Tamara Gee

Tamara Gee
Background information
Birth name	Tamara Diane Wimer
Also known as	Tamara Gee (previously Isis Gee)
Born	(1972-10-11) October 11, 1972 Seattle, Washington, USA
Origin	USA
Genres	Pop
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, producer, model
Labels	Universal Music Polska Croatia Records
Website	www.tamaragee.com

Tamara Gee (born Tamara Diane Wimer on October 11, 1972, Seattle), is an American vocalist, songwriter, producer, programmer, arranger, dancer, and model.^[1] She released her debut album Hidden Treasure on Universal Music in 2007, while living in Poland.^[2] Her single from the album, "For Life", was voted unanimous winner^[3] of Piosenka dla Europy, the Polish final for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. "For Life" qualified for the Eurovision final.^[4] In 2007 Gee co-wrote and performed "Fate" on DJ Schiller's album Sehnsucht.^[5] The album went triple platinum and was nominated for a Grammy.^[6] After her solo EP Christmas Angel in 2009, she is working on a new album, due out on February 14, 2014, and writing with and being produced by Walter Afanasieff (Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli, etc).^[7]

Gee is the spokeswoman and face of NEBU Milano,^[8][9] a luxury cosmetic brand launched out of Milan on November 21, 2013.^[10]

Biography

Early life, education

Tamara Gee is of Polish descent. She was born in Seattle, Washington, in the United States as Tamara Diane Wimer.^[1] She began her professional career in music at age 12, performing classical, pop, R&B, jazz, Broadway, and country music.^[1] Gee attended Kentwood High School in Covington, Washington from 1988 to 1991. At 17 she received the Best Female Vocalist Award in a singing contest with IMTA (International Modeling and Talent Association) in Los Angeles. California^[11] Soon after, Gee went on to win a scholarship and beauty pageant (preliminary to Miss America) also winning the Talent Award.^[11]

At the age of 19 she opened for Tony Bennett and started to perform with an orchestra, also touring and recording with various jazz bands.^[11] Before Gee turned 21, she had been the featured vocalist on an array of albums including recording with the Jazz Police, a 24 piece jazz band from Seattle on their 1992 album Phantom Suite. The album was released with Universal Music Group.^[12] Gee was also the vocalist for Room to Move, featuring on the band's album No Time for Daydreams,^[13] as well as the featured vocalist with the Bobby Medina Band (Ray Charles, Herbie Hancock, etc.).^[14]

During her Asia tour she also performed with McCoy Tyner (John Coltrane, Stanley Clarke, Bill Evans).^[15] After moving to Los Angeles, Gee worked with song writer Steve Dorff (Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston).^[11]

In 2000, she starred in Jericho.^[16]

Polish releases

In 2004 she married Adam Gołębiowski^[17] and moved to Warsaw, Poland.^[2][18] She continued to pursue her career in Poland and released her debut album Hidden Treasure with Universal Music in 2007.^[2] Grammy Award-winning engineer Simon Gogerly assisted and mixed the entire album, as well as her single "For Life".^[19] KK co-produced three tracks on the album.

In 2007, Gee worked with German DJ Schiller (Christopher von Deylen) on his new album Sehnsucht, co-writing and performing the song "Fate", which was released with Universal Music. The album and song received Platinum, selling over 200,000 units in a few months time.^[5] The album went triple platinum and was nominated for a Grammy.^[6]

In 2007, Gee also took part in Dancing with the Stars: Taniec z Gwiazdami on TVN in Poland. She reached the quarter final, ranking a top 5 position out of 14 couples. Her dance partner was world champion Ukranian dancer Zora Korolyov. During her last performance, she broke her ribs, hit her dance partner's knee, and ended up in the hospital.^[20] She performed on the semifinal and final of the program as a special guest. On August 2008 in Kraków, Gee and Korolyov were chosen as one of four couples from the program's history to take part in a Guinness Book of World Records event, where they are recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records for teaching 1,600 couples to dance the cha-cha-cha.

In 2008, Gee recorded and performed her Christmas compositions from her album Christmas Angel with the Harlem Gospel Choir in New York City and Warsaw, Poland.^[21] According to the liner notes, the album was dedicated to her cousin Mindy, who had died in a car crash earlier that year.^{[citation needed]}

Eurovision Song Contest

Gee's song "For Life", which she had written and produced, was chosen from among over one hundred songs as one of twelve entries to participate in Piosenka dla Europy, the Polish national final for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. During the live broadcast on February 23, 2008, her entry was selected to represent Poland at Eurovision 2008. She received the maximum points by both the jury and text voting from the public.^[3]

At the semi-final, Gee qualified for the final receiving 42 points and placing 10th; the top 10 entries qualified for the final.^[4] She was the first contestant to represent Poland who reached the final with the new format of pre-final and final selections rules. In the final "For Life" was awarded 14 points, received from the United Kingdom and Ireland.^[4] Dima Bilan of Russia won first place in the 2008 contest, though his victory's integrity was questioned by Ukraine's officials later in May.^[22] Gee was referred to by Angora Magazine as "Miss Eurovision" in an article entitled "Huge Swindle" Eurovision 2008.^[23]

