Vanessa is a Tanzanian singer, songwriter, rapper, youth activist, television personality and radio host. She is popularly known for being the first ever Tanzanian MTV VJ.
Vanessa has a baby sister, Matianne Mdee, who goes by the stage name Mimi Mars.
Diamond Platnumz has professed his love for her many times and that he wishes he was dating Mimi Mars, but Mimi has given her reasons as to why she cannot be in a relationship with Diamond. Mimi revealed that she was seeing someone already.
Vanessa Mdee Education
Vanessa attended Arusha Modern High School for her secondary and high school education.
She then furthered her education at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa to pursue a degree in Law. However, her heart seemed to be drawn more to the arts.
Vanessa Mdee Relationship
Vanessa is in a relationship with Nigerian musician and actor, Rotimi.
Vanessa moved to the United States where she is residing with her bae Rotimi, who is also a singer. On her birthday, Rotimi outdid himself in an effort to make sure that his bae, gets to celebrate her birthday in a special way.
To prove that she was meant to be in the entertainment industry, her career kicked off in 2007. This is when she got the chance to audition for The MTV VJ Search in Dar es Salaam and she later joined Carol and Kule to host the Coca-Cola Chart Express.
Her taste in fashion has seen her also host the MTV Africa Music Awards for three years in a row. In 2012 Mdee hosted MTV Base Meets, a show geared towards empowering young Africans from around the world by giving them the rare opportunity to sit down with an influential leader.
In 2014, alongside Tanzanian songbird Barnaba Elias, they teamed up and released their latest up tempo Afro Pop duet Siri. In 2015 Vanessa released her fifth single Nobody But Me where she was joined by the South African rapper K.O.
Vanessa had the opportunity to be part of the Kili Music Music Tour as well as the Serengeti Fiesta Music Tour in 2014. She got to share the stage with stage with industry greats such as Davido, Diamond Platnumz and Patoranking, to name a few.
Vanessa released her debut album 'Money Mondays' in 2018. The album has got 18 tracks and according to Boom Play, a streaming platform, the album broke the record in East African Music.
In 2019, Vanessa got another gig on TV and this time she was unveiled as one of the four pioneer judges for the debut season of East Africa's Got Talent. She also released her hit 'Bado' where she featured Rayvanny.
Her time in the entertainment industry and with all the work that she's done, Vanessa has received the recognition that she deserves as a great artist.
Here's a list of her awards and nominations over the years:
2013 - Best New Artist at the Tanzania Music Awards (Nominated) 2013 - Best AfroPop at the Tanzania Music Awards (Won) 2013 - Best Collaboration at the Tanzania Music Awards (Won) 2014 - Female Artist of the Year at the Kilimanjaro Tanzania Music Awards (Nomination) 2014 - R&B Song of the Year at the Kilimanjaro Tanzania Music Awards (Nomination) 2014 - Female Performer of the Year at the Kilimanjaro Tanzania Music Awards (Nomination) 2014 - R&B Song of the Year at the Kilimanjaro Tanzania Music Awards (Won) 2014 - Best Collaboration Award and Best Francophone at the MTV Africa Music Awards (Won)
2014 - Best Female Artiste in Eastern Africa at the AFRIM Awards (Nominated) 2014 - Best African RNB & Soul at the AFRIM Awards (Nominated) 2014 - Best Female Artiste in Eastern Africa at the AFRIM Awards (Won) 2015 - Female Artist of the Year at the Kilimanjaro Music Awards (Won) 2015 - Female Entertainer of the Year at the Kilimanjaro Music Awards (Won) 2015 - Afropop Song of the Year at the Kilimanjaro Music Awards (Won) 2015 - Favourite Female Artist at Tanzania's People's Choice Awards (Nominated) 2015 - Female Artist of the Year at the KTMA Awards 2015 - Best Female Entertainer at the KTMA Awards 2016 - Best Female Artist at the Africa Entertainment Awards (USA) (Nominated) 2016 - Best Female at the MTV Africa Music Awards (Nominated) 2016 - Most Stylish Female Artiste (East Africa) (Won) 2016 - Best Female Artist (Non Nigerian) at the Nigeria Entertainment Awards (Won)
Vanessa Mdee Controversy
Just like many people who struggle with certain things in their lives, our celebs are no different. Vanessa finally opened up that she had been struggling with alcoholism secretly.
The Wet singer said that for the better part of 2019, she drank herself to sleep and asked people around her to cover up for her.
"I drank myself to sleep every night. I am not proud of it but it is my truth and I know there are people who need to hear this. I was lying to people around me to cover up and to keep the facade alive," she narrated during her podcast titled One on One with Vanessa Mdee.
She said that because she hid it so well from the public she even got to a point whereby she was depressed. This led her to the decision of finally dropping the mic and not doing anything that is music related.
"This is my truth and me letting you into this space because I don't want to live a candy-coated life anymore. I became a robot and I have no desire to be a robot or be unhappy anymore, because that's what I was, unhappy. I had moments of we are enjoying this, I had moments of this is fun, I had moments of this is a beautiful day," Mdee added.
We love it when our celebs do great work to help, show love and support to their communities. In 2008, Mdee worked with the Staying Alive Foundation on a project that meant so much to her.
She got to visit the Uwanja wa Fisi with then-Staying Alive Foundation Special Ambassador Kelly Rowland. Mdee also joined Malaria No More in their Z!nduka Campaign, a campaign aimed at the eradication of malaria.
In 2015, she took part in the ONE mission and ONE mission only – Celebrating girl power campaign which was calling on world leaders to put girls and women in the forefront.
Vanessa bagged an endorsement deal from Crown Paints, to be its brand ambassador in Tanzania. Crown Paints is a number one paint manufacturing company in Eastern Africa.
In 2015 she was named the brand ambassador for Samsung in Tanzania.
She announced in early 2020 that she had bagged another ambassadorial deal.
Vanessa Mdee Net Worth
Vanessa has been involved in a number of projects and has signed a number of ambassadorial deals that have kept the cheques coming in. She is believed to have a net worth of $6 million.
Although Vanessa has expressed that she will not be doing anymore music for a while, she still commands a huge following on her socials as many still look up to her. Vanessa said that she wanted to enjoy her life outside of music and be true to herself.
