Muni Long (real name: Priscilla Renea Hamilton; born September 14, 1988) is a 35-year-old R&B songwriter and singer born in Vero Beach, Florida.
Muni Long has been writing songs for over a decade and has worked with American top singers such as Rihanna, Maria Carey, Ariana Grande, and a lot more. As a result, she takes credit as a co-songwriter for a couple of R&B hit songs of the last decade.
Although her nationality is American – being born in Florida – she has an African-American ethnicity, however, in a bid to get the best of her career, Muni had to leave her state of nativity and moved around a bit – first to Atlanta, Georgia, and then to Los Angeles, California.
Summary of Muni Long’s Biography
- Full Name: Priscilla Renea Hamilton
- Stage Name: Muni Long
- Gender: Female
- Date of Birth: September 14, 1988
- Muni Long’s Age: 35 years old
- Ethnicity: African American
- Nationality: American
- Zodiac Sign: Virgo
- Sexual Orientation: Straight
- Religion: Christianity
- Occupation: Singer and Songwriter
- Genre: R&B, Pop
- Instrument: Guitar
- Record Label: Capitol, Virgin, Supergiant Records
- Marital Status: Married
- Muni Long’s Husband: Masimba Chibanda
- High School: Vero Beach High School, Florida
- Muni Long’s Height in Inches: 62 inches
- Muni Long’s Height in Centimetres: 157.48 centimeters
- Muni Long’s Weight: 50kg
- Muni Long’s Net Worth: $2 million
- Famous for: Her single, Hrs and Hrs
- Muni Long’s Instagram: @munilong
- Twitter: @MuniLong
- Facebook: I Am Muni Long
- YouTube Channel: MUNI LONG
Muni Long Was Born In Vero Beach, Florida
Growing up was not a walk in the park for Muni Long. She was born to her parents in Vero Beach, Florida, in the US on the 14th of September, 1988, however, she had various environmental exposures as a child. This was because her father was a member of the Navy and her family was always relocating. As such, she lived her early life in different black communities.
It’s normal for humans to adapt and Muni Long wasn’t an exception. She soon got used to the frequent changing of schools. She had to make new friends, learn a new slang every now and then, adjust to the culture and pick a new accent. It was very tough, but Muni Long found solace in singing. She made it a habit to join the choir and theatre group in every school she attended.
Where Is Muni Long From?
Muni Long is a native of the state of Florida in the United States of America, which means she is an American national. As an Afro-American, Muni Long was raised in different black settlements, however, in a bid to get her music career to a great level, she had to move from Florida to Georgia where she settled in Atlanta for a while. Today, the avid songwriter resides in Los Angeles, California.
What Is Muni Long’s Ethnicity?
As mentioned before, Muni Long has a black American ethnicity. However, her ethnicity has been a thing of debate among so many of her fans, who despite knowing that she is black and has American nationality, tend to believe that she has Asian heritage because of her stage name “Muni Long.”
Well, while she may have a blended ethnicity, Asian may not be one of them (especially as it concerns her stage name) because the name “Muni Long” is only a stage name, which stuck after she had attempted to use other names as she chased success in her career.
Muni Long Was Born Priscilla Renea Hamilton
Muni Long’s birth name is Priscilla Renea Hamilton. She started her YouTube channel and went for auditions with her birth name. Her name soon became popular in the music industry as a songwriter.
Sadly, songwriters have little or no space to raise their heads. They do not have a level playing ground with artists as they usually lack support. They were destined to be faceless in the industry no matter how successful they were. This grossly affected Priscilla Renea Hamilton and as most of her songs were disregarded and tossed into the bin, she sought a change.
In 2018, she changed her name to Melrose. As Melrose, she put out a country song but it made no waves. Then she decided to stop seeking approval and get to do something different. Her manager, Rashad Tyler, talked her into trying R&B. To try an R&B song, she decided to adopt a new name again, Muni. She got inspiration from a Filipino phrase that is pronounced as “money” and then, she settled for “Muni Long.”
She Developed A Passion For Singing As A Child
As a child, Muni Long had a great talent that was very hardly unnoticed. She has always been a sweet-sounding vocalist and she started singing when she was two years old. However, as good as Muni was at singing, she was stage-shy and flopped every time she was asked to sing in public.
In order to deal with this, her mother held her by the hand as she guided her through this dark patch in her music career. Muni’s mom volunteered to attend family parties, nuptials, and burials and these functions were a nightmare for Muni as her mom would make her tag along and force her to sing.
Long got tired of being forced to take up functions by her family and so as she grew older, she stopped taking those jobs. She later ran into trouble with her parents and was sent out of home as a teenager.
Muni Long Started Her Career Journey As A YouTuber At The Age of 18
Muni Long had always known that she was destined to be a pop star. When she was 18, she came across YouTube and used it to project herself. She worked hard to make her channel grow by posting videos of herself singing covers for songs.
One of the songs she first posted was Cry Me A River by Justin Timberlake. She also has a video of herself singing words from the dictionary using Fergie’s beat in the Glamorous.
As her fame on social media grew, she performed Drake’s Best I Ever Had while playing the guitar. This got her the attention of the veteran, Drake. Muni then had another great performance on MTV’s Say What Karaoke where she sang Me and You by Cassie.
As she continued to project herself through her channel and other avenues, it had a ripple effect and soon, the YouTube celebrity began to attract deals. In 2009, she signed a deal with Capitol Records using her birth name – Priscilla.
The same year, she released her first single, Dollhouse in August. She also released another song, Jukebox in December, however, both songs failed to reach the Billboard 200. Not deterred, Muni Long dropped another record in March 2010 titled Lovesick, which also followed the lead of the first two.
After the latst failure, she started writing songs. Muni Long partnered with a couple of American artists like Ariana Grande, Mariah Carey, Rihanna, Chris Brown, etc. to produce beautiful rhymes and lyrics. She sure had her name written in gold as a professional songwriter not until 2018 that she decided to showcase her exceptional voice again.
Since then, Muni Long has released up to three albums. Her latest album, “Public Display of Affection” is making waves. Muni is now among the 2022 Grammy awards nominees.
She Is Also A Social Media Influencer
Muni Long started her career on social media and as a result, she has gained so many fans on various platforms. Her YouTube channel @MUNI LONG has about 452K subscribers. Muni has uploaded over 60 videos of covers and her singles on her channel. Each of her recent videos has between 300K to 500K viewers.
Similarly, the entertainer has a large family on Instagram @MUH-Knee LONG. With over 430 posts, Muni pulls about 711K followers. This trend is the same with her Twitter page, @My name is MUNI. She has about 42.3K followers.
In 2020, she released a single titled Black Like This and has been making waves under her new name “Muni Long” in the last few years. She even became more popular with her 2022 newly released album “Public Display of Affection.”