Stella Nyambura Mwangi (born 1 September 1986) is a Kenyan-Norwegian singer, rapper, and songwriter. Her work has been used in films such as '' American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile'' and '' Save the Last Dance 2'', and also in TV-series such as '' CSI: NY'', '' Scrubs'' and ''Survival of The Thickest''. She represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

with the song " Haba Haba".

Early and personal life

Stella was born in Murang'a in the Central Province of

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

in 1986 and spent her first 5 years there before her family moved to

Eidsvoll Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike Districts of Norway, traditional region. The administrative centre of the munic ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

in 1991. She started to practice playing music when she was eight years old. She also plays the

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

. Her father made sure she and her siblings learned the Gikuyu language and Swahili even far away from home. He used cultural music and poetry to teach them the languages and this inspired Stella's music and her connection to the Kenyan culture. In 2011, Stella got engaged to her long-time boyfriend Tom Roger Rogstad. Mwangi's father was killed in a hit-and-run accident in February 2012.

Eurovision Song Contest 2011

In 2011, Mwangi participated in the Norwegian national selection ''Melodi Grand Prix 2011'' to represent Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, which was held in

, Germany. On 12 February 2011, Mwangi emerged as the winner. On 10 May, she represented

at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song " Haba Haba" but failed to qualify for the Eurovision final, despite being one of the big favourites of the contest. Mwangi first topped the official singles chart in Norway in week 6, 2011 with her winning song "Haba Haba".

Melodi Grand Prix 2018

Stella competed in the

Melodi Grand Prix Melodi Grand Prix (), commonly known as Grand Prix and MGP, sometimes as Norsk Melodi Grand Prix, is an annual music competition organised by Norwegian public broadcaster (NRK). It determines for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been sta ...

for the chance to represent Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 along with Alexandra Rotan with the song You Got Me. They placed third overall.

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

References

External links

Official websiteStella Mwangi aka STL on African Women's Week 2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mwangi, Stella 1986 births Living people 21st-century Norwegian women singers 21st-century Norwegian singers Kenyan emigrants to Norway Norwegian women rappers Norwegian songwriters Musicians from Eidsvoll Kenyan women rappers Eurovision Song Contest entrants