Deno

Deno Michael Mebrahitu (born 23 September 2002), known mononymously as Deno, is a British singer, songwriter, rapper and actor from London, England. His parents are originally from Eritrea, and he was raised in South London. He came to the forefront of London's afro-wave music scene beginning in 2018 with a number of viral music videos and hit songs.

Beginnings (2016–2017)

In 2016, a friend of Deno asked for him to freestyle and sing on his Snapchat after school when it was then posted to Instagram with the #imjustbait hashtag. He gained thousands of followers and further videos caught the attention of Stormzy, who retweeted one of them, got in touch, and took Deno into the studio with him to guest on his album Gang Signs & Prayer. He attended Evelyn Grace Academy in Brixton, London.

In 2016, Deno met rapper AJ at a Stratford Westfield get-together. The two began a creative partnership, beginning with Deno singing the chorus on AJ's track "Know Me". The video netted over 2.5 million views on YouTube. The same year, the pair, often styled AJ x Deno, also recorded multiple songs that same year. They began performing more consistently, including opening up for Migos at IndigO2.

Deno & AJ were signed by Sony Columbia UK in 2017. They released singles from 2017 but it was only in 2018 when commercial success would be found from the hit "London" featuring EO. The video for "London" was streamed over 35 million times and peaked at No. 45 on the UK Singles Chart.

Rise to fame (2018–2019)

Deno met rapper Cadet on the set of the short film Shiro's Story Part 3 (2018). His ensuing collaboration with Cadet, the track "Advice" went viral, with over 30 million YouTube views, and reached No. 14 on the UK Singles Chart with over 500,000 sales, earning a Brit certified Gold Award. More singles followed as he featured in the hit "Pumpy" by Da Beatfreakz, also featuring past collaborators AJ, Swarmz and Cadet. In 2019, he released "First Days", a tribute to Cadet, who had died in a road collision in February of that year.

In September 2019, Deno released the single "Change" featuring DigDat, with a video directed by Darnell Depradine. That same month, he teamed with men's global fashion wear brand BoohooMAN for a 30-piece fashion collection, launched in September 2019.

As an actor, in addition to Shiro's Story Part 3, Deno appeared in the 2018 season of Idris Elba's TV series In the Long Run.

In late 2019, Deno released the EP Eye 2 Eye.

Singles and EPs

• "London" (AJ & Deno featuring EO) (2018) - UK #45
• "Advice" (with Cadet) (2018) - UK #14
• "Pumpy" (with Da Beatfreakz, AJ & Cadet) (2018) - UK #70
• "First Days" (2019) - UK #71
• "Lifestyle" (2019) - UK #82
• "Motorola" (with Da Beatfreakz & Swarmz) (2019) - UK #32
• "Change" (featuring DigDat) (2019) - UK #53
• "Link Up" (with Geko, Stefflon Don & Dappy) (2019) - UK #84
• Eye 2 Eye (2019)