Tina Cousins

Tina Cousins

Tina Cousins in Madrid, Spain, July 2008
Background information
Origin Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England
Genres Electronica, dance-pop, hi-NRG, dance, Eurodance, adult contemporary, vocal trance
Occupations Singer, songwriter, model
Years active 1997–present
Labels All Around The World (UK) (1998 - 2006)
Big (Australia) (1998 - present)
Republic (U.S.) (1998 - 2002)
Sony Music (International) (2010 - Present)
Website www.tinacousins.com

Tina Cousins (born 20 April 1974, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England) is an English singer-songwriter and former fashion model. She has had five singles in the Top 20 of the UK Singles Chart, both as a solo artist and in collaboration with others.[1] She has also achieved popularity in Australia. She started her career as a model. In the last few years she has co-presented Essex FM's 2 Smart 4 Drugs roadshow.

Contents

Career

Cousins first big break was in the music industry, appearing on German DJ/producer team Sash!'s single "Mysterious Times" in 1998. Before "Mysterious Times", Cousins had released "Killin' Time" and "Angel" in March and June 1997 respectively.

Following the success of "Mysterious Times", "Killin' Time" was re-issued and it made the Top 20 in the UK, as did the follow-up "Pray",[2] which also achieved success in the US. Follow-up singles "Forever" and the reissued "Angel" only reached the Top 50. Cousins turned her attention to Australia where the song, "Forever" achieved gold sales. "Pray" was also a success in Australia, reaching the Top 10 and becoming her second gold single in the ARIA charts where it remained for more than four months. It was the eighth most played song on Australian radio in 2000.

Whilst in Australia on a promotional tour, she re-recorded her track "Nothing To Fear" and had it remixed by the Groove Peddlers. This became her third Australian single, and the video was also shot there.

She collaborated again with Sash! on the Top 10 hit "Just Around The Hill" (2000), and joined Billie, Cleopatra, B*Witched and Steps on the track "Thank ABBA for the Music", a medley of ABBA hits that they performed as a tribute at the BRIT Awards. The single was released and reached the Top 10 in the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand.

In 2005, she issued a new single "Wonderful Life", which had originally been released in Australia. In 2007, "Wonderful Life" was adopted by Hoyts, as their primary pre-feature theme music. "Wonderful Life" reached #15 in Australia and spent four months in the Top 50, becoming her biggest radio hit. The follow-up, "Come to Me", barely cracked the Top 40, as did the album Mastermind. The third single to be taken from the album, "Pretty Young Thing", was released in two CD formats, one of which was limited to 1000 pressings. The third single performed much better than the previous one, becoming Cousin's sixth Top 20 hit in Australia and the ninth to chart overall.

Cousins divides her time between Australia and the UK, performing regularly. She made a guest appearance on Never Mind the Buzzcocks, a UK television comedy panel show, which was broadcast on 2 November 2006, in the game's Identity Parade.

During late 2006, dance format radio station WMPH became the first US station to put any of Cousin's singles in regular rotation. She co-wrote and performed vocals on two songs on the Main Line album by Dutch group 4 Strings. The track "Curious" became a Top 30 hot dance airplay hit.

Cousins announced on her website that her first solo album Killing Time is to be re-launched as a remix project with tracks from Mastermind. The lead single will be "Everlong".

On 7 March 2009, Cousins announced on her website that a new track had been recorded along with a film clip for a new single called "Can't Hold Back". This song is with Bellatrax and was released in the US and the UK on Michael Gray's Eye Industries label in late summer 2009. It is currently available on iTunes Australia also. "Hymn" has a new remix being released in Germany under the name Resource featuring Tina Cousins.

In April 2009, Cousins announced that she had recorded a cover version of "Sex on Fire", originally by the Kings Of Leon. The track was produced by Topham & Twigg and was released on iTunes UK on 2 September. She signed a worldwide deal with Sony Music International in September 2010, and "Sex on Fire" was released worldwide in autumn 2010.

The video for "Sex on Fire" was leaked to YouTube in October 2010. The video is most notable for its explicit scenes. The pop music blog, Popjustice, described it as "another exercise in awful and amazing."[3]

Cousins appeared at Swansea's Pride event on 25 June 2011.

Discography

Albums

Year Title Chart positions
AUS UK[1]
1999 Killing Time 19 48
2005 Mastermind 30 -

Singles

Year Title Chart positions Album
AUS UK[1] FIN SWE
1998 "Pray" 8 20 15 14 Killing Time
1999 "Killin' Time" 8 15 16 -
"Forever" 14 45 - 30
"Angel" - 46 - -
2000 "Nothing to Fear" 46 - - -
2005 "Hymn" - - - - Mastermind
"Wonderful Life" 17 58 9 -
"Come to Me" 40 - 14 -
2006 "Pretty Young Thing"/"All You Need Is Love" 20 - 9 -
2010 "Sex On Fire" 25 - 89 74
2011 "More" - - - -

Other singles

Year Title Chart positions Album
AUS UK[1] FIN SWE
1997 "Deeper Shade of Blue" [Unreleased] - - - -
1997 "Love Comes Back" [Unreleased] - - - -
1998 "Mysterious Times" [with Sash!] 62 2 5 17 Life Goes On
1999 "Thank ABBA for the Music"
[Steps, Tina Cousins, Cleopatra, B*Witched, Billie]		 9 4 - 8
2000 "Just Around the Hill" [with Sash!] 26 8 16 30 Trilenium
2000 "The Remix EP" 50 - - -
2007 "Curious" [with 4 Strings] - - - - Mainline
2009 "Hymn" [with Resource] - - - -
2009 "Can't Hold Back" [with Bellatrax] - - - -

References

  1. ^ a b c d Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 123. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. 
  2. ^ Pop singer Tina joins gay pride line-up, Sheffield Star, June 6, 2009
  3. ^ "Popjustice.com". Popjustice.com. 2010-10-29. http://www.popjustice.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5082&Itemid=265. Retrieved 2011-06-01. 

External links