Mica Penniman was born on 18 August 1983, known as Mika, is a Lebanese-born, London-based singer who has a recording contract with Casablanca Records and Universal Music, and rose to fame around the end of 2006 and the start of 2007.

Some sources note his birth name as Michael Holbrook Penniman. Mika was born in Beirut, Lebanon, the third of five children born to an Lebanese mother of Syrian-Lebanese descent and an American father.

When he was one year old his family was forced to leave war-torn Lebanon and moved to Paris. He was trained by Alla Ardakov (Ablaberdyeva) a Russian opera professional and his public performances and jobs have varied from classical performances in the Royal Opera House, writing in-flight music for British Airways and creating an Orbit chewing gum jingle.

His debut radio appearance was on Dermot O'Leary's BBC Radio 2 show in September 2006, Later with Jools Holland and on The Friday Night Project on 19 January 2007. While he is rumoured to have a vocal range of five octaves, he actually claims that it is closer to three and a half octaves.

He slightly altered his given name, Mica, changing the "c" to a "k," because he was frustrated by how often people would mispronounce it.

In January 2007, he was at the top of BBC News's Sound of 2007 poll. Mika live in concertHis first single was a limited 7"/download release called "Grace Kelly" (2006). It was play listed by BBC Radio 1 in the United Kingdom, and was also made Record of the Week by DJ Scott Mills. T

he Dodgy Holiday EP is also available for download. His song "Billy Brown" was available for free download for a week from the iTunes Store.