Thursday, April 1, 2010

Tara Kemp - Tara Kemp (1991)

I know that I have been very lax in my posts on here for the last month, and it will continue as I'm going on vacation next week, but I thought I'd leave you with one gem before I go. Originally I was not going to post this album on my blog because Tara had two top ten hits and I deemed her too successful. Plus, this album seemed to be featured quite a bit on other blogs. But that no longer seems the case, and her rise, fall and disappearance were so quick that she indeed fits the criteria! Some time ago my dear friend Joe featured Tara on Milk Carton Pop Stars, so for more details please go there. In brief, her first single, "Hold You Tight", was such a club hit that she was scooped up by major label Giant (who were no doubt looking for the next Paula Abdul), and the song became a top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Her follow-up, "Piece Of My Heart", also leapt into the top ten on that chart, and her future success seemed definite. It was an incredible feat for a previously unknown artist who was produced by unknowns. But her third single, "Too Much", barely squeaked into the Top 100. And aside from a track on the Beverly Hills 90210 soundtrack, a duet, and one more single on an indie label, Tara's voice was never heard on the airwaves again. There have been murmurs that differences with management and the label ended her recording career. Whatever the case, she has apparently turned her back on recording and is instead pursuing interior design. Her career in music was so brief that she remains a bit of an enigma, and the premier example of how fickle the pop music world can be. But thankfully there are many of us who still admire her career, no matter how short it may have been.

UPDATE:  Queen Tara herself just wrote a comment, and I simply had to share as I know many of you are big fans.  Most excitingly she's going to be releasing new music soon and performing!!!  Finally!!  Here is her comment.  Thanks so much for visiting Tara!

"Hey, TK here. Wow! How sweet to be remembered so fondly! I know it's been a long time, but I will be releasing a new dance single and video in January 2013! Looking forward to getting back out there and performing for my fans again. Thank you for all the kind comments! And yes, those two tracks were written by Jake and Tuhin."


Video for Hold You Tight

Video for Piece Of My Heart

Download Tara Kemp

1
Prologue

2
Hold You Tight

3
Be My Lover

4
Too Much

5
One Love

6
Tara By The Way

7
Piece Of My Heart

8
Together

9
The Way You Make Me Feel

10
Something To Groove To

11
Monday Love

12
Epilogue

22 comments:

  1. OMIGOD! Literally last night while I was eating a burrito supreme at Taco Bell (yes, how classy!) "Hold You Tight" started playing in the restaurant. It was so random but made my Taco Bell fine dining all the more exciting!

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  2. I always thought the video to "hold you tight" looked too similar to Cathy Dennis' "touch me all night long".

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  3. she made two vers of the video hold you tight, the first was really cheap lol

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  4. this album is one of my favorites from when i was a kid! i love tara's voice and still listen to this album... can't believe i've had this cd for almost 20 years! it still sounds great today... wish she would've recorded more! great post! :)

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  5. Could someone post the writing credits for "Tara by the Way", "The Way You Me Feel" and "Something to Groove To"? I'd be really glad if someone could. Thanks in advance. :)

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  6. Replies
    1. The Way You Make Me Feel was written by Jennifer Jones. The other two tracks don't have writing credits (on my copy at least). My guess is they were written by Jake Smith and Tuhin Roy, who are responsible for most of the rest of the songs.

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    2. Thank you so much! :D

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  8. Hey, TK here. Wow! How sweet to be remembered so fondly! I know it's been a long time, but I will be releasing a new dance single and video in January 2013! Looking forward to getting back out there and performing for my fans again. Thank you for all the kind comments! And yes, those two tracks were written by Jake and Tuhin.

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    1. Tara, we're still waiting with anticipation! xo

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    2. TK, whats happened? Loved you and your album and thought you were fly! When is the new single out? Do you have a twitter account? Waiting patiently for 22 YEARS for a new album...

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    3. I remember when Tara came on Oprah with some other acts and I quickly got up to do told u tight dance routine that I learnt to perfection then gettin the shock of my life when her routine seemed jumbled lol I jus clicked "my god they chopped up the routine a lot in the music video hehe some fond memories of the album which I bought several times cos people keeps stealing it! glorified moment: my bestie back in the days won a drag contest performing Monday Love - the crowd went wild when that song starting pumping!!!! Thank you Tara you are a legend and your fans still love and honour you girl XXOX

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  9. How exciting!! Thanks SO much for writing!! I will post this comment on the main post for all to see! :) Cannot wait for your new single and video!! It's about time! You've been missed. ;)

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  10. TK was def one of my crushes back in the day. Man we had it good at that time. Things were still kinda innocent. Yea the envelope was getting pushed but man..not like today. Tara Kemp, you said 2013 of January? Well here we are. Keeping my eyes peeled.

    JLUV

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  11. Tara Kemp it's January 2013 and I've got my eyes PEELED looking for your return

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  12. Tara now has official Facebook account!

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  13. http://www.breakitdownshow.com/episodes/a-new-adventure-with-tara-kemp

    Her new material is on the horizon; she discussed quite a bit here and the new material in Part 2 of this interview which has yet to be released

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    1. I'm one of the hosts of the Break It Down Show. We had an amazing time with Tara on her episode -- so much so that we had to turn it into a 2-parter. She's terrific, and we're big fans too.

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  14. https://www.facebook.com/tara.kemp.52
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tara_kemp

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  15. If you go on iTunes and look up Break It Down Show under the podcast tab, there are two shows with TK in them. Oh and I just checked, www.breakitdownshow.com has both shows as well Yayyyy TK.

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  16. Sensacional esse CD. Muito obrigado por postar no blog.

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