HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

T-Babe (stylised as t-babe) was a virtual pop singer created by husband-and-wife team Sascha and Tessa Hartmann for their independent record label Glasgow Records. The couple were looking to sign an artist to sing the dance tunes that Sascha had written, but were unable to find anyone suitable. As a result, they decided instead to create a 3D computer-generated character who could perform the songs. The Hartmanns developed T-Babe over the course of a year. Initially, her purpose was to attract further attention to the label from the rest of the music industry, but the couple soon began to treat the character as an artist in her own right. Tessa met with a number of focus groups to develop T-Babe's personality and to make the character relatable. She created a five-year timeline for T-Babe, including events such as when her hair would grow and when she would have boyfriend problems. It was decided that T-Babe would be 18 years old, single, lonely, fluent in German, Spanish, Italian and Japanese, and "a big fan of shopping ndathletics". The T in her name stood for Saint Teresa, and her parents were a university professor and an ex-hippy. The singing voice for T-Babe was supplied by an American singer who chose to remain anonymous, as she was already an established singer. T-Babe was first previewed in 2000 at the music festival Midem in
Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...
, where Glasgow Records formed part of the
British Phonographic Industry BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) Limited, trading as British Phonographic Industry (BPI), is the British recorded music industry's trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards; is home to the Mercury Prize; co-owns the Official Charts C ...
's stall. She gave her first TV interview in March 2000 with
Matthew Price Matthew William Price (born 5 June 1972 in Hampstead, London) is a British journalist who currently works as Chief Correspondent for the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. Education Matthew Price was educated at The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' Schoo ...
for the children's news programme ''
Newsround ''Newsround'' (stylised as ''newsround'') is a BBC children's news programme, which has run continuously since 4 April 1972. Originally ''John Craven's Newsround'', it was one of the world's first television news magazines aimed specifically ...
''. Her debut single, "Peter Pumpkineater", was originally slated for release that month, but was instead pushed back to September. In May of that year, T-Babe was featured in the magazine ''
Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...
'' and was offered a contract with the fashion designer
Louis Vuitton Louis Vuitton Malletier SAS, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French Luxury goods, luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton (designer), Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its products, ...
. She later appeared on the
American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast Television broadcaster, television and radio Radio network, network that serves as the flagship property of the Disney Entertainment division ...
's programme ''
Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...
'', and was also named "Most Beautiful New Pop Artist" by the Italian version of ''
Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...
'' and "It Cyber Pin-up of the Year" by ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
''. During this promotion, commentators compared T-Babe with similar computer-generated/animated characters of the time, such as
Gorillaz Gorillaz are an English virtual band created by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett in London, England in 1998. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (gui ...
,
Lara Croft Lara Croft is a character and the main protagonist of the video game franchise ''Tomb Raider''. She is presented as a highly intelligent and athletic British adventurer and archaeologist who ventures into ancient tombs and hazardous ruins arou ...
, Kyoko Date, Ananova and Germany's e-CYAS. In May