Mohombi Nzasi Moupondo, known professionally as Mohombi, is a Swedish-Congolese singer, songwriter and dancer. He grew up in Kista near Stockholm. Mohombi was RedOne's first signing to 2101 Records in joint venture with Universal Music Group.[2] From 2000 to 2008, Mohombi was part of the Swedish hip hop group Avalon with his brother Djo Moupondo. Mohombi released his debut solo single "Bumpy Ride" in August 2010. The single became a worldwide hit, and charted in the top-ten in several countries, and was followed by his debut studio album, MoveMeant in February 2011. 　　Mohombi was born to a Swedish mother and a Congolese father. He has 14 siblings.Mohombi and his family left the war-torn Congo and emigrated to Stockholm, Sweden, in 1999 when Mohombi was 13. When he turned 20 years old, Mohombi rented a room in Radio 1 UAE's Simon B's childhood house just to get to know him better. His parents regularly exposed him to varied musical influences from early on in his childhood.Mohombi studied at Rytmus Music High School in Stockholm and first appeared on stage in 2002 in the Swedish revival of Wild Side Story, an adaptation of West Side Story.[citation needed] He graduated with a bachelor's degree in music from the Royal College of Music, Stockholm. He speaks Swahili, Swedish, French, English, Spanish and Lingala. 　　In Stockholm Mohombi and his brother Djo Moupondo, a local club DJ known as DJ Djo formed the group Avalon combining the dancehall and hip hop of the time with the distinctive African beats on which they were raised. From 2004 to 2008 the group sold over half a million records and won the All African Kora Awards, an African equivalent of the Grammy for the category Best Group – Diaspora Europe/Caribbean category, while Mohombi became a prolific songwriter in his own right. At this point music was only a part-time job, and looking for something more Mohombi headed to L.A..