She was also voted the most beautiful contestant in Eurovision by the National Broadcaster of Serbia RTS,^[24] and was nominated as one of the top 5 best female vocalists in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008.^[25] In the poll website Eurovision ESC Today, Gee was nominated in two categories - Best Performance by a Vocalist and Best-Dressed Performer.^[26]

She rated 3rd in an online poll as "Best female vocal performance" in the 2008 Contest,^[27] and a French commentator compared her performance to Celine Dion.^[28]

On May 11, 2009 a portion of Gee's Eurovision performance was shown on The Oprah Winfrey Show during the "The World's Got Talent with Simon Cowell" episode. In the clip Gee is shown singing amidst Celine Dion, Abba and Julio Iglesias.^[29] She was also featured singing on European television programs such as the The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson in Ireland.^[30] In 2009, Gee re-appeared during Piosenka dla Europy to perform as a guest act.^[31]

Before Eurovision she had performed in over 35 countries in one year's time, including at venues such as the Scala Club in London.^[32]

Recent years

Music videos

In 2007, she signed to Universal Music Poland where she released the album Hidden Treasure and an associated music video with the single.^[1] As of 2013 she has released four music videos for songs she has written, including "Hidden Treasure," "What You See," "For Life," and "How About That."^[33]

Recent releases

In 2010 she recorded the duet ballad single "Live" with Jacques Houdek and co-produced the song with Canadian writer and producer Tino Izzo (Celine Dion). The song was recorded in London and released as a single by Croatia Records.^[34]

In 2012 she released an EP single and the first song she and Anders Hansson produced together, entitled "How About That". Hansson is the author of the Agnes Carlsson songs Release me and "On and On". Gee wrote, programmed and arranged "How About That" in Italy and co-produced with Anders' team of producers from Sweden,^[35] including Marta Grauers, Erik Arivander (Lady Gaga - Alejandro), Felix Person and Adam Gee.^[36]

She is working on a new album, due out on February 14, 2014. Gee is writing with and being produced by Walter Afanasieff (Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Andrea Bocelli and Barbra Streisand), and others).^[37] She is also professionally managed by Afanasieff.^[7] As of 2013 she is managed by Jim Morey Management in Los Angeles (Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, Miley Cyrus) and represented by Walter Afanasieff.^[38]

NEBU Milano

After moving to Italy with her husband, in 2011 Gee was approached to be the spokeswoman and face of NEBU Milano,^[8][9] a luxury cosmetic brand that sells 24 carat golden plated cosmetics with Swarovski Crystal elements. The brand launched out of Milan on November 21, 2013 in Mazzolari perfumeries, with Gee as the featured performer at the event.^[10]

Also in 2011 Gee was on the cover of Shopping For You, an Italian luxury magazine.^[39]

Personal life

Tamara Gee is currently living in Los Angeles.^[40] and traveling to Italy for concerts and appearances for NEBU Milano.^[10]

In 2007, two Polish journalists : Robert Leszczynski and Kuba Wojewódzki, who is known for his racist,^[41] hateful and insulting comments^[42] started rumors, jokes and accused the artist of transsexualism. Label Universal Music Poland issued a statement on the warning before crossing the boundaries of law and the accused attacker media artist violation of fundamental rules of ethics and violation of personal interest.^[43] Tamara defamed among others Polish journalist Kuba Wojewódzki^[44] and radio journalist Robert Leszczynski, who in the settlement was ordered by the court to apologize in a published statement in the magazine Wprost^[45] for the lies and controversy he created about the artist, proving bad intention. Weekly's publisher has been punished financially, and was obliged to pay compensation singer.^[46]

Tamara is a soprano. She has been named the second Celine Dion.^[47]

Discography

Studio albums

• 1993: No Time for Daydreams
• 2000: Blazin'
• 2002: Phantom Suite/The Music of Daniel Barry/Red Fish Blue Fish
• 2008: Hidden Treasure
• 2009: Christmas Angel
• 2014: TBA

Singles

Year	Title	Album
2007	"Hidden Treasure"	Hidden Treasure
	"What You See"
2008	"For Life"
	"Fate"	Sehnsucht
	"Christmas Angel"	Christmas Angel
2009	"Times of Change"	Inauguration of Barack Obama
	"Too Far From Here"	RubikOne
	"Sleep Away the Day"	Underwater Love
2010	"Live"	Live
2011	"How About That"	How About That[48]
2011	"How About That"	CutFather Remix, Promid Remix

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tamara Gee.

• Official website
• Tamara Gee on Myspace
• Tamara Gee on Youtube
• Tamara Gee 2 on Youtube
• Tamara Gee on Twitter

v t e Tamara Gee Discography Studio albums Hidden Treasure (2007) Singles "For Life" (2008) Collaborations Phantom Suite (2002) Sehnsucht (2008) Related Taniec z Gwiazdami (2007) You Can Dance (2007) Eurovision Song Contest 2008 Piosenka dla Europy OGAE Video Contest 2008 Commons

Awards and achievements
Preceded by The Jet Set with "Time To Party"	Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008	Succeeded by Lidia Kopania with "I Don't Wanna Leave"

Persondata
Name	Gee, Tamara
Alternative names
Short description	Polish singer
Date of birth	1972-10-11
Place of birth	Seattle, Washington, USA
Date of death
Place of death