Mýa reflects on Michael Jackson’s “never forgetting” birthday surprise.
Speaking with PEOPLE ahead of the Queens of R&B’s upcoming tour this summer, the Grammy winner, now 44, shared a candid story from her 22nd birthday in 2001 — when the King of Pop sang to her over the phone.
After the events of September 11, 2001, Mýa was invited to join the chart-topping supergroup for Jackson’s charity single “What More Can I Give”. As she now recalls, the recording process took place on her 22nd birthday, shortly before the song’s release in October 2001. Jackson somehow caught wind of her special day.
“A lot of artists were invited to record in a certain studio in New York, and the only day between tours I had available was the day I marked inactive on my calendar, which was my birthday,” says Mýa, noting that had already performed for Jackson at his 30th anniversary celebration at Madison Square Garden a few days before the attack on the World Trade Center.
“I’m back in New York City for the first time since then, it’s very scary, because when Michael calls, you go,” she adds. “As I walked into the studio, Luther Vandross was filming and he was just finishing up and we met and said hello. That was the last time I saw him in person.”
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After hanging out with Vandross, Mýa got a real birthday surprise from another music legend. “Michael called the studio. There was a hard line, a hard cord phone, and it was to the left of the console,” she says.
“They told me I had a call, but no one told me who it was. He just started singing ‘Happy Birthday’. I was so kind of him, he’s a busy guy, I’ll never forget that moment.”
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Whitney Houston and Mýa perform together at the Michael Jackson “30th Anniversary Celebration” in New York on September 7, 2001.
Frank Micelotta/ImageDirect
The King of Pop’s invitation came just a month after Mýa joined Usher and Whitney Houston on stage for a performance of “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin'” dedicated to Jackson.
As for if Mýa ever finds herself singing for friends and fans over the phone these days, she explains that she’ll occasionally “leave voice messages or voice notes to friends on WhatsApp or texts.” She does the same for fans on Cameo with video shoutouts.
“Usually I get birthday messages asking me to sing happy birthday to someone as a surprise and they can book it. I’m really happy to do it because they’ll send me back reaction videos, and some of that probably comes from how Michael made my day ,” says Mýa.
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Elsewhere during a chat with PEOPLE, Mýa opened up about what she hopes the latest chapter in her career says about her: “Growth, evolution, faith and breaking through.”
“I was just a young teenager fresh out of high school when I started and not everything is going to be perfect when you first start,” she says. “But taking that leap to success, even when things are imperfect and the growth is evident, is very clear and the message and the exudation of the journey and what that means is faith and still standing unscathed.”
“Hopefully it will serve as an inspiration to others because it’s not an easy path or industry,” she adds. “There are perks, but very competitive, and a lot of people can get discouraged along the way because of so many voices and influences or self-doubt. So just an example of letting a higher power use me because it’s not about me at the end of the day.”
The Queens of R&B tour — featuring Xscape, SWV, Mýa, Total and 702 — kicks off June 27 in Concord, California before making stops in 30 cities across the US
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