Tanita Tikaram (born 12 August 1969) is a British pop/

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...

singer-songwriter. She achieved chart success with the singles " Twist in My Sobriety" and " Good Tradition" from her 1988 debut album, ''

Ancient Heart ''Ancient Heart'' is the debut studio album by British pop/ folk singer-songwriter Tanita Tikaram, initially released by Warner Music Group on 13 September 1988. The album had huge success and was a hit globally, launching 19-year-old Tikaram's ...

''.

Background

Tikaram was born in

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state di ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, the daughter of an

Indo-Fijian Indo-Fijians or Indian-Fijians (also known as Fiji Indians) are Fijian citizens of Indian descent, and include people who trace their ancestry to various regions of the Indian subcontinent.Girmit by Suresh Prasad Although Indo-Fijians constitu ...

British Army officer, Pramod Tikaram, and a

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...

ian mother, Fatimah Rohani. Her father's military career meant that she spent her early life in Germany before moving to Basingstoke, Hampshire, England when she was in her early teens. She is the younger sister of the actor

Ramon Tikaram Ramon Tikaram is a British stage and screen actor of Indo-Fijian and Southeast Asian descent. He is known for playing such roles as Ferdy in the BBC television series '' This Life'' and Qadim Shah in the BBC One soap opera '' EastEnders''. Ea ...

and the great-niece of Sir Moti Tikaram, who was the first Lord Chief Justice of an independent Fiji and the world's longest-serving national ombudsman. She attended Queen Mary's College in Basingstoke.

Career

Tikaram started singing in nightclubs while she was still a teenager and came to the attention of

WEA Records Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and th ...

. Her debut album, ''

'', produced by

Rod Argent Rodney Terence Argent (born 14 June 1945) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and record producer. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Argent came to prominence in the mid 1960s as the keyboardist, founder and leader of the ...

and

Peter Van Hooke Peter Van Hooke (born 6 April 1950) is an English rock drummer and producer with over 350 credits to his name. He was the drummer for the English band Mike + The Mechanics (from 1984 to 1995) and also drummed for Van Morrison's band, Headstone ...

, was released in September 1988 when she was 19 years old. The album's first two singles, " Good Tradition" and " Twist in My Sobriety", became top 10 hits around Europe and the album sold around four million copies worldwide. Both the single "Twist In My Sobriety" and Tikaram were nominated at the 1989

Brit Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

for Best British Single and Female Artist categories respectively. A quick succession of albums for WEA – '' The Sweet Keeper'' (1990), '' Everybody's Angel'' (1991), and '' Eleven Kinds of Loneliness'' (1992) – did not achieve the same commercial success, with each album selling fewer than the previous one. Her 1992 album ''Eleven Kinds of Loneliness'', which was the first Tikaram fully produced herself, did not chart at all. Taking a break from the music industry and moving to San Francisco, Tikaram returned in 1995 with the album '' Lovers in the City'', which received better reviews than her previous albums and achieved better sales. Still, it was her last studio album for WEA and her contract was finished in 1996 with the release of the compilation album '' The Best of Tanita Tikaram''. Signed to

Mother Records Mother Records was a record label founded by the band U2 in 1983 and distributed by parent Island Records. As a supportive promotional platform, the label released several one-off single releases for The Hothouse Flowers, In Tua Nua and Cactus ...

, Tikaram released '' The Cappuccino Songs'' in 1998, and then retired for several years from the music industry, reappearing in 2005 with the album '' Sentimental'', which was released on a French label. In 2012, she released '' Can't Go Back'', her first album in seven years. Since 2013, she has been touring the UK and Europe. '' Closer to the People'' was released on 11 March 2016. In December 2015, Tikaram released a videoclip for the song "Food On My Table", although she stated this was not the first single of the album. The first single, "Glass Love Train", was released on 22 January 2016.

Personal life

Tikaram moved from Basingstoke to the

Primrose Hill Primrose Hill is a Grade II listed public park located north of Regent's Park in London, England, first opened to the public in 1842.Mills, A., ''Dictionary of London Place Names'', (2001) It was named after the natural hill in the centre of ...

area of London when she became famous, and still lives there. In an interview with ''

Diva Diva (; ) is the Latin word for a goddess. It has often been used to refer to a celebrated woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera, theatre, cinema, fashion and popular music. If referring to an actress, the meaning of ''diva'' is cl ...

'', published in 2017, she noted that she had been in a relationship with artist Natacha Horn for the past five years.

Discography

* ''

'' (1988) * '' The Sweet Keeper'' (1990) * '' Everybody's Angel'' (1991) * '' Eleven Kinds of Loneliness'' (1992) * '' Lovers in the City'' (1995) * '' The Cappuccino Songs'' (1998) * '' Sentimental'' (2005) * '' Can't Go Back'' (2012) * '' Closer to the People'' (2016)

Awards and nominations

{, class=wikitable , - ! Year !! Awards !! Work !! Category !! Result !! Ref. , - , rowspan=5, 1989 , rowspan=2, MTV Video Music Awards , rowspan=3, " Twist in My Sobriety" ,

Best Female Video The MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video is one of the original general awards that has been handed out every year since the first annual MTV Video Music Awards in 1984. In 2007, however, the award was briefly renamed Female Artist of the Y ...

, rowspan=4 , rowspan=2, , - , Best Cinematography , - , rowspan=2,

, Best British Single , rowspan=2, , - , rowspan=2, Herself , Best British Female , - , Music & Media Year-End Awards , Female Artist of the Year , ,

Other works

Music

* Harmony vocals on "That's Why I'm Leaving Here" on the 1989 self-titled third album by

Brendan Croker Brendan Croker (born 15 August 1953 in Bradford, Yorkshire, England) is an English musician, who has recorded albums under his own name and with occasional backing band; The Five O'Clock Shadows. He was also a member of The Notting Hillbillies. ...

and the Five O'Clock Shadows. *

Cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

of " Loving You" (Leiber/Stoller), included in the 1990

Elvis Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

tribute album ''The Last Temptation of Elvis''. * Vocals on "I Never Will Know" (by Tikaram), also a US/Can single, and "Blue Moon" (Rodgers/Hart) on the 1990

Mark Isham Mark Ware Isham (born September 7, 1951) is an American musician and film composer. A trumpeter and keyboardist, Isham works in a variety of genres, including jazz and electronic. He is also a film composer, having worked on numerous films and ...

album ''

''. * Guest vocals on "It's Too Late" on

Nanci Griffith Nanci Caroline Griffith (July 6, 1953 – August 13, 2021) was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. She appeared many times on the PBS music program ''Austin City Limits'' starting in 1985 (season 10). In 1994 she won a Grammy Award f ...

's 1991 album ''

Late Night Grande Hotel ''Late Night Grande Hotel'' is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith. It was released in September 1991 by MCA Records. It was produced by Peter Van Hooke and Rod Argent, with a slightly more pop-oriented sound than pr ...

''. * Guest vocals on the single "Je Te Voudrai Quand Même" from Pierre Schott's album ''Le Nouveau Monde'', from 1992. * "Poor Wandering One", a song from Gilbert & Sullivan's "

Pirates of Penzance ''The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. Its official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 187 ...

" recorded for a Disney soundtrack and produced by Mark Isham, but unreleased – then intended to be used on the soundtrack of " The Hand That Rocks The Cradle", where another version appears instead – then mentioned to appear as B-side, which hasn't happened. * Writer of three tracks on the Brontë Brothers 1993 album ''The Way Through The Woods'': "Live A Little More", "Beneath The August Moon" (with Mark Creswell) and "A Winner Too" (with Mark Creswell). * Writer (with Mark Creswell) of the B-side "Need This Lover Growing" of Brontë Brothers 1993 single "Live A Little More". * Writer of the re-recorded version of "Live A Little More" by Brontë Brothers, 1994 single. * Vocals on "Redemption Song (Oh Happy Day)" (Marley/Hawkins) on the 1997 Moodswings album ''Psychedelicatessen''. * Guest vocals on "I'm Looking Up To You" (also a single in Ireland) on Christie Hennessy's 1995 album ''Lord of Your Eyes''. * "My Love Tonight" commissioned for the ''Abitare Il Tempo'' exhibition in Milan, Italy, and appeared on Tikaram's 1995 album " Lovers in the City". * Adaptation of the poem "

Not Waving but Drowning "Not Waving but Drowning" is a poem by the British poet Stevie Smith. It was published in 1957, as part of a collection of the same title.Sternlicht, Sanford V.''Stevie Smith''. Twayne Publishers (1990) p. 63. The most famous of Smith's poems,Ho ...

" by

Stevie Smith Florence Margaret Smith, known as Stevie Smith (20 September 1902 – 7 March 1971), was an English poet and novelist. She won the Cholmondeley Award and was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. A play, '' Stevie'' by Hugh Whitemore, ba ...

, commissioned by the BBC for their ''Texts in Time'' educational series and released on the 1995 Tikaram single " I Might Be Crying". * "Have You Lost Your Way?" contributed to Italian exhibition ''Viaggio di Italia'', released in 1995 on the Tikaram single " Wonderful Shadow". * Duet "Dove Sei" (Prunas/Sabiu/Cola/Tikaram) with Cristiano Prunas, released in Italy in 1997 as single and on the Prunas self-titled album.

Film

* Tikaram has played cameo roles on two films, first on the 1994 lesbian film ''Erotique'', on a segment directed by

Monika Treut Monika Treut (born April 6, 1954, in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) is a German filmmaker. She made her feature film debut with Seduction: The Cruel Woman (co-directed by Elfi Mikesch), a film that explores sadomasochistic se ...

. She plays a secretary interrupting a sex scene of her boss. She plays a restaurant singer in the 2012 French film ''Goodbye Morocco''. In her scene, she sings the jazz standard "Blue Gardenia". * Producer of the Jared Katsiane documentary drama ''Solace'', also known as ''Everyday Is New'' (similar to a track on her album '' Sentimental''), released 2005. * "Twist in my Sobriety" features in the film, '' Bandits'' and ''

Miami Vice ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs, two M ...

'' Season 5, Episode 14, "The Lost Madonna".

References

External links

Official website
(English language) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tikaram, Tanita 1969 births Living people English contraltos English people of Indo-Fijian descent English people of Malaysian descent English women singer-songwriters People from Basingstoke British folk-pop singers Naïve Records artists East West Records artists