Tina Charles biography
Tina Charles (born 10 March 1954) is an English singer, who achieved success as a disco artist in the mid-to-late-1970s, selling 36 million records within a few years. Her most successful single was the #1 hit "I Love to Love (But My Baby Loves to Dance)" in 1976.
Early life
Born
Tina Hoskins in 10 March 1954, Whitechapel, London, to actor Charles Hoskins and his wife Hilda, she recovered from meningitis as a newborn. She has a brother, Warren, who was her tour manager for a time during the height of her career.
On launching her music career, she did not use her real name, Hoskins, since this might have caused confusion with Mary Hopkin, better known at the time. She chose "Charles", as it was her father's name.
Career
Charles began her career as a backing singer and session musician, and recorded her first solo single in 1969 with a then unknown Elton John singing backing vocals. During the early 1970s she supplied vocals for the
Top of the Pops album series of cover versions of contemporary hits. In 1971 she made appearances in the first series of
The Two Ronnies, the BBC1 sketch show starring Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett,
including the premiere episode.
By 1980 her career was in decline, and disco music generally was losing some of its public appeal. She attempted to change her disco style for her 1980 album Just One Smile for a more hard edge rock electronic style but the album was virtually ignored. Charles married and had a child, and devoted herself for some years to her family life, putting her singing career on hold. 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. Charles featured in the Top 5 of the US Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart with "Higher" in 2006. The song is produced by longtime friend and associate Sanny X. She made a guest appearance with The Producers at their 2007 concert, singing "Slave to the Rhythm". In October 2007, Charles recorded "Hide and Seek" with producer Ian Levine for the album Disco 2008. Her latest album, Listen 2 the Music was released in March 2008.
In 2010 Charles was signed by British writer and producer, Carl M Cox to his PMG Music production and record label. Other notable acts that have been signed by Cox's label are Sinitta and Amanda Lear. Charles' first single with PMG, "Your Love Is My Light" was released physically on 7th November 2011 and digitally on 14th November 2011. The track was both co-written and produced by former PWL record producers, Dave Ford and Ian Curnow, plus Carl M Cox. The single was remixed by Pete Hammond. Hammond, like the aforementioned Ford and Curnow, was another of the studio engineers and producers at PWL.
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