Domenica "Nikka" Costa
(born June 4, 1972, in Tokyo, Japan [1]) is an American singer whose music combines elements of funk, soul, and blues. She also had a career as a child singer.
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NIKKA COSTA TICKETS
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Early life
Nikka Costa was surrounded by music when she was a child. Her father
Don Costa was a producer and a musician and had connections with people in the music business. Costa was surrounded by famous musicians at her home and when she was traveling around the world with her father.
Costa got her start early. She recorded a single with Hawaiian singer
Don Ho at 5 years of age and sang on the White House lawn with
Frank Sinatra at the age of 9.
[2] Costa's career as a recording artist with her own name started in 1981, when she recorded her first 45 rpm single in
Italy. The song "(Out Here) On My Own" (from the musical
Fame
) rose to #1 on European charts in September of that year and stayed on the top spots for several weeks.
Subsequently Costa released her first, self-titled album
Nikka Costa
outside the US in 1981. It became a #1 album in Europe and South America and now she traveled around the world to sing.
Costa released her second album
Fairy tales (cuentos de hadas)
in 1983. Her father died of a heart attack soon after it was recorded, but she continued to perform despite the personal loss. Her third album
Here I am
was released to fulfill a contractual obligation in 1989.
Here I am
contained sugary pop music, and it topped some charts in Europe.
Costa hadn't found out her own style yet, even though she had become a veteran in the music business. She started to search for her style after she graduated from high school. She began writing and listening to
Motown artists, finding her own style in the kind of music she heard a lot at home.
Adult career
She made several major moves in her "adult" career, including marrying Australian producer/songwriter Justin Stanley and moving down under. There, she started honing her guitar skills and writing her own songs. She formed her very first band, Little Mona & The Shag Daddies, which played "happy funk" but broke up after four gigs in Sydney.
Her next venture was a four-piece band called Sugarbone, which toured the country in 1994. Nikka describes the experience as
"It was really scary to unveil it but the reaction was good. It helped my confidence,"
[3] Out of Sugarbone, she was signed to the label Mushroom in Australia.
In 1996 she released the album
Butterfly Rocket
in Australia, and reached the Top 20. The record led to a nomination for
ARIA Music Awards Breakthrough Artist in 1996 and Best Female Artist in 1997.
Her song "
Like A Feather" was featured in a
Tommy Hilfiger television
advertising campaign. That exposure coupled with the track's music video helped launch her U.S. music career. The followup album
Everybody Got Their Something
managed to garner another radio hit with the title track. In 2005, she released her record
can'tneverdidnothin'
. She toured with
Lenny Kravitz who also performed on the record.
The next year, 2006, she and her husband Justin recorded and performed the theme to the short-lived
CBS sitcom "
Courting Alex", which starred
Jenna Elfman.
Costa is currently signed with Stax Records.
[4] Her latest studio album,
Pebble to a Pearl
, was released on October 14, 2008.
She was a guest singer on
Mark Ronson's album Here Comes the Fuzz. Who also produced her song "Everybody Got Their Something" and others.
[5]
Discography
- Nikka Costa
(1981) Released in Europe and South America
- Fairy Tales (Cuentos de Hadas)
(1983) Released in Europe and South America
- Here I Am... Yes, It's Me
(1989) Released in Europe and South America
- Sugarbone
(1994) Three track demo tape recorded in Australia, Released only to venue booking agents and promoters
- Butterfly Rocket
(1996) Released only in Australia
- Everybody Got Their Something
(2001) US Billboard 200 - #120
- can'tneverdidnothin'
(2005) US Billboard 200 - #157
- Pebble to a Pearl
(2008) US Billboard 200 - #157
References
- Nikka Costa Biography
- [1]
- http://www.pollstar.com/blogs/hotstar/archive_/2001/08/20/hotstar29849.aspx
- Concord Music Group - Nikka Costa Signs With Stax Records!
- [1]