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Tiffany Darwish

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Tiffany Darwish

Tiffany Renee Darwish (born October 2 1971), known popularly as Tiffany, is an American singer who had a number of teen pop hits during the late 1980s.

Life and Career History

Early childhood

Tiffany was born in Norwalk, California[1][2][3].

Tiffany grew up in Norwalk with parents James Robert Darwish (of part Syrian and English descent) and Janie Wilson (of mostly Irish and some distant Cherokee descent). Her parents divorced when she was very young. When Tiffany was four years old, she learned the words to the song Delta Dawn, and she started singing it often.

In 1987, Tiffany's mother married Dan Williams, and in 1989, Tiffany's half-sister Falicia Williams was born.

Singing career begins

In 1981, Tiffany made her first professional singing show, with a country music band at a country and western spot. She passed a hat along the crowd afterward, and collected US $235 in what would be her first career earnings.

Tiffany was singing at a Los Angeles club named El Palomino when she was discovered by Hoyt Axton and his mother Mae Axton. Mae took her to sing in Nashville, Tennessee, where she performed at the Ralph Emery Show, singing Juice Newton's "Queen of Hearts" and Tammy Wynette's "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad". In 1992 Tiffany toured several cities in Alaska, earning US$3000 for the tour. Also that year, she performed on the same bill as Jerry Lee Lewis and George Jones.

In 1993, Tiffany's other half-sister, Charessa Williams, was born. Ronald Kent Surut became her manager that year.

Recording contract and fame

Finally, in 1984, she was signed to a recording contract by George Tobin, who heard a demo tape she recorded and liked it.

Album cover from 12" vinyl single I Think We're Alone Now

In 1985, Tiffany appeared on Star Search with Ed McMahon, but she came in second place that year.

In 1986, she signed a contract that gave Tobin total control over her career. Then, she went into the studio to record her first album, and a contract was signed with MCA.

In 1987, Tiffany's eponymous album, Tiffany, was released, and she promoted it by touring shopping malls across America (the originality of this approach at that time earned substantial coverage on its own[4] and a decade later would inspire Britney Spears' similar Hair Zone Mall Tour). Her cover of the Tommy James & the Shondells hit, "I Think We're Alone Now", became a number one smash hit on the Billboard chart, propelling Tiffany to international stardom. Soon, she was vying with Debbie Gibson for space on the covers of teen magazines, including Tiger Beat, Teen Beat, and many others, as well as visiting multiple television shows on MTV, Fox, etc. Her song "Could've Been" also shot to the #1 spot of the Billboard charts in February 1988. "I Saw Him Standing There" and "Feelings of Forever" also saw chart success from the over 4.1 million selling debut.[5] Tiffany also set a record for the youngest female artist to top the Billboard charts with a debut album. Later that year, she cast the then-unknown singing group New Kids on the Block as the opening act for her concert tour.

Family turmoil

In 1988, at the peak of her popularity, she ended up in the middle of a conflict between her manager (George Tobin) and her mother and stepfather over control of her career and earnings. This led to a court fight which included an attempt by Tiffany to have herself declared an emancipated minor; this was rejected by the court, but her grandmother became her temporary guardian.[6][7][8][9]

Career stall

In late 1988, she released her second album, Hold An Old Friend's Hand. It did not do as well as her first album as it did not spawn any number one hits, although the song "All This Time" made the top ten.[10] Hold An Old Friend's Hand received mixed reviews from critics but eventually went double-platinum. Later that year, she signed on to provide the voice of Judy Jetson for Jetsons: The Movie, which was ultimately released in 1990 after some delays; she contributed 3 songs to the soundtrack including the single I Always Thought I'd See You Again.

Shortly after her 18th birthday in 1989, Tiffany bought a mansion that used to belong to action movie star Chuck Norris, but she later sold it. She also left Tobin's management and signed with Dick Scott, who managed New Kids on the Block, then a very successful teen pop group which had received their first big break by opening for Tiffany on her 1988 tour.

Her career suffered as musical tastes changed in the early 1990s, swinging away from Dance-pop, towards harder-edged rock and rap. This was shown in her third album, the Urban influenced New Inside. It was her first album away from Tobin, and some of her fans felt the new soulful, sultrier Tiffany was a hard sell. New Inside received good reviews from critics,[11] but failed to make the charts at all, although she made several TV appearances to promote it including on the sitcom Out of This World. Tiffany never regained her "Teen Queen" popularity.

In 1991, she took part in the recording of the song "Voices That Care" which peaked at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Marriage and comeback attempts

File:Playboy April 2002.jpg
On the cover of Playboy, April 2002

In 1992, she married make up artist Bulmaro Garcia.

