Martina Topley-Bird

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Martina Topley-Bird, 2008

Martina Topley-Bird is a British vocalist who first gained fame as the featured female vocalist on trip hop pioneer Tricky's debut album Maxinquaye (a printing error credited her as "Martine"). She was educated at Clifton College where she sang in the choir.[1] It was while she was a young precocious teenager at the school that she met trip hop pioneer Tricky.[2] She continued her collaboration with Tricky on his follow-up albums Nearly God, Pre-Millennium Tension and Angels with Dirty Faces.

Following a falling-out of their professional and personal relationship in 1998, she began pursuing a solo career. It was not until 2003 that she released her debut album, Quixotic (Independiente Records), mainly produced by Martina and production team AMP9 (Alex McGowan, Steve Crittall, Nick Bird) at Space Eko Recording Studios London. Upon its release, it received postitive reviews from critics and was a finalist for the 2003 Mercury Music Prize. The song "Sandpaper Kisses" from the album was featured in the video game, Fahrenheit (released in North America as Indigo Prophecy).

The album finally saw a release, of sorts, in the United States in July 2004 when the Palm Pictures label released a re-designed and re-sequenced version with a new title (Anything), a trimmed-down tracklisting and all-new cover art.

The following year she appeared on the Starbucks compilation album, Sweetheart 2005: Love Songs, which features contemporary musicians covering classic love songs. She sang "I Only Have Eyes for You", a song originally by The Flamingos.

Her second solo album, The Blue God, was released in May 2008. The track "Carnies" was released as the first single on 3 March 2008[3]and reached No.20 on the UK Indie Charts.[4] "Poison" was released as the second single[5] and reached No.9 on the Indie Charts.[4]

Contents

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Singles

  • 2003 "Need One"
  • 2003 "Anything"
  • 2003 "I Still Feel"
  • 2004 "Soul Food"
  • 2008 "Carnies"
  • 2008 "Poison"
  • 2008 "Baby Blue"

[edit] Collaborations

  • Topley-Bird is credited as a vocalist on "Conversing Among Misfits", a song from 1998 debut (self-titled) album by Earthlings?. Her performance is hard to hear in the final mix however.
  • In 1999, she contributed vocals to "Dirty Drowning Man" and "Coattails of a Dead Man" on Primus's album Antipop.
  • In 2000, Topley-Bird appeared on David Holmes's album Bow Down to the Exit Sign.
  • In 2004, Topley-Bird appeared on "Into the Sun," a track from Diplo's album Florida.
  • In 2004, Topley-Bird contributed vocals to "Spoiled," on the Blues Explosion's album Damage.
  • In 2005, she made a guest appearance (alongside Roots Manuva) on the Gorillaz track "All Alone", on the album Demon Days.
  • In 2005/2006,[which?] Topley-Bird sang vocals for "Can't Be Serious" from A Mountain of One's debut 12" EP, later included on the group's 2007 Collected Works compilation.
  • In 2006, Topley-Bird appeared on the song "Devil Take My Soul" on the Son of Dave record 02.
  • Topley-Bird appears on the songs "Why Should I?" and "Deflect" on Leila's 2008 album, Blood, Looms and Blooms. "Deflect" was also the lead track on the pre-album EP Deflect.
  • She contributes vocals on the Saturnalia album by The Gutter Twins ("The Body") (2008)
  • In 2008, on her single "Poison", she collaborates again with Roots Manuva and Gorillaz on the B-side track "Soldier Boy".
  • She makes an appearance on rapper Common's album Universal Mind Control, on a song entitled "Everywhere".

[edit] Song appearances

  • "Need One" was used in a television advertisement for Toyota's Corolla Verso in 2004.
  • "Sandpaper Kisses" appears on the soundtrack of the 2005 videogame Fahrenheit.
  • In 2007, her song "Da Da Da Da" was used in the film Virgin Territory.
  • "Need One" was featured in an advertisement for H&M on Swedish and Dutch television during autumn of 2008.
  • "Ilya" was used in "Lap Dance", an episode from The L Word's second season.

[edit] References

  1. ^ www.cliftoncollegeuk.com/upper/pupilcare/houses/oh/
  2. ^ www.moon-palace.de/martina/bio.html
  3. ^ MySpace.com - Martina Topley-Bird - London - Autre / Autre - www.myspace.com/martinatopleybird
  4. ^ a b BBC - Radio 1 - Chart Show - Indie Singles
  5. ^ NEW SINGLE ANNOUNCEMENT! - Martina Topley Bird

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martina_Topley-Bird"
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