Tanita Tikaram (born 12 August 1969) is a British pop/folk singer-songwriter, best known for the hits "Twist in My Sobriety" and "Good Tradition" from her 1988 debut album, Ancient Heart.[1]
Contents[]
[hide] *1 Background
Background[edit][]
Tikaram was born in Münster, Germany, the daughter of a Malaysian mother, Fatimah Rohani, and an Indo-Fijian father, Pramod Tikaram. 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] 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.[2]
Career[edit][]
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, was released in September 1988 when she was 19 years old.[1]
1992 saw the release of Eleven Kinds Of Loneliness. On this album she ceased collaborating with Argent and Van Hooke and produced the album entirely by herself. It was her worst seller yet, not charting at all in the UK.[1]
Discography[edit][]
Albums[edit][]
- Ancient Heart (1988) UK #3, US #59, SE #8
- The Sweet Keeper (1990) UK #3, US #124, SE #4
- Everybody's Angel (1991) UK #19, US #142, SE #16
- Eleven Kinds of Loneliness (1992)
- Lovers in the City (1995) UK #75
- The Best of Tanita Tikaram (1996) - compilation
- The Cappuccino Songs (1998) UK #69
- Sentimental (2005)
- Can't Go Back (2012) UK #147
Singles[edit][]
Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | |
---|---|---|---|---|
UK Singles Chart[3] | US Modern Rock | |||
1988 | "Good Tradition" | 10 | - | Ancient Heart |
"Twist in My Sobriety" | 22 | 25 | ||
1989 | "Cathedral Song" | 48 | - | |
"World Outside Your Window" | 58 | - | ||
1990 | "We Almost Got It Together" | 52 | - | The Sweet Keeper |
"Little Sister Leaving Town" | 83 | - | ||
"Thursday's Child" | - | - | ||
1991 | "Only the Ones We Love" | 69 | - | 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 | - | Lovers in the City |
"Wonderful Shadow" | 198 | - | ||
"Yodelling Song" | - | - | ||
1996 | "Twist in My Sobriety (remix)" | 82 | - | 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 |
[1]
Other works[edit][]
Music[edit][]
- 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[edit][]
- 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 (Bruce Willis and Cate Blanchett on the beach scene)