bay of Bengal, eponymous bay. Bangladeshi nationality law, Bangladeshi citizenship was fo ...

descent. Karim's parents are Karim Ullah (born 1977) and Sultana Parvin, and she has a younger sister, Sonia. Karim attended

Gatehouse School Gatehouse School is a co-educational independent Private schools in the United Kingdom, private primary school based on Sewardstone Road in Bethnal Green, London, educating pupils from the ages of three to eleven years. The youngest classes follow ...

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common la ...

. She received speech therapy to help her speak. Yet she was able to sing nursery rhymes perfectly. At around the same time, she started playing her first musical instrument, the violin, when she was a toddler and went on to learn the recorder, piano, ukulele and drums. When she was 11 years old, Karim's family moved out of the East End to Hertfordshire and she started her secondary education at

Hockerill Anglo-European College Hockerill Anglo-European College (formerly known as Hockerill School) is an international state boarding school with academy status located in Bishop's Stortford, England. History In 1850, Hockerill was founded as a teacher-training colle ...

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It is in the London metropolitan area, London commuter belt, near the border with Essex, just west of the ...

. She started taking singing lessons from the first term and, in her first year at the school, she passed her Rock School grade three exam. She then attended school in

Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay * Newport (Vietnam), a United States Army and Army of t ...

, Essex near

Carver Barracks Carver Barracks is a British Army base on the former site of RAF Debden, approximately 1 mile north of the village of Debden, in Essex. The nearest town is Saffron Walden. It is occupied by explosive ordnance disposal & search regiments of the ...

, and then

Newport Free Grammar School Joyce Frankland Academy, Newport, formerly Newport Free Grammar School, is a school in Newport, Essex, England. It was founded in 1588. The school is a mixed secondary school with a sixth form. It previously existed in different forms includi ...

Uttlesford Uttlesford is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Essex, England. Its council is based in the town of Saffron Walden. The district also includes the town of Great Dunmow and numerous villages, including Stansted Mountfitchet ...

. As of 2015, she was studying

A-levels The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational ...

at Joyce Frankland Academy in Newport. After completing her A-levels in 2016 Karim enrolled at The ICMP (The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance) to study Creative Musicianship where she is a final year student.

Career

During the 2010 summer holidays, Karim uploaded her first videos on YouTube, started performing at local venues, entered the 2011 Stortford Music Festival, and auditioned for ''

Britain's Got Talent ''Britain's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated to ''BGT'') is a televised British talent show competition, and part of the global '' Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. Presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloquial ...

'' at the age of 12. In 2011, Karim released three self-produced singles. On 4 July, Karim's debut single " Just Let It Go" was released. On 24 October, her second single "

Gone Too Soon "Gone Too Soon" is a ballad recorded and popularized by American singer and recording artist Michael Jackson. It was written and composed by Larry Grossman and Buz Kohan. Dionne Warwick first performed (but never recorded) the song in Febr ...

" was released. On 28 November, her third single "

Heroes Heroes or Héroes may refer to: * Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good Film * ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama * ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film Gaming * ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...

" was released in aid of the

Help for Heroes Help for Heroes is a British charity which supports members of the British Armed Forces community with their physical and mental health, as well as their financial, social and welfare needs. The charity was founded in 2007 by Bryn and Emma Parry ...

charity which supports the rehabilitation of injured British service personnel from conflicts such as Iraq and Afghanistan. On 28 August 2012, her fourth single " Are You All Ready" was released. The song was intended to inspire the athletes competing in London 2012 Paralympics Games. On 8 December 2012, her fifth single " Thank You for the Sunshine" was released. The song is dedicated to the

London 2012 Olympic Games The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. Karim's father, Karim Ullah, wrote "Just Let It Go" and "Gone Too Soon", and "Heroes" was co-written by Karim and her father. In May 2012, Karim performed at the Stortford Music Festival and the

Boishakhi Mela The Boishakhi Mela () is a Bengali culture, Bengali celebration (mela) which takes place outside of Bangladesh. It is celebrated by the Bangladeshi diaspora in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada as well as many other countries with sig ...

