Tina Charles (born Tina Hoskins; 10 March 1954) is an English singer who achieved success as a disco artist in the mid to late 1970s. Her most successful single was the UK no. 1 hit "I Love to Love (But My Baby Loves to Dance)" in 1976.
Charles was born Tina Hoskins in Whitechapel, London, to Charles Hoskins, who worked in a box-making factory in Bow and his wife Hilda. She recovered from meningitis as a newborn. She has a brother, Warren, who was her tour manager during the height of her career.
Charles began her career as a backing singer and session musician, and recorded her first solo single in 1969 with a then-unknown Elton John playing piano. During the early 1970s she supplied vocals for the Top of the Pops album series of cover versions of contemporary hits. In 1971 she made appearances in the first series of The Two Ronnies, the BBC1 sketch show starring Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, performing songs such as "River Deep - Mountain High" and "Ruby Tuesday".
In 1975 Charles and her friend Linda Lewis were backing vocalists on the Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel chart topping song, "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)". She provided the lead vocals for 5000 Volts' 1975 disco hit single "I'm on Fire". Although not publicly acknowledged as a group member at the time due to contractual problems, Charles was considered to have a stronger voice than the group's later official lead singers. The song reached number 4 in the UK Singles Chart, and 26 in the Billboard Hot 100.
Charles' big break came soon after in 1975, when Indian-British composer/producer Biddu, who had just enjoyed success with the disco song "Kung Fu Fighting" for Carl Douglas, produced the singles "You Set My Heart on Fire" and "I Love to Love (But My Baby Loves to Dance)" for her. The latter single spent three weeks at number one on the UK chart in March 1976, and was a major hit around the world. It won a Juno Award in 1977.
Biddu's collaboration continued on a future album and another song hit: "Dance Little Lady Dance". In total, Charles spent 42 weeks on the UK Singles Chart in 1976 alone, mainly due to these two records. During this time, her touring band included Trevor Horn (for a while her boyfriend), Geoff Downes, and Bruce Woolley.
Further hits like "Love Me Like a Lover", "Dr Love", "Rendezvous" and "Love Bug" made her a pop star in Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, but she was never able to achieve success in the US. Her only solo recording to chart significantly in the US was "You Set My Heart on Fire," which reached number 3 on Record World's 'Disco File Top 20' chart in the autumn of 1975.
In 1978, Charles was a joint winner at the World Popular Song Festival held in Tokyo, performing the tune, "Love Rocks". Charles represented the UK, and shared the top prize with Japan's own entry. ...
Source: Article "Tina Charles (singer)" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
