Michael Holbrook Penniman Jr, his real name, was born in the city of Beirut in 1983, in the middle of the civil war in Lebanon, for which his family decided to move first to Cyprus and then to Paris. At the age of nine they moved to London, where they finally settled.

In his childhood he suffered an episode that marked him forever: «I was seven years old and my father was a financial advisor. He was taken hostage in Kuwait, at the US embassy. He returned seven months later, completely changed. First we called him Dad, then Mike. We couldn’t call him dad anymore.”

As if that were not enough, the family suffered a huge economic crisis that made them lose their home, forcing them to live for two years in a ‘Bed and breakfast’.

Has two brothers. Yasmine is a prominent designer, known as DaWack and they have worked together to create the album cover designs for her. Her brother Fortuné is an architect and is not related to show business.

After overcoming all these problems, which was joined by a dyslexia that caused him big problems at school because of some teachers who did not want to understand his problem, Mika’s triumph came in the musical world in 2006 with songs like ‘GraceKelly’.

After three albums published, in 2013 he began to focus on the world of television, becoming the X Factor in Italy, where he worked with Alessandro Cattelan , and in ‘The Voice’ in France.

MIKA’S CURRENT PARTNER

Andreas Dermanis is Mika’s boyfriend, with whom he has been in a romantic relationship since 2012. The documentary maker and cameraman who met the singer in 2007 when he did work for the singer on his tour that year, but until a few years later they did not formalize their relationship.