On 17 September 2002, she gave birth to her son Elijah Garcia.

In a brief early-1990s comeback attempt, she got back together with Tobin, released the album Dreams Never Die in Asia (but not in the United States), and did some performances at the Las Vegas Hilton, before breaking with Tobin again.[12]

In 1995, she moved to Nashville to attempt a country music career, but never released any music of that genre.[13]

In the year 2005, her "comeback" album, The Color of Silence, was released, and received stellar reviews. Billboard pegged it as "one of the best pop albums of the year" and the year's "biggest surprise".[14] Despite the critical validation - and a record-breaking turnout for her college campus tour - a record deal with a shady, now defunct company and the teen-pop "stigma" attached to her name hindered the album's potential success.

In 2004, she was the subject of an E! True Hollywood Story television show. She also had a greatest hits album released in Singapore and three in Japan. At the age of 31, she appeared in a nude photo spread for Playboy magazine.[15]

Having divorced her first husband Bulmaro, on August 1, 2004, she married a British man named Benn George, and she has been dividing her time between Cannock (a small town in Staffordshire, England) and Los Angeles, United States.

Back in Public Eye

On April 2, 2005, Tiffany was featured in British TV show Hit Me Baby One More Time, winning the first heat and subsequently securing a place in the show's final. She also appeared on the U.S. version of the show on 2 June 2005, but lost to Arrested Development. Both versions of the show aim to bring former pop stars back into the limelight. Tiffany performed the Girls Aloud song "Love Machine" on the UK version of the show. In 2006, Girls Aloud returned the favor by covering Tiffany's best known song "I Think We're Alone Now" on their greatest hits album The Sound of Girls Aloud.

In May 2005, Tiffany released the album, Dust Off And Dance, independently and through CDBaby (and later also for download on the iTunes music store). It was dedicated to her new husband, but recorded as a "Thank You" to her fans (particularly her gay and euro fanbase) for reminding her about the fun to be had with her career, and it serves as a reminder of a lighter time when she could lose herself on the dance floor.[16] The album consists of Eurodance and Hi-NRG style songs. The singles from Dust Off And Dance such as Ride It, Fly, Be With U Tonite, Na Na Na and Artificial Girlfriend all charted on listener sponsored radio stations that also stream online such as WMPH and C895Worldwide. Both radio stations are Rhythmic/Dance format stations. A few of the singles made the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.

She toured with the album, working her way back into the public eye from the ground up. It paid off; in September of 2006 the album was nominated for six JPF awards. She won for best dance song of the year for "Be With U Tonite" and best dance CD of the year on November 4. She was mentioned several times (along with fellow pop diva Deborah Gibson) in the film, Music and Lyrics.

In 2007, Tiffany was also one of the contestants on the fifth season of the TV show Celebrity Fit Club, going from 152 lbs to 124 (a loss of 28 lbs).

In recent years, she has performed frequently at gay pride events, although she is heterosexual herself.[17]

New record contract

Tiffany signed a record deal with 10 Spot Records, a new division of Water Music Records Group, which is distributed by Universal Music Group. She released a new album on June 5th, 2007, titled Just Me[18].

Tiffany has also re-recorded an updated version of I Think We're Alone Now for a new album of cover material released by Cleopatra Records in early April 2007, "I Think We're Alone Now: '80s Hits and More ". The album carrying a less than flattering picture of Tiffany from her 1980's glory days contains several updated versions of songs from her debut album, and also features her take on songs like "Voices Carry," "Kids In America," "Venus" and more.

The new album will contain all new material in a singer/songwriter format a la "The Color of Silence". It includes a studio recording of "Winter's Over." The first single from the album, "Feels Like Love" was released on May 1, 2007. On April 15th, 2007, Tiffany filmed a music video for "Feels Like Love" in Los Angeles.

Other musical Tiffanys

Tiffany Darwish is not the only musical act to go by the surnameless stage name Tiffany, which has at times caused confusion for her fans. In 1984, a song entitled "Remembering Love", credited to "Tiffany", was released in Canada, followed up in 1987 by another song "In The Dark". As these turned up in used-record catalogs, fans debated whether they were by "the" Tiffany or not, and even Tiffany's own denial wasn't always fully trusted (people sometimes suggested that she was either mistaken or was trying to cover up early failures in her career). However, these releases were ultimately found to be by Canadian singer Kimberly Warnock, who has sometimes used the stage name "Tiffany" but has no connection with the famous singer of that name.

Other uses of the name for musical artists or groups have included a 1960s British vocalist, a 1970s Dutch band, a German band, an Italian singer, and two different R&B singers (with real names Charli Baltimore and Tiffany Nichole Tatum).

