Mali Music Biography

Born Kortney Jamaal Pollard on 12 January 1988, Mali Music was keen on music from an early age. He started learning to play piano at 5 years. At 11 he was an active member of the music choir in his church.

Breakthrough

His first recordings were independently released. The Coming (2008) and The 2econd Coming (2009) brought him an underground fanbase and critical acclaim. In 2011 he signed with Akon’s label, Konvict Musik. 2 years later he would sign with RCA Records and release the single “Beautiful.”

His album Mali Is… (2014) peaked at number 16 on the US Billboard 200. It received 4/5 stars from both AllMusic and CCM Magazine. New Release Tuesday rated it 5/5. The album features collaborations regarding production with famous names like Andre Harris and Arden “Keyz” Altino.

New Recordings

Pollard released the single “Gonna Be Alright” on 31 March 2017. It will be part of his next album. Mali Music was asked by Billboard about the inspiration behind his new single. “Well, it was a mixture of a lot of things. One thing that’s unanimous from a lot of people who hear the song and the feedback is the feeling of it. They’re like, ‘Man, this is so smooth, this feels amazing…’ But I can’t go any further without talking about the person who helped me create it — Salaam Remi. The great and amazing profound producer. It was the most uncomfortable and awkward sessions of my life.”

Photo Source: Shifter Magazine