Havana Brown Australian DJ Born 1985 in Melbourne

Early life

Havana Brown, born Angelique Frances Meunier, was born on 14 February 1985 in Melbourne. She studied at Aquinas College. Before she became a DJ she had signed to a record label in the United Kingdom as part of a group called Fishbowl, but the group broke up before its first single was released. She then turned to DJing and began playing venues around Melbourne, working with promoters across Australia.

Career

In 2008 Brown signed with Island Records Australia after a senior figure at the label asked whether she would make a compilation album. That led to the Crave series of mix compilations, and to a run of support slots for touring international acts. She opened for Rihanna on the Australian leg of the Good Girl Gone Bad Tour in October 2008, supported the Pussycat Dolls on their Australian dates in May 2009, and joined Britney Spears on the European leg of the Circus Tour in 2009, followed by the Australian leg in November of that year. From December 2009 she also supplied mixes every Saturday night on the radio programme Party People, broadcast across Australia by the Today Network.

She released her first single as a recording artist, "We Run the Night", on 29 April 2011. It reached number five on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart and was certified triple platinum. After signing a United States deal with Universal Republic through RedOne's label 2101 Records, a remix of the song with a rap verse by Pitbull was issued in the United States on 27 September 2011 and went to number one on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart. Her second single, "Get It", followed on 9 September 2011 and reached number 38 in Australia. In 2011 she also supported Chris Brown and Enrique Iglesias on their Australian tours.

Her release When the Lights Go Out appeared in July 2012, with an Australian version and a United States version that included the RedOne remix. A day later she was a musical guest on America's Got Talent. Later in 2012 she toured Australia as one of the support acts for Pitbull's Planet Pit World Tour and represented Australia at the first ABU TV Song Festival, held in Seoul on 14 October. The single "Big Banana", featuring R3hab and Prophet of 7Lions, was released on 4 December 2012. It became her second number one on the United States dance club chart and reached number 18 in Australia, where it was certified gold.

Her debut studio album, Flashing Lights, came out on 11 October 2013 and debuted at number six on the ARIA Albums Chart. It includes work with RedOne, R3hab, Cassie Davis, Snob Scrilla and Afrojack, as well as earlier singles such as "We Run the Night" and "Big Banana". Brown spent most of 2012 and 2013 in the United States working on it. The title track reached number one on the United States dance club chart, her third there, and the follow-up single "Warrior" peaked at number 11 in Australia and was certified platinum. She performed "Warrior" on The X Factor Australia on 14 October 2013, and she headlined the Oz Tour in 2013 and 2014. In 2014 she also supported Bruno Mars at a Las Vegas show.

Further singles included "Whatever We Want" (March 2014), "Better Not Said" (September 2014) and "Battle Cry" (July 2015), the last featuring Bebe Rexha and Savi. In 2018 she released "Glimpse" with Rich the Kid, a hip hop track, and in May 2019 the single "Cookie" with Veronica Vega. A planned EP was dropped after damage to the original master recordings. "All Day" followed in October 2019. In October 2023 she released "Forever Young", her first new single in four years and the first on her own label, Havana Brown Entertainment.

Brown has also appeared on Australian television. She was a contestant on the second season of the Australian edition of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in 2016, and in 2024 she competed on a celebrity edition of The Amazing Race Australia with her friend Stephanie Wood.

Recognition

"We Run the Night" earned Brown two ARIA Music Award nominations, for Breakthrough Artist Single and Highest Selling Single. Her chart record includes the triple-platinum certification of that song in Australia and three number-one entries on the United States Hot Dance Club Songs chart. She has named Janet Jackson as her biggest influence, saying she wanted to put on large shows with dancers and fireworks.