. In the same month, she performed live on

BBC Asian Network BBC Asian Network is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially those between the ages of 18 and 34. The station has produc ...

's ''

Tommy Sandhu Tommy Sandhu (born 24 November 1976) is an English disc jockey remixer, record producer and television presenter. Career Sandhu's first presenting job was with Tess Daly on ''Smash Hits TV'' for Sky One. He was also the announcer – replaci ...

Show''. In August of the same year, she performed at the Hertford Music Festival. In August 2014, she performed at the second annual Warren Classic. In October 2013, Karim performed at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

as part of the 92Plus1 challenge to raise money for Help for Heroes. She sang before

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

's World Cup qualifier against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. In June 2015, Karim began a musical 'marathon' to sing at 26 different concerts to raise money for the victims of Nepal's earthquake, after being inspired by some of her schoolfriends at Joyce Frankland Academy who are from Nepal. In August of the same year, she performed live on BBC Asian Network. During the summer of 2017, Karim and her father organised a special concert for ICMP students to raise money for the survivors of

Grenfell Tower Grenfell Tower is a derelict 24-storey residential tower block in North Kensington in West London, England. The tower was completed in 1974 as part of the first phase of the Lancaster West Estate. Most of the tower was destroyed in a Grenfell T ...

. Karim released two self-penned tracks in 2018. For the first one "The Mask Is Always On" she was interviewed on

BBC Three Counties Radio BBC Three Counties Radio is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Grove Park in Dunstable. According ...

and got to sing live. Her second track was "Electricity". She worked with fellow The ICMP students Milxnake (Serena Harmsworth) and Lucas Green on both tracks. In April 2019, Karim opened for 1990s English boy band

East 17 East 17 are an English pop boy band started by Tony Mortimer, Brian Harvey, John Hendy, and Terry Coldwell in 1991. They are best known for their 1994 hit single " Stay Another Day", which was the UK Christmas number one that year. The g ...

Personal life

Karim's father, Karim Ullah, left school with no qualifications but went on to work in media sales and later to set up his own Asian business publication in 2007. Her father's business suffered due to the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

, and in 2010, it was forced to close. Consequently, Karim had to be taken out of boarding school and had to stop taking singing lessons. The business failure also meant that the family, who were by then renting a home in Bishops Stortford, became homeless and spent three months in a homeless hostel in Spellbrook. While living in the hostel, Karim's father became ill. He had to undergo major emergency surgery in October 2010 to remove part of his intestine following the flare-up of his previously diagnosed

Crohn's disease Crohn's disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that may affect any segment of the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms often include abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever, abdominal distension, and weight loss. Complications outside of the ...

and was hospitalised for several weeks, then suffering

appendicitis Appendicitis is inflammation of the Appendix (anatomy), appendix. Symptoms commonly include right lower abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fever and anorexia (symptom), decreased appetite. However, approximately 40% of people do not have these t ...

in September 2011. Karim's father is now a writer for a golf magazine. Karim now lives with her parents in

, Hertfordshire. She has been influenced musically by

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

Freddie Mercury Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter who achieved global fame as the lead vocalist and pianist of the rock band Queen (band), Queen. Regarded as one of the gre ...

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her image reinventions and versatility across the entertainment industry, she is an influ ...

Amy Lee Amy Lynn Lee (born December 13, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She is the co-founder, lead vocalist, lead songwriter, and keyboardist of the rock band Evanescence. A classically trained pianist, Lee began writing music at ...

and

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 ...

Discography

Singles

References

External links

*
Teen Singer’s love for Help for Hero’s
''Asiana''. 2 March 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Karim, Shakila 1997 births Living people English Muslims English people of Bangladeshi descent English women singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters English pop pianists Charity fundraisers (people) Singers from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets People from Whitechapel People educated at Gatehouse School People educated at Hockerill Anglo-European College People educated at Newport Free Grammar School People from Newport, Essex 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers 21st-century English pianists 21st-century English women pianists