Not to be confused with "Umbrella" hitmaker
Rihanna, Leeds-born
Rhianna briefly attracted attention in the early noughties thanks to her stylish retro Afro and blend of jazz-funk and soul-pop. Born
Rhianna Hannah Louise Kenny in 1982, she grew up in a musical family with her Cuban mother and English father often taking her to gigs, with her first being
Squeeze at the age of nine. Displaying a talent for performing at a young age, she attended drama school before taking on various jobs, including narrating in a production of Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and working as a backing singer for her older brother's band, LSK. After sending out demos to various record companies, she signed with Sony and began recording her debut album, Get On. Influenced by acts as diverse as
Billie Holiday and
Kate Bush, it featured the Top 20 hit "Oh Baby" and further singles "Word Love" and the
Stevie Wonder cover "I Love Every Little Thing About You." After
Rhianna performed in support slots with
Beverley Knight,
Destiny's Child, and
Jamiroquai, the album was released at the end of 2002 but failed to reach the Top 75, and she was later dropped from her label. Since then, she has regularly toured with
Faithless as a backing singer, provided vocals for tracks on
Ian Brown's
The World Is Yours album, and was briefly part of five-piece R&B band Love Blackout. Despite arriving on the music scene years before the similarly monikered
Rihanna became a household name,
Kenny now performs under the pseudonym Fleurona to avoid confusion. In 2008 she traveled to New York, where she performed in several showcases and started work on new material. ~ Jon O'Brien