Tanita Tikaram

     Tanita Tikaram burst on the scene while still a teenager in 1988 with her first album "Ancient Heart."  It was a huge hit and sold over two million copies world-wide.  Tikaram is a singer-songwriter influenced by Leonard Cohen, Suzanne Vega, and Van Morrison.  She has a very neat alto voice and an ear for pop melodies.  Her lyrics are sometimes obtuse to the point of my having no idea what she is talking about, but the way she says whatever it is she is saying is very nice.  After her initial success she released albums in rapid succession and each one sold less than the prior.  By her fourth album (only four years after her debut) she hardly created a blip on any worldwide charts and her six album has never been released in the United States.  Wade got to see her in 1991 in Los Angeles supporting her third album "Everybody's Angel."  She put on a great show for a small but enthusiastic crowd at the Roxy. &She emphasized songs from her then recent album "Everybody's Angel" but she sang songs from "Ancient Heart" and "The Sweet Keeper"too, along with a neat cover of Van Morrison's "Domino."  I remember her also performing "Elephant" which would be released on her next album "Eleven Kinds of Loneliness" and at least one song that was not (as far as I know) ever recorded by her called "Timber."  I don't remember a lot about that song other than loving it.  We recommend highly her first three albums ("Ancient Heart," "The Sweet Keeper," and "Everybody's Angel") and her sixth CD (the hard to find "The Cappuccino Songs" which is a bit more "poppy" than her earlier albums but is still quite nice.  The biggest hit from her first album ("Twist in My Sobriety") was recently featured on the soundtrack of the movie "Bandits."

     Click on Tikaram's name above to go to an excellent fan website.