Basia
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| Basia | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Barbara Trzetrzelewska (Che-che-lev-ska) |
| Born | September 30, 1954 Jaworzno, Poland |
| Genres | Jazz, pop, soul, adult contemporary |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter, record producer |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Labels | Epic, Koch |
| Associated acts | Matt Bianco, Peter White, George Michael |
| Website | www.basiasongs.com |
Barbara Trzetrzelewska (Che-che-lev-ska), known professionally as Basia[1] (born September 30, 1954)[2] is a Polish singer-songwriter and record producer. She established a successful international recording career featuring characteristically Latin-flavoured jazz-pop crossover songs during the late 1980s and early 1990s, particularly in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Japan. She is noted for possessing a wide vocal range, approximately three octaves that span from contralto to soprano tessituras, as well as her singular jazz-influenced stylings and multi-layered harmonies.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Basia was born in Jaworzno, Poland. In 1969, she debuted with her local amateur rock band Astry and performed with them on Polish Festival of Beat Avangarde in Kalisz. From 1972 to 1974, she was a member of the popular Polish female vocal group Alibabki. From 1977, she sang with the rock band Perfect. She has a son called Mikołaj, born 1977.
Settling temporarily in Chicago in 1979, she later relocated to London in 1981. It was there she met Mark Reilly and longtime collaborator Danny White (brother of jazz guitarist Peter White). In 1983, the trio performed as the jazz-pop group Bronze but later changed their name to Matt Bianco and recorded their debut album Whose Side Are You On?, released in 1984. That album was a hit across Europe, selling more than 1.5 million copies and bringing two Top Thirty hits on the UK Singles Chart: "Get Out of Your Lazy Bed" and "Half a Minute".
In 1985, Basia and Danny White left Matt Bianco to launch her solo career. In 1987 her first album Time and Tide was released selling almost two million copies. As a solo artist Basia achieved greatest success in the United States, where she sold over one million units of her debut album. It also brought her the U.S. Top Thirty hit "Time and Tide" on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In 1989 her second album, London Warsaw New York, repeated that accomplishment. It also sold almost two million units including more than one million in the U.S. and featured another Top Thirty hit on the Billboard Hot 100, "Cruising for Bruising". Both albums topped Billboard's Top Contemporary Jazz Albums, but her second album also became Top Contemporary Jazz album of the year even beating the Grammy Award-winning "Album of the Year", Back on the Block, from Quincy Jones. While achieving great success in the U.S. market Basia also became a very popular artist in Asia (mainly in Japan), Europe and especially in France. In 1991 she released her first long-form video A New Day containing all her videos and an interview.
Her third studio album, The Sweetest Illusion was released in 1994 and was a moderate success in the U.S. market selling over half-million copies but globally it became another million-seller. Mixed by the then-highly sought after David Bascombe (who had contributed to Oleta Adams' debut effort) the project marked the end of a ten-year working relationship with mixmaster Phil Harding and a step into more sophisticated territory. The Sweetest Illusion included a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart, "Drunk on Love". Her next album, Basia on Broadway, was a live-set recorded at the Neil Simon Theatre in New York City and was released in 1995. In 1996, Basia was featured on Peter White's album Caravan of Dreams with vocals on the single "Just Another Day". In 1998 a retrospective compilation album Clear Horizon - The Best of Basia was issued and contained some rare and new material including a cover of "Waters of March", written by Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim.
Despite a successful international career and faithful fan base she withdrew from the recording industry in 1998, after the release of her collection of greatest hits, with the sole exception of a guest appearance on Taro Hakase's cover of "So Nice (Summer Samba)" in 1999. She would later cite the deaths of people close to her, including her own mother, as the reason she "didn't feel like singing". After some persistent efforts from Danny White and Mark Reilly who had started working together again, she agreed to join a re-formed Matt Bianco. They released the album Matt's Mood in 2004 to critical acclaim. After touring to promote the album Basia and Danny White began work on a new Basia project while Reilly continued with Matt Bianco.
In 2009, after nearly fifteen years, Basia made a comeback with her fourth studio album, It's That Girl Again, first released in Japan on 11 March then in the U.S. on 24 March, Europe (only on iTunes) on 30 March and in on 17 April in her native Poland.[3]
[edit] Discography
[edit] With Matt Bianco
- 1984: Whose Side Are You On?
- 2004: Matt's Mood
[edit] Solo
- 1987: Time and Tide
- 1989: London Warsaw New York
- 1990: The Best Remixes (Japanese remix album)
- 1991: The Best Remixes II (Japanese remix album)
- 1991: Brave New Hope (EP)
- 1994: The Sweetest Illusion
- 1995: Basia on Broadway (live album)
- 1998: Clear Horizon - The Best of Basia (compilation)
- 2003: Simple Pleasures (compilation)
- 2004: Superhits (compilation)
- 2009: It's That Girl Again
[edit] Other
- 1985: David Cassidy - Romance
- song Romance (Let Your Heart Go)
- 1996: Peter White - Caravan Of Dreams
- song Just Another Day
- 1999: Spyro Gyra - Got The Magic
- song Springtime Laughter
- 1999: Taro Hakase - So Nice (Summer Samba)
- song So Nice (Summer Samba)
- 2009: Peter White - Good Day
- song Love Will Find You
| Album information |
|---|
Time and Tide
|
London Warsaw New York
|
The Sweetest Illusion
|
Basia on Broadway (live album)
|
Clear Horizon - The Best of Basia (compilation)
|
It's That Girl Again
|
[edit] Charted singles
| Year | Single | Chart positions | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. | U.S. AC | U.S. dance | U.S. smooth jazz | UK | GER | FRA | NL | ||
| 1987 | "Prime Time TV" | — | — | — | — | — | 68 | — | — |
| 1988 | "Promises" | — | 8 | — | — | 48 | — | — | — |
| "Time and Tide" | 26 | 19 | — | — | 61 | — | — | — | |
| 1989 | "New Day for You" | 53 | 5 | — | — | — | — | — | 74 |
| 1990 | "Cruising for Bruising" | 29 | 5 | — | — | — | — | 46 | 51 |
| "Baby You're Mine" | — | 18 | — | — | — | — | 45 | — | |
| "Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)" | — | 33 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1994 | "Drunk on Love" | — | — | 1 | — | 41 | — | — | — |
| 2009 | "Blame It on the Summer" | — | — | — | 13 | — | — | — | - |
| 2009 | "A Gift" | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
[edit] References
- ^ Pronounced [ˈbaɕa tʂɛtʂɛˈlɛfska] (
listen) - ^ Some sources incorrectly cite 1959
- ^ Trzetrzelewska, Basia (undated). "News". BasiaSongs.com. web.mac.com/whitegrainne. http://web.mac.com/whitegrainne/Site/News.html. Retrieved 2009-04-03.
