Mika - Mika inspired by sister's near death

Mika inspired by sister's near death

Mika's new album was inspired by the near death of his sister.

The 'Celebrate' singer's sibling, Paloma Penniman, fell 15 metres from the balcony of her fourth floor London flat and was impaled on a set of railings in October 2010. She has since made a miracle recovery and is able to walk again, and the ordeal helped Mika overcome writer's block when it came to making his new album, 'The Origin of Love'.

He told the Daily Star newspaper: ''My sister should have died. I really believe in fate now. I think you have to fight, but you also have to surrender your fears into the hands of fate.

''You can lose everything in five seconds. It was a massive jolt that made me realise, 'You'd better make the most of what's in front of you.' As soon as Paloma was stable, I ran away to make my record.''

Mika, 29, promises despite his shock of his sister's ordeal, 'The Origin of Love' remains upbeat and positive.

He added: ''It was a total disaster, yet weirdly positive event too. It's an incredibly joyful record. It's going to take time to catch on as it's not aping anything that's on the radio, but it smashes the current model of what pop songs should be.''