Imaani Saleem (born Melonie Crosdale on 1 January 1972) is an English singer, best known for representing the United Kingdom at the

Eurovision Song Contest 1998 The Eurovision Song Contest 1998 was the 43rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, held on 9 May 1998 at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcas ...

in Birmingham with the song " Where Are You". The song placed second in the contest, and became a top 20 hit in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Although "Where Are You?" remains her sole solo chart entry, in 2000 she re-entered the top 20 of the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

alongside Tru Faith & Dub Conspiracy with their version of "

Freak Like Me "Freak Like Me" is the debut single of American R&B singer Adina Howard. It was released on January 25, 1995, as the lead single from her debut album, ''Do You Wanna Ride?''. It reached number two on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for two weeks, as ...

". Later, she recorded many songs with jazz-dance group

Incognito Incognito is an English adjective meaning "in disguise", "having taken steps to conceal one's identity". Incognito may also refer to: Film and television * ''Incognito'' (1937 film), a Danish film * ''Incognito'' (1997 film), an American crime ...

, and in 2014 released her debut studio album, ''Standing Tall''.

Career

After leaving college and moving to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, a chance train encounter with a music producer led to Imaani entering the music business. In 1995, she provided vocals on the song "Easin' My Mind" by FM Inc., and in 1996, on

's album ''Beneath the Surface''.

Eurovision 1998

In 1998, Saleem entered ''

The Great British Song Contest ''Eurovision: You Decide'' is the most recent name of a BBC television programme that was broadcast annually to select the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest, United Kingdom's entry into the Eurovision Song Contest. The show had prev ...

'' competition to find the UK's song for the Eurovision Song Contest that year. Her track " Where Are You" was a runaway winner with the British public and was selected to represent the UK. Saleem finished a mere seven points behind the winner

Dana International Sharon Cohen ( he, שרון כהן; born 2 February 1969), professionally known as Dana International ( he, דנה אינטרנשיונל), is an Israeli pop singer. She has released eight albums and three additional compilation albums. She wa ...

, in second place in the

. After its success in the contest, "Where Are You" entered the

in May 1998, peaking at number 15 and spending 15 non-consecutive weeks in the top 100. The track sold over 250,000 copies. Despite this success, her record label

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

decided to cancel the release of her follow-up single "You Got a Way" in 1999 and parted company with Saleem.

After Eurovision

In 2000, she supplied the lead vocals on Tru Faith & Dub Conspiracy's

UK garage UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house, but also incorporates elements from dance-pop, R&B, and jungle. It ...

cover of Adina Howard's "

". The song reached No. 12 on the

. Saleem went on to record with the

jazz-funk Jazz-funk is a subgenre of jazz music characterized by a strong back beat ( groove), electrified sounds, and an early prevalence of analog synthesizers. The integration of funk, soul, and R&B music and styles into jazz resulted in the creat ...

band

, providing vocals for more than 10 of their records. Since 2005, Saleem has performed as part of UK session organisation The AllStars Collective. The following year, in 2006, she sang on the house track "Bring Me Love" by the Copyright Project on

Defected Records In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state in exchange for allegiance to another, changing sides in a way which is considered illegitimate by the first state. More broadly, defection involves abandoning a person, ca ...

. The track received a limited release in the UK, but reached the top 5 on the

UK Dance Chart The UK Dance Singles Chart and the UK Dance Albums Chart are music charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company from sales of songs in the dance music genre (e.g. house, trance, drum and bass, garage, synthpop) in record s ...

. In 2014, Saleem released her debut album, ''Standing Tall''. One of its songs, "Struggling" featured on the 2015 soul compilation album ''Luxury Soul 2015''.

Discography

Albums

*''Standing Tall'' (2014)

Charted singles

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1972 births Living people Eurovision Song Contest entrants for the United Kingdom Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1998 People from Nottingham 21st-century Black British women singers UK garage singers 20th-century Black British women singers Incognito (band) members