Ria Boss is a Ghanaian-Burkinabé singer, songwriter, producer and multidisciplinary artist whose smoky neo-soul voice turns private feeling into communal theatre. Born Maria Emmanuelle Grace Bossman-Damiba in London and raised in Accra, she built an unusually deep independent catalogue before recording the live album REMEMBER. Her official X profile carries the same “Cat Mama” world across music, visual art and creative-community work.
Who is Ria Boss? Ria Boss is Ghanaian-Burkinabé artist Maria Emmanuelle Grace Bossman-Damiba. Known for releasing 11 EPs in 11 weeks, placing music in I May Destroy You and recording REMEMBER live with The Musical Lunatics, she blends R&B, neo-soul and jazz with confessional writing, theatrical performance and community-building in Accra.
Breakthrough by Volume: Eleven EPs in Eleven Weeks
Ria Boss did not introduce herself with one cautiously packaged single. In 2018, she created the #THANKGODITSRIA series and released an EP every week for 11 weeks. The run moved between romantic soul, electronic experiments, rap personas and unfiltered interior monologues. Projects including LONECAT, BLOODBATH, SAMPLEPLATE, UNDERWATER and BORNDAY presented not a fixed brand, but a set of artistic rooms listeners could enter.
The scale mattered because independent artists often choose between frequent visibility and careful world-building. Ria Boss attempted both. The NATIVE’s 2020 profile highlighted the feat and enduring songs including “Holding Hands in Public” and “Equal.”
One song travelled farther than the series initially suggested. “Intro,” from BORNDAY, appeared in episode seven of Michaela Coel’s HBO and BBC series I May Destroy You in 2020. Ria Boss had produced, mixed and mastered the track herself. The placement gave an intimate Accra-made recording an international screen context without changing its private scale.
Formative Life: London Birth, Accra Roots and Harlem Courage
Maria Emmanuelle Grace Bossman-Damiba was born in London and spent most of her childhood in Accra. She lived largely with her grandmother and watched her mother build a demanding professional life. The two women supplied emotional grounding and a musical environment that treated creativity as something worth developing.
Piano lessons began around age nine or ten. Choir, ballet and tap followed, giving her early training across sound and movement. Singing alone in public was harder. In a detailed early-career interview, she remembered being shy even after school talent shows and singing competitions. Her mother’s description of her voice as “true” made her pay closer attention to what it could become.
“I’ve always found solace in melody, felt most at ease in song.”
AFRICAN CULTURE
Ria Boss Biography: Real Name, Songs, Album and Career
Aug 16, 2026
Aug 16, 2026
14 min read
Published
Updated:
Ria Boss is a Ghanaian-Burkinabé singer, songwriter, producer and multidisciplinary artist whose smoky neo-soul voice turns private feeling into communal theatre. Born Maria Emmanuelle Grace Bossman-Damiba in London and raised in Accra, she built an unusually deep independent catalogue before recording the live album REMEMBER. Her official X profile carries the same “Cat Mama” world across music, visual art and creative-community work.
Who is Ria Boss? Ria Boss is Ghanaian-Burkinabé artist Maria Emmanuelle Grace Bossman-Damiba. Known for releasing 11 EPs in 11 weeks, placing music in I May Destroy You and recording REMEMBER live with The Musical Lunatics, she blends R&B, neo-soul and jazz with confessional writing, theatrical performance and community-building in Accra.
Breakthrough by Volume: Eleven EPs in Eleven Weeks
Ria Boss did not introduce herself with one cautiously packaged single. In 2018, she created the #THANKGODITSRIA series and released an EP every week for 11 weeks. The run moved between romantic soul, electronic experiments, rap personas and unfiltered interior monologues. Projects including LONECAT, BLOODBATH, SAMPLEPLATE, UNDERWATER and BORNDAY presented not a fixed brand, but a set of artistic rooms listeners could enter.
The scale mattered because independent artists often choose between frequent visibility and careful world-building. Ria Boss attempted both. The NATIVE’s 2020 profile highlighted the feat and enduring songs including “Holding Hands in Public” and “Equal.”
One song travelled farther than the series initially suggested. “Intro,” from BORNDAY, appeared in episode seven of Michaela Coel’s HBO and BBC series I May Destroy You in 2020. Ria Boss had produced, mixed and mastered the track herself. The placement gave an intimate Accra-made recording an international screen context without changing its private scale.
Formative Life: London Birth, Accra Roots and Harlem Courage
Maria Emmanuelle Grace Bossman-Damiba was born in London and spent most of her childhood in Accra. She lived largely with her grandmother and watched her mother build a demanding professional life. The two women supplied emotional grounding and a musical environment that treated creativity as something worth developing.
Piano lessons began around age nine or ten. Choir, ballet and tap followed, giving her early training across sound and movement. Singing alone in public was harder. In a detailed early-career interview, she remembered being shy even after school talent shows and singing competitions. Her mother’s description of her voice as “true” made her pay closer attention to what it could become.
“I’ve always found solace in melody, felt most at ease in song.”
At 18, she moved to Harlem, New York, and began risking performances of original music. Los Angeles later became a period of healing and self-definition before she returned to Accra.
Her earliest widely documented recordings include the Juls-produced “Right, Left” and Kuvie-produced “LUHYASOGOOD” in 2015. Find Your Free followed in 2017, translating years of preparation into a six-track project about depression, self-confidence, emotional survival and women learning to value themselves.
Ghanaian-Burkinabé Identity Inside Cat Mama World
Ria Boss identifies as Ghanaian-Burkinabé. That self-description is more precise than assigning her an ethnicity from her name, birthplace or family history. London is where she was born; Accra is the place that formed her everyday cultural and artistic language; New York and Los Angeles expanded how she imagined a life in music.
Her roots include Baptist spirituals, Motown, jazz and neo-soul. D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, Nina Simone, Lauryn Hill, Jill Scott and Ella Fitzgerald offered models of voice and presence. XTRAfrica’s article on Adina’s church-rooted musical influences provides another view of sacred music shaping Ghanaian performers.
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“Cat Mama” is the affectionate nickname that became an organising idea. Cat Mama World includes her concerts, radio work, paintings and multiple performance personalities. The stage shows can feel like musical theatre, live gig and exhibition at once. That approach places her within Accra’s experimental scene rather than a narrow commercial R&B category. XTRAfrica’s Ghana music hub shows the larger field of highlife, hip-hop, Afrobeats and soul against which that difference becomes visible.
REMEMBER: Artistic Craft Built from Grief and One Live Take
Ria Boss’s defining album arrived in 2022. REMEMBER was recorded with her longtime musical director Nii Quaye Aryee and The Musical Lunatics, with every main song captured live in one take. The choice preserved breath, room sound and the small changes in force that polished studio construction often removes.
The 11-track album moves through grief, love, body confidence, frustration and recovery. Its title song emerged after the death of her grandmother and experiences of pregnancy loss. “Here” accepts that adulthood arrives without instructions; “Damn,” featuring T’neeya, turns body shame into funk; “Equal Refix” with Ko-Jo Cue rejects hierarchy inside love; and “Destiny” with Joey B tries to release anxiety about what cannot be controlled.
GQ South Africa’s account of the album described it as therapy made from tears. Yet the record does not stay inside sorrow. Its live arrangements let humour, sensuality and self-encouragement interrupt grief. Explaining the romantic innocence of “Kisses Under the Moon,” Ria said:
“When I’m in love, it feels like the full moon is shining on my face.”
Her voice is central to the transformation. It can sit low and smoky, open into a jazz-trained belt or pull back until a lyric feels overheard. The production follows rather than competes. That is why REMEMBER works as an album rather than merely a live-session document.
Achievements that Extend Beyond an Awards Shelf
Ria Boss’s strongest markers are creative and institutional rather than trophy-driven. No major competitive music award was verified, and an editorial ranking should not be presented as one. The achievements that can be supported include:
Releasing 11 EPs across 11 consecutive weeks in 2018.
Placing “Intro” from BORNDAY in HBO and BBC’s I May Destroy You in 2020.
Recording the 11-song REMEMBER live with The Musical Lunatics in 2022.
Earning The NATIVE’s ranking for the No. 1 R&B album of 2022.
Having “Call Up” selected for Kamala Harris’s 2023 Africa-trip playlist.
Receiving a 2023 Musicboard Berlin co-creation residency with Aka Kelzz.
The Kamala Harris selection connected her to a pan-African playlist that also included Amaarae, Moliy and Black Sherif. XTRAfrica’s Black Sherif songs archive follows one of the Ghanaian artists on that same list, while its feature on Amaarae’s place in African pop shows another branch of Ghana’s alternative international presence.
Ria Boss Career Timeline
Year | Event | Significance |
2015 | Releases “Right, Left” and “LUHYASOGOOD” | Establishes an early SoundCloud audience and key producer relationships. |
2017 | Releases Find Your Free | Introduces her healing-centred writing through a complete public project. |
2018 | Completes #THANKGODITSRIA | Eleven EPs in eleven weeks reveal her range and independent discipline. |
2020 | “Intro” appears in I May Destroy You | Brings her self-produced work to HBO and BBC audiences. |
2022 | Releases REMEMBER | Turns grief and recovery into a one-take live-album statement. |
2023 | Joins Kamala Harris’s playlist and Musicboard residency | Gains institutional recognition in Ghana and a co-creation bridge to Berlin. |
2025 | Releases The Waiting Room | Opens a concise new chapter through “Liar,” “Labyrinth” and “Fast and Loose.” |
2026 | Returns to Berlin for Da Capo | Extends her performance-and-conversation practice internationally. |
Personal Journey: Body Confidence, Loss and Emotional Honesty
Ria Boss’s writing is personal, but its honesty should not be turned into gossip. She has discussed her grandmother’s death, pregnancy loss, emotional fragility and teenage body insecurity because those experiences directly shaped songs. She has not publicly established a reliable record of her exact birth date, age, current partner or children, so those details should not be guessed.
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The clearest transformation appears in “Damn.” In a Moziak interview about the song, she recalled years of shame about being plus-sized before learning to reject beauty standards that treated her body as a problem.
“Woman is strength, resilience, softness, intimacy, sensuality, and power.”
This is not a generic empowerment slogan detached from experience. It links the teenager who felt watched to the performer who now controls how her body, voice and costumes occupy a stage.
Emerging Impact: Building Rooms for Other Artists
Ria Boss’s impact is clearest in the spaces she builds. She co-founded Ria Boss Open Mic as a live platform for expression and creative community in Accra. She also works with Black Girls Glow, an organisation designed to foster collaboration among women creatives, and has facilitated songwriting, performance and community-building workshops.
Her Cat Mama World radio show on Oroko Radio extends the same instinct into curation. A 2024 Oroko and Vibrate Space programme listed her among facilitators discussing creative community. The point is not simply that she performs; she helps make rehearsal rooms, microphones and peer networks visible to artists who need a first audience.
Her live practice also creates connections across generations. In March 2025, she joined a Ghanaian cast including Efya for a Whitney Houston tribute in Accra. XTRAfrica’s Efya songs page offers a catalogue link to another Ghanaian vocalist whose career demonstrates the durability of a distinctive live voice.
Future Direction: The Waiting Room and Berlin in 2026
Ria Boss released the three-track EP The Waiting Room on 1 August 2025. “Liar,” “Labyrinth” and “Fast and Loose” compress her confessional method into nine minutes. Apple Music’s release page confirms it as her latest lead project as of 16 August 2026, while REMEMBER remains her latest full album.
The next verified event is Da Capo at CiCi Studios in Berlin on 29 August 2026. The programme combines an intimate live set with conversation about creativity, ambition and the realities of an artistic life. It suits Ria Boss: performance and reflection sharing the same room.
No second studio album or firm release date had been announced by 16 August. What is verifiable is a continuing direction new music within Cat Mama World, international exchanges and community-centred live performance without abandoning Accra as her base.
Ria Boss FAQs
What is Ria Boss’s real name?
Her full name is Maria Emmanuelle Grace Bossman-Damiba. She performs as Ria Boss and is also called Cat Mama.
Where was Ria Boss born?
She was born in London, grew up in Accra, moved to New York at 18, later spent time in Los Angeles and returned to Accra.
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What is Ria Boss’s nationality?
Ria Boss publicly identifies as Ghanaian-Burkinabé. She is based in Accra, Ghana.
How old is Ria Boss?
Her exact date of birth and current age have not been reliably published by an official biography or major interview.
Which song made Ria Boss famous?
“Holding Hands in Public” became an early fan favourite, while the 11-EP #THANKGODITSRIA run established her alternative-music audience. “Intro” later reached international television through I May Destroy You.
What are Ria Boss’s best-known songs?
Her best-known songs include “Holding Hands in Public,” “Equal,” “Call Up,” “Somali Rose,” “Damn,” “Destiny,” “Mango,” “Labyrinth” and “Liar.”
How many albums has Ria Boss released?
She has released one full-length album, REMEMBER (2022), alongside numerous EPs and singles.
What is Ria Boss’s latest release?
Her latest lead release as of 16 August 2026 is The Waiting Room, a three-song EP released on 1 August 2025.
Was Ria Boss’s music used in I May Destroy You?
Yes. Her self-produced song “Intro,” from the BORNDAY EP, appeared in episode seven of the HBO and BBC series in 2020.
What awards has Ria Boss won?
No major competitive music award was verified. REMEMBER was ranked the No. 1 R&B album of 2022 by The NATIVE, which is an editorial honour rather than an award win.
What is Ria Boss Open Mic?
It is an Accra-based open-mic and live-performance platform co-founded by Ria Boss to support creative expression and community.
What are Ria Boss’s official social accounts?
Her authenticated Instagram and X/Twitter profiles both use the handle @theriaboss.
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