Martina Topley-Bird

Martina Gillian Topley-Bird (''née'' Topley; born 7 May 1975) is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who first gained fame as the featured female vocalist on trip hop pioneer Tricky's debut album, ''Maxinquaye'' (1995). She also worked with him on his subsequent albums ''Nearly God'' and ''Pre-Millennium Tension'' (both 1996). In 2003, Topley-Bird released her debut solo album, ''Quixotic'', which was critically praised and earned her a Mercury Prize nomination.

This was followed by ''Anything'' (2004), ''The Blue God'' (2008) and ''Some Place Simple'' (2010). She has also collaborated with Gorillaz, appearing on their album ''Demon Days'' (2005), as well as with Mark Lanegan, Diplo and Massive Attack on ''Heligoland'' (2010), which she followed by a world tour with the group. Her song "Sandpaper Kisses" was covered by Stephen Marley and sampled by such artists as Berry Weight and The Weeknd.

Early life

Martina Topley-Bird was born in London, England, to Charlette Conlon (''née'' Pouncey) and Martin Geoffrey Topley, who died in 1974 before her birth; Martina was named after him. Her stepfather is British direct marketing specialist Drayton Bird, whose surname she adopted in addition to her father's. Her mother is of Salvadoran and Seminole descent, while her father was of untraceable African-American descent. Topley-Bird grew up in a large family, with five siblings and three step-siblings.

Her family later relocated from London to Bristol. "We moved about a bit when I was a child, which wasn't a problem for me", she recalled. "If you're not white and middle-class, then you're slightly different and exotic in those new environments. I thrived, and survived, on those situations." She attended Clifton College, where she was a member of the school choir and took piano lessons.

Topley-Bird grew up listening to R&B, opera and soul music throughout her childhood. As a teenager, she began listening to alternative rock, and became a fan of The Sugarcubes, Faith No More and Jane's Addiction.

Career

Collaboration with Tricky

In 1993, as a teenager at Clifton College, Topley-Bird was discovered by trip hop pioneer Tricky when he saw her sitting on a wall near his house, singing to herself. "That's really how it happened," she recalled. "It's one of those things people are always surprised to find out is true. I remember the graveyard behind the wall. A few weeks later, I went around to his house with some friends. We'd been drinking cider after our GCSEs. We were banging on his door, but he wasn't in. Then Mark Stewart, who lived there, came up to us and said: "Yeah, this is Tricky's house, jump in through the window." So I jumped through, opened the door and we got mashed."

She and Tricky formed a musical partnership, and Topley-Bird collaborated with Tricky as a featured vocalist on his debut album ''Maxinquaye'' (1995) (a printing error credited her as "Martine"). Almost all of her vocals on the album were recorded in a single take. In describing the recording sessions, she recalled: "It was totally instinctive. There was no time to drum up an alter ego. I liked the idea that the information people needed about me was what they would hear when they put the record on. Anything else was sort of extraneous. I didn't think there was anything in my biography that would explain my musical choices." Topley-Bird continued her collaboration with Tricky on his follow-up albums ''Nearly God'' (1996), ''Pre-Millennium Tension'' (1996) and ''Angels with Dirty Faces'' (1998).

Solo career

Following a deterioration of her professional and personal relationship with Tricky in 1998, Topley-Bird began pursuing a solo career. It was not until 2003 that she released her debut album, ''Quixotic'' through Independiente Records, which she recorded in Los Angeles, California. The record was mainly produced by Topley-Bird and production team AMP9 (Alex McGowan, Steve Crittall, Nick Bird) at Space Eko Recording Studios London. She commented on the ideas underpinning the album, saying:

A lot of it is about the notion of physical proximity relative to emotional connections between people. My dad, Martin Topley, died when he was twenty-nine. Between the release of ''Quixotic'' and now, I turned twenty-nine, and I started thinking about what I'd achieved in my life as a human being. Also I wanted to focus on the nature of my relationship with him and with my step father because of the way I felt those relationships were affecting my other relationships.

''Quixotic'' peaked at no. 70 on the UK Albums Chart, received positive reviews from critics, and was a finalist for the 2003 Mercury Music Prize. The album finally saw a limited release in the United States in July 2004, when the Palm Pictures label released a re-designed and re-sequenced version under the title ''Anything'', which featured a shorter track listing and all-new cover art. The following year she appeared on the Starbucks compilation album '' Sweetheart 2005: Love Songs'', which features contemporary musicians covering classic love songs. She sang "I Only Have Eyes for You", a song originally by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Al Dubin.

Her second solo album, ''The Blue God'', was released in May 2008. The track "Carnies" was released as the first single on 3 March 2008 and reached No. 20 on the UK Indie Charts. "Poison" was released as the second single and reached No.9 on the Indie Charts. The album received generally positive critical reception; the BBC
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