Allanah real name Tiny Machivenyika is a singer and songwriter from Chitungwiza. She is most known for the hit song Fadza Mutengi which she did alongside Poptain. She rose to fame after her cover of the popular song Mebo went viral. She took parts of the names from her favourite artistes, Fianah and Alaine to come up with her stage name Allanah.
Age
Allanah was born in 1995 and is currently 25 years of age
Early life
Tiny Machivenyika grew up in a family of three girls and one boy.
Speaking on her early life she said,
"I was born a musician, I wouldn’t be anything else other than a musician."
“I would tell my parents I wanted to be a musician. I remember my friends would come with lyrics cuttings from The Sunday Mail and The Herald Cool Lifestyle and we could sing along. In five years, I will still be doing music, and I am involved in charity work.”
“Music has always been my passion while growing up. I started singing when I was in kindergarten at Rutendo pre-school. I could outshine my peers and my family knew that I was a musician destined for success."
“I was in the school and church choirs,” she said.
Education
She attended Moffat Primary School and did her Ordinary Level at Morgan High School where she passed four subjects. She says she decided not to pursue school further because her love was music.
“I attended Moffat Primary School and did an Ordinary Level at Morgan High School. I passed four subjects and I didn’t want to rewrite because of my love was music," she said in an interview.
Marriage
Allanah got married in 2015 but divorced her husband only 3 years later in 2018 for being abusive. In an interview with The Standard, Allanah described how she almost quit on her music career as a result of the marriage.
"After getting married in 2015, I lived a rough life and my husband then did not want me to be a musician whereas he was pursuing a career as a music producer and so I had to stay at home," she said in an interview.
Career
Before becoming a full-time artist Allanah used to buy and sell goods although the business was not as worthwhile and she ended up living in poverty. Allanah has been in the music industry for over 5 years now. In an interview she said:
“I am not new to the music industry as I recorded my first song in 2014, “Give Glory” although it didn’t receive much attention. It is just about the opportunity and I was waiting for the right time."
“In 2015, Raw Music wanted singers as backing vocalists and I was very lucky to be selected. I can say my breakthrough came two years ago under the guidance of music producer Papa Lodza when I started doing cover songs.
“I was then signed by Raw Music and my cover songs were receiving positive comments, leading me to recording my own songs, ‘Mude Mude’ — a love song and ‘Mboko Last’, a song related to the hardships and challenges faced by young women.”
Allanah says that her career breakthrough came in 2018 when she met Llyod Jiro, who is known to most as ‘Papa Lodza’, who identified her talent and felt the need to explore more musically with her.
“Although I am into reggae, I am currently a worship leader at Labour of Love Church."
In 2020 Allanah had the chance to meet Poptain and they collaborated on Fadza Mutengi. She has worked with artistes like Lesco, Solution, Everlast, Poptain and Soul Jnr among others.
Awards and Nominations
She was not yet nominated for any awards at the time of writing.
