Mimi — Diva with a star approach

Thursday, April 1, 2010 (The Mirror Pg 3)

By Rebecca Kwei
When she entered the Big Brother Africa contest in 2008, Mimi Divalish (real name Wilhelmina Abu-Andani) had one motive — to use the fame she would get out of her participation to launch her music career.
So in less than three weeks after she was evicted from the house, she released her hit single: “Leave Me Alone” featuring 4 x 4.
“I had always wanted to be in showbiz. Music and acting were my options. But looking at the struggle people have to go through before releasing an album, I realised I needed a platform to launch me onto the music scene and that was Big Brother”, she told The Mirror in an interview.
Mimi said she auditioned for Big Brother Africa because she was a big fan of reality shows and wanted to have a feel of it.
Like a fairy tale, although she did not win the ultimate Big Brother prize and received some flak back home about her performance in the house, her musical ambition is paying off and she is one of the fastest growing female secular musicians.
And she has a tattoo (five stars) on the left side of her chest which she says signifies that she is going to be a “huge star”.
Why the name “Mimi Divalish”? Mimi explained that while in the Big Brother house, her fellow housemates referred to her as “Mimilicious Divalicious” because they claimed she acted like a diva.
“I chose Mimi Divalish as my stage name because I felt the Mimilicious Divalicious was too cocky”, she added.
After releasing “Leave Me Alone” which was written by Chase, Mimi followed it with “Tattoo” written by Castro the Destroyer and “DJ” also penned by Chase in 2009 and her album titled “Music In Me” has six tracks.
The music videos for her first three songs have been described by many as “very good” and Mimi agrees: “My videos are the best. We had very good production from Phamous People. “DJ” was shot in Berlin, Germany. Everyone says all three videos are good.”
Mimi, who is in her mid-20s, says she has written her own songs which will be released soon. Her inspiration comes from everything around her and her desire to be very successful in her chosen field.
Although she is versatile and does different genres of music, Mimi says she classifies her music under hiplife. She looks up to Beyonce, Alicia Keys and Lhiza James of Mozambique.
“Their success stories fascinate me. I’ve been listening to them since I was a kid and their rise to fame and continuous success inspires me”, she said.
Mimi was born and bred in Kumasi but hails from Tamale in the Northern Region. After completing Holy Spirit Junior Secondary School, she continued at Aburi Girls where she offered Science and passed out in 1999.
“My parents thought I was smart hence they wanted me to study Science and become a medical doctor but that was not my interest”, she said.
To please her parents, she continued at the University of Cape Coast to study Biological Science, majoring in Chemistry. She graduated in 2006 and had her national service at the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR).
Her love for languages led her to Spain and France to study languages for two years. She speaks Spanish and understands Italian and a little bit of Portuguese. She also speaks Dagbani, Dagaare, Twi, Fante and Hausa.
When she returned to Ghana after her languages course, she worked as the personal assistant to the CEO of an engineering firm for about four months before entering the Big Brother Africa competition.
In the next few years, Mimi says she sees herself taking Africa and the world by storm.
“I want to be the biggest female musician in Africa and the world as a whole. But first I need to work hard to be recognised on the African scene which will ultimately propel me onto the world music stage”, she said with a lot of confidence in her voice.
How does she hope to achieve these? Mimi summarised it in these words “Hard work, perseverance and prayers”.
She said “the future looks bright — better things, better life, hard work and giving back to society”.
According to Mimi she is still in touch with some of her Big Brother housemates — Sheila from Kenya; Uti, Nigeria; Ricco, Angola, and Lucille from Namibia. Sheila and Uti featured in her “Leave Me Alone” music video.
Mimi is the eldest daughter of Jane Abu and Richard Abu-Andani and has two other sisters and a brother. She loves singing, watching reality shows and dancing, and for the guys, she says “I’m single and mingling”.