Dina Carroll biography
Dina Carroll (born Geraldine Carroll, 21 August 1968, Newmarket, Suffolk) is an English singer of Scottish and African American descent who had a string of hits from the late 1980s to the early 2000s.
Early career
Carroll started singing at age of five, primarily at home with her sister. Despite the lack of formal vocal coaching, in 1981, at the age of thirteen, she won a local Cambridgeshire talent competition, with her rendition of Barbra Streisand's "Woman in Love". After leaving school, she worked in various jobs, including a one-day stint as a chambermaid in a Cambridge hotel in 1985.
At the age of sixteen, she was signed to the dance music record label Streetwave, located in London. Carroll moved to West London and recorded two singles, "Set It Off" and "One Nation", in the mid 1980s, credited to a non-existent group, Masquerade. After six unproductive months, she left Streetwave.
In 1989, Carroll secured a recording contract with Jive/Zomba and released a number of singles in 1989 and 1990. Of particular note was her cover of Dionne Warwick's classic "Walk On By", co-produced by The Pasadenas who also provided vocal arrangement and backing vocals. Although "Walk On By" did not make it to the UK Top 40 (peaking at number 95), it was a minor hit in continental Europe. Other solo hits during that era included "People All Around the World" and "Me Sienta Sola (We Are One)", the latter being an underground club hit in the New York scene. Carroll also provided vocals to Brothers in Rhythm's single "Peace and Harmony" in 1991.
After a short time at Jive/Zomba, Carroll was spotted by Dennis Ingoldsby, one half of First Avenue Management, a small and newly founded management group. First Avenue were also managing another unknown band called Quartz. Carroll provided vocals for Quartz on their cover of Carole King's "It's Too Late", which topped the dance charts and reached #8 in the UK Singles Chart in early 1991. A follow-up single, "Naked Love (Just Say You Want Me)" (co-written and produced by Nigel Lowis), was also released, reaching number 39.
After two singles with Quartz, First Avenue decided to relaunch Carroll as a solo artist. She was signed to A & M Records by managing director Howard Berman. Carroll's first solo single (produced and co-written by Nigel Lowis) "Ain't No Man" was released in June 1992, reaching number 16 in the chart.
Success
In order to capitalise on the momentum of "Ain't No Man", Carroll and Lowis worked on future singles together, one of which being the top 20 hit "So Close", which was released in December 1992; coincidentally the title of her debut album. Carroll was approached by Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C&C Music Factory who invited her to New York to become the first British artist to work with them. Carroll interrupted the writing and recording of her album to record "Special Kind of Love", which also reached number 16 in the UK Singles Chart.
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