Bet you've been wondering what flamboyant hit-maker Mika's been up to recently...... no? He's been rather busy..... Having practically owned the airwaves, charts and TV schedules for a few months back in 2007, it's perhaps somewhat surprising that the Beirut-born pop-singer and songwriter has slipped under the radar of late.

Having trounced contenders to be nominated as winner of the BBC Sound of 2007, Michael Penniman -turned-Mika set about plugging his enormously catchy falsetto-powered flouncy-anthem, 'Grace Kelly'. After several weeks of sound-tracking anything with a pulse for the next few months, the song became the Marmite tune of the moment - you either adored it or wanted to shoot it with a sawn-off. But Mika was far from a one-hit wonder - he delivered a plausible recipe for an album.

His debut, 'Life in Cartoon Motion', dealt with social and personal subjects including sexuality, image (the single 'Big Girl (You Are So Beautiful)' speaks for itself) and childhood - suddenly Mr Penniman was striking chords with fellow artists and peers, including Beth Ditto and those voting for him at that year's BRITs (he won Best British Breakthrough Artist). Four more big hits paved the way for platinum-sales globally and enough stimulation to knock out a second album, 'The Boy Who Knew Too Much' and score just one more big hit, 'We Are Golden'. Then nothing. Apart from writing 'Gang Bang' for somebody called Madonna for her 'MDNA' album. Just a fairly big event then.

Moving on swiftly from 2009 to the present day, Mika appear to have not only pulled the cat out of the bag with his next recording partner, as smoothed, stroked and fed it with plump juicy mice. Pharrell Williams has been enlisted to turn Mika back into a hit-machine again, starting with 'Celebrate', which you can watch in this article. Williams keeps the rapping to a minimum but adds that fairy-dust that worked for Britney, Justin and Snoop Dogg in recent years.

In addition to this, a third album is heading our way in September. Entitled 'The Origin of Love', the full-length release will be promoted by means of UK shows at some point, but to begin with, you should head to Heaven in London on 26th July to catch him in action after recently performing at Lovebox last week. We will have tickets on sale from Wednesday 20th June at 9am, priced at £22.50.