Nneka Lucia Egbuna (born 24 December 1980) is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and actress. She sings in English, Igbo and Nigerian Pidgin. Nneka Lucia Egbuna was born and raised in Warri, in the Delta State, Nigeria, to a German mother and Nigerian father. She is the youngest of four siblings. When Nneka was two years old, their German mother abandoned the family. When her father remarried, his new wife tortured and terrorized the children of the first marriage, especially the two youngest—Nneka and her brother, Anato—in an effort to make their lives intolerable.

In 1999, she relocated to Hamburg, her mother’s home city. At first, she lived in a residence for asylum seekers close to the airport. Later, she moved into communal housing for youths. She learned German very quickly, and after a year and a half, she completed her high school diploma at a secondary school that had a graduation track for non-native speakers of German. After graduating from high school, she studied anthropology and African studies at Hamburg University, while making music on the side. Subsequently she began performing in the underground dancehall scene in order to finance her degree.

Nneka first gained public attention in 2004 while performing as an opening act for dancehall reggae star Sean Paul at Hamburg Stadtpark, and following much acclaim, she announced her intentions to record her first album.

After releasing her debut EP, The Uncomfortable Truth, she performed on her first tour in April 2005, playing shows in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In 2005, Nneka’s debut album, Victim of Truth, was released across Europe, Nigeria and Japan. Garnering rave reviews from the media, the UK’s Sunday Times later declared Victim of Truth “the year’s most criminally overlooked album”.

Despite universal acclaim, the record did not manage to chart. Nevertheless, Nneka enjoyed a sustained and successful period of touring, performing with label-mate Patrice Bart-Williams. During her tour, she played at Chiemsee Reggae Summer, Haarlem (Bevrijdingsfestival), The Hague (Park Pop) and Saint-Brieuc (Art Rock Festival), and in respected venues, such as La Maroquinerie and New Morning in Paris, Tivoli in Utrecht, Paradiso in Amsterdam, and Cargo and ULU in London. She has also supported artists such as Femi Kuti, Bilal, Seeed, and Gnarls Barkley.

In 2006, Nneka also performed on the German television network WDR, where she performed her single “Gypsy”, while a dance group performed a dance routine they had worked on specifically for the song. The dance group was supported by the organization Schlauberger.

In February 2008, she released her second album, No Longer at Ease. The title of the album is taken from a novel of the same name by Chinua Achebe and reflects the lyrical content of the record. Many of the songs are political, talking about the plight of the Niger Delta and the corruption in Nneka’s homeland. No Longer at Ease combines the political and the personal in “a winning mix of soul, hip-hop and reggae”. The lead single from the record, “Heartbeat”, became Nneka’s first song to break into the German Top 50. In September 2009, the song entered the UK Singles Chart at no. 20. “Heartbeat” has since been remixed several times, most notably by Chase & Status, was sampled by Rita Ora for her chart-topping single, “R.I.P.”.

In the following months, Nneka toured in France, Italy and Portugal, while she also supported Lenny Kravitz on his French tour in April 2009. Nneka was nominated in three categories for the 2009 Channel O Music Video Awards, and won an award for Best African Act at the 2009 MOBO Awards. In late 2009, she was chosen as of one Beyond Race Magazine’s “50 Emerging Artists”, resulting in a spot in the publication’s No. 11 issue (with Bodega Girls and J. 

Cole on the cover), as well as an exclusive Q&A for the magazine’s site. In November 2009, Nneka began her first concert tour of the United States, where she performed shows in New York City, Vienna (Washington DC), Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Furthermore, she was a special guest on The Roots Jam session. Her first US release, Concrete Jungle, was set for 2 February 2010, and the album charted at no. 57 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart, and at no. 18 on the Heatseekers Albums chart, where it spent a total of five weeks. Her track “Kangpe” is also featured as a soundtrack on EA Sports video game, FIFA 10.