Tanita Tikaram

Tanita Tikaram (born 12 August 1969)[1] is a British pop/folk singer-songwriter.[2] She achieved chart success with the singles "Twist in My Sobriety" and "Good Tradition" from her 1988 debut album, Ancient Heart.

Tanita Tikaram
Tanita Tikaram in 2019
Background information
Born (1969-08-12) 12 August 1969
Münster, West Germany
GenresPop, folk
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter
InstrumentsGuitar, piano, bass guitar
Years active1988–present
LabelsReprise, East West, Naïve
WebsiteTanita-Tikaram.com

Background

Tikaram was born in Münster, Germany,[1] the daughter of an Indian-Fijian British Army officer, Pramod Tikaram, and a Sarawakian 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.[1][3] She is the younger sister of the actor Ramon Tikaram 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.[4]

Career

Tikaram started singing in nightclubs while she was still a teenager and came to the attention of WEA Records. Her debut album, Ancient Heart, produced by Rod Argent and Peter Van Hooke,[1] was released in September 1988 when she was 19 years old.[3] 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 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,[1] 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,[1] 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, 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 area of London when she became famous, and still lives there.[5]

In an interview with Diva, published in 2017, she noted that she had been in a relationship with artist Natacha Horn for the past five years.[6]

Discography

Albums

Singles
Year Title Chart positions Album
UK
[7][20]		 AUS
[8]		 AUT
[9]		 BEL
(FLA)
[21]		 FRA
[18]		 GER
[22]		 IRE
[23]		 NED
[11]		 NOR
[12]		 SWE
[14]		 SWI
[24]
1988 "Good Tradition" 10 142 – 39 – – 9 46 – 4 – Ancient Heart
"Twist in My Sobriety" 22 23 2 22 6 2 10 26 6 – 6
1989 "Cathedral Song" 48 120 – – – 71 – 36 – – –
"World Outside Your Window" 58 – – – – – – 80 – – –
1990 "We Almost Got It Together" 52 116 – 40 – 50 28 38 – – – The Sweet Keeper
"Little Sister Leaving Town" 83 – – – – – – – – – –
"Thursday's Child" 42 – – – – – – – – – –
1991 "Only the Ones We Love" 69 – – – – 58 – – – – – Everybody's Angel
"I Love the Heaven's Solo" – – – – – – – – – – –
1992 "You Make the Whole World Cry" – – – – – – – – – – – Eleven Kinds of Loneliness
1995 "I Might Be Crying" 64 199 – – – – – – – – – Lovers in the City
"Wonderful Shadow" 198 – – – – – – – – – –
"Yodelling Song" – – – – – – – – – – –
1996 "Twist in My Sobriety (remix)" 81 – – – – – – – – – – The Best of Tanita Tikaram
"And I Think of You – E penso a te" (promo only) – – – – – – – – – – –
1998 "Stop Listening" 67 – – – – – – – – – – The Cappuccino Songs
"I Don't Wanna Lose at Love" 73 – – – – – – – – – –
"If I Ever" – – – – – – – – – – –
2005 "Don't Let the Cold" (promo only) – – – – – – – – – – – Sentimental
2012 "Dust on My Shoes" – – – – – – – – – – – Can't Go Back
2016 "Glass Love Train" – – – – – – – – – – – Closer to the People
"The Way You Move" – – – – – – – – – – –
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Awards and nominations
YearAwardsWorkCategoryResultRef.
1989 MTV Video Music Awards "Twist in My Sobriety" Best Female Video Nominated [25]
Best Cinematography
Brit Awards Best British Single [26]
Herself Best British Female

Other works

Music
  • Harmony vocals on "That's Why I'm Leaving Here" on the 1989 self-titled third album by Brendan Croker and the Five O'Clock Shadows.
  • Cover of "Loving You" (Leiber/Stoller), included in the 1990 Elvis 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 album Mark Isham.
  • Guest vocals on "It's Too Late" on Nanci Griffith's 1991 album Late Night Grande Hotel.
  • 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" 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" by Stevie Smith, 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. She plays a secretary interrupting a sex scene of her boss. She plays a restaurant singer on the 2012 French film Goodbye Morocco. On 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 Season 5, Episode 14, "The Lost Madonna".

References
  1. Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. p. 1180. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
  2. "Women of the World Festival – Tanita Tikaram". www.w-festival.de. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  3. Strong, Martin C. (2000). The Great Rock Discography (5th ed.). Edinburgh: Mojo Books. pp. 993–994. ISBN 1-84195-017-3.
  4. Karan, Maneesha (14 February 2007). "Sir Moti relives early days". Fiji Times. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  5. "BBC Radio London – Robert Elms, Tributes to David Bowie, Listed Londoner Tanita Tikaram and Red Sky July". Bbc.co.uk. 11 January 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  6. Czyzselska, Jane (February 2017). "Tanita Tikaram". Diva.
  7. UK chart peaks:
  8. Australian (ARIA) chart peaks:
  9. "Tanita Tikaram in der Österreichischen Hitparade" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  10. German albums chart peaks:
  11. "dutchcharts.nl > Tanita Tikaram in Dutch Charts" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  12. "norwegiancharts.com > Tanita Tikaram in Norwegian Charts". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  13. "charts.nz > Tanita Tikaram in New Zealand Charts". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  14. "swedishcharts.com > Tanita Tikaram in Swedish Charts". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  15. "hitparade.ch > Suche nach: Tanita Tikaram (alben)" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  16. "Billboard > Artists / Tanita Tikaram > Chart History > Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  17. Childs, Marti (13 July 2011). Where have all the pop stars gone?. EditprosLLC. ISBN 9781937317010. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  18. "lescharts.com > Tanita Tikaram dans les Charts Français" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  19. "Chart Log UK – 2012 + Weekly Updates + Sales 2012". www.zobbel.de.
  20. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 559/560. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  21. "Ultratop Vlaanderen > Zoeken naar: Tanita Tikaram (songs)" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  22. German singles chart peaks:
  23. "The Irish Charts – All there is to know > Search results for Tanita Tikaram (from irishcharts.ie)". Imgur.com (original source published by Fireball Media). Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  24. "hitparade.ch > Suche nach: Tanita Tikaram (songs)" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  25. 1989 MTV Video Music Awards
  26. 1989 Brit Awards
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