Discography

Regular studio albums

Albums

Album Statistics Singles
Tiffany Tiffany
Hold an Old Friend's Hand Hold an Old Friend's Hand
New Inside New Inside
  • "New Inside"
  • "Here In My Heart"
  • "Back in the Groove" (Asia Only)
Dreams Never Die Dreams Never Die
  • "If Love Is Blind" (Asia Only)
  • "Can't You See" (Asia Only)
The Color of Silence The Color of Silence
  • "I'm Not Sleeping"
  • "Open My Eyes"
Dust Off and Dance Dust Off and Dance
  • "Be With U Tonight"
  • "Na Na Na"
Just Me Just Me
  • "Feels Like Love "

Other albums

Singles

Year Single Album U.S. U.S. AC UK
1987 "Danny" Tiffany - - -
1987 "I Think We're Alone Now" Tiffany 1 - 1
1988 "Could've Been" Tiffany 1 1 4
1988 "I Saw Him Standing There" Tiffany 7 - 8
1988 "Feelings of Forever" Tiffany 50 - 52
1988 "All This Time" Hold an Old Friend's Hand 6 10 47
1989 "Radio Romance" Hold an Old Friends Hand 35 - 13
1989 "Hold an Old Friend's Hand" Hold an Old Friend's Hand - 27 -
1989 "It's the Lover (Not the Love)" Hold an Old Friend's Hand - - -
1989 "Oh Jackie" Hold an Old Friend's Hand - Asia Only - Asia Only - Asia Only
1990 "I Always Thought I'd See You Again" Jetsons: The Movie Soundtrack - - -
1990 "New Inside" New Inside - - -
1990 "Here In My Heart" New Inside - - -
1991 "Back In The Groove" New Inside - Asia Only - Asia Only - Asia Only
1993 "If Love Is Blind" Dreams Never Die Asia Only Asia Only Asia Only
1994 "Can't You See" Dreams Never Die Asia Only Asia Only Asia Only
2000 "I'm Not Sleeping" The Color of Silence - - -
2000 "Open My Eyes" The Color of Silence - - -
2005 "Be With U Tonite" Dust Off & Dance - - -
2006 "Na Na Na" Dust Off & Dance - - -
2007 "Feels Like Love" Just Me - - -

In addition, her music has been featured on countless soundtracks.

Notes and references

  1. ^ IMDB [1]
  2. ^ NNDB [2]
  3. ^ California Birth Index [3]
  4. ^ Russell, Lisa, "Tiffany, the teenage mallflower who serenades the shoppers of America", People Weekly, v28, 14 September 1997, p. 81
  5. ^ Gett, Steve, "Tiffany conquers the charts", Billboard, v100, 23 January 1988, p. 24
  6. ^ Haring, Bruce, "Tiffany gets a guardian as she seeks adult status", Billboard, v100, 1998-04-16, p. 6
  7. ^ Dougherty, Steve, "It's a bittersweet 16 for Tiffany, who's suing her mom for 'emancipation'", People Weekly, v29, 1998-04-18, p.94
  8. ^ McDougal, Dennis, "Tiffany: The $5-million star of stage and court", Los Angeles Times, Sun., 1988-06-12, Home Edition, Calendar Section, p. 6 [correction in Section One, p. 3]
  9. ^ Hunt, Dennis, "The trials of Tiffany: A year after filing suit, she and mom are talking", Los Angeles Times, Sun., 1989-04-09, Home Edition, Calendar Section, p. 63
  10. ^ Boehm, Mike, "Heartaches of two songwriters are behind Tiffany's latest hit", Los Angeles Times, Fri., Feb. 10, 1989, Orange County Edition, Calendar Section(6), p. 23
  11. ^ Album review, Billboard, October 27, 1990
  12. ^ Lutz, Natalie. "Tiffany Changes Her Style for Third Album", Showbiz (Las Vegas), July 25-31, 1993; article title is erroneous, since it is actually discussing her fourth album.
  13. ^ Keel, Beverly, "Tiffany's starting all over again -- in country", Country Weekly, Vol. 3, No. 52, Dec. 24, 1996, p. 17.
  14. ^ Paoletta, Michael, "Tiffany Tells Stories Her Way", Billboard, August 19, 2000, p. 1
  15. ^ "Tiffany: She's All Grown Up", Playboy, April, 2002
  16. ^ Gower, Van, "'Dust Off' Old Notions and Dance", David (Atlanta), issue #355, August 3, 2005, p. 60 [4]
  17. ^ Henderson, William, "Just Tiffany", In Newsweekly, May 31, 2007 [5]
  18. ^ As noted on the official sites of Tiffany and 10 Spot: http://www.tiffanymusicsite.com/ and http://www.10spotmusic.com/


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