Tina Charles
Tina started singing before she could walk however started to hit the right notes during her time at Coroner Academy of Arts and Drama. Tina’s parents knew she had to go to stage school and reflect “from the age of 4 she would have the hair brush in hand and be singing in front of the mirror for hours on end”. Tina’s first public appearance was at the tender age of 15 where she was the lead singer in a band entertaining American NCO’s at a base in Ruislip
At the age of 15 Tina recorded three singles with CBS at Chapels Studio in London, one of which good to be alive had the backing vocals of an unknown young man called Reg Dwight, later known as the one and only Elton John – “I can see him now coming in and asking me what I thought of his new crocodile shoes!”
In 1969 Tina was also appearing weekly on The Two Ronnie’s, singing cover hits for a period of six weeks. Her cover of Tina Turner’s river deep mountain high was said to be “as good as the original” by the Radio Times. No mean feat for a 15 year old.
Most of the time Tina was working with The Tony Evans Orchestra and was performing at the Empire Leicester Square six nights a week. Following this, she went on a National and European tour with Englebert Humperdink, Tom Jones and Gilbert O’Sullivan. “It was a great experience and I learnt so much”. Still to discover fame Tina was just enjoying singing and travelling.
For three years Tina worked wherever and whenever she could. With the devoted support of her parents Hilda and Charles, she was always driven door to door and encouraged to work hard, “My parents were my inspiration, they never questioned my choice of career even though it was an unusual way of life for a young girl”
In 1973 at the age of 19 Tina joined a band called Northern Lights and was singing on most of the cover versions. She also worked with a group called Kilburn & The High Roads that later became Ian Dury and The Blockheads. Also around this time Tina and her good friend and colleague Linda Lewis were on the chorus of come up and see me by Steve Harley and the Cockney Rebel.
Tina was starting to be known for her powerful and piercing voice and slowly more offers were coming in and in 1975 she was booked for a session by Tony Eyers, little did she know at the time that this particular session was to result in a single that sold millions; the song - I’m On Fire by 5000 Volts. Then came the big break, an introduction through a friend to the well known Producer, Biddu. The first single You set my heart on fire proved to be enough to clinch a big recording deal with CBS. After the release of the second single I love to love, which sold millions of copies worldwide, Tina found fame at last and as the songs kept selling her audience became wider than she could have ever dreamed of. Biddu comments “For 2 years her songs were dominating the airwaves from Brazil to Bombay” The little person with the big voice was taking the world by storm.
Between 1975 and 1977 Tina toured the world and reached nearly every major city through Europe, Middle East, Asia, Central and South America. I love to love sold a total of 26 million copies making it one of the biggest hit singles ever. This was the busiest period of Tina’s career as she was whisked from the studio to TV shows and live performances all over the world. Other hits followed soon after including Dance little lady, I'll go where the music takes me, Lovebug and many more. Tina recalls – “It was like a whirlwind, I didn’t even have time to think, the only country I never made was Australia but I had good reason.” The reason the trip to Australia never materialised was that in June 1977 Tina gave birth to her son. At the end of 1977 Tina decided she wanted to devote more time to her son and decided to end the touring and return to session singing and jingles.
During the early eighties, after a few years leading a more quite life, Tina decided to dedicate more time to working again and released a number of singles. They didn’t match her previous success, however in the late eighties and early nineties I love to love was remixed by Sanny X music and made the top ten singles charts all over Europe with a memorable 14 week stint at number 2 in France.
Tina was again travelling to and from Europe performing in clubs, attending live TV performances and interviews.
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