Tina Charles

Tina Charles (born Tina Hoskins on March 10, 1954, in Whitechapel, London, England) is an English singer, who achieved success as a disco artist in the late 1970s. Charles began her career as a backing vocalist and session artist, and recorded her first solo single in 1969 with a then-unknown Elton John singing backing vocals. In 1971 she made a record called "Joe" (about a little puppy). She provided the lead vocals for 5000 Volts' 1975 disco hit "I'm On Fire". Although not publicly acknowledged as a group member at the time, Charles was considered to have a stronger voice than the group's official lead singer. The song reached number 4 in the UK, and number 26 in the US. Her big break came in 1975, when Indian-British music composer and producer Biddu, who had just enjoyed massive success worldwide composing the disco hit "Kung Fu Fighting" for Carl Douglas, composed and produced the single "I Love to Love" for her. The single spent three weeks at number one on the UK singles chart in February 1976 and was major hit around the world. Biddu's collaboration continued on a future album and other huge hits like "Dance Little Lady Dance". Further hits, like "Love Me Like a Lover", "Dr. Love", "Rendezvous" and "Love Bug", made her a star throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, but she was never able to achieve success in the US. By 1979 her career was somewhat in decline, and disco music was losing some of its public appeal. She married and had a child, and devoted herself for some years to family life, putting her singing career on the back burner. In the mid 1980s she had a resurgence with a remix of "I Love to Love" which was produced by Sanny X. Since 2000, Charles has performed throughout Europe where disco music and her hit singles have been reappraised, and she has become a popular live performer. Tina enjoyed yet another comeback as she was featured on a Top 5 Billboard hit called "Higher" in 2006, a song which was produced by longtime friend and associate Sanny X. She also signed a record deal in the US with Wizard Records, releasing an album entitled Listen 2 the Music in 2008. http://www.tinacharles.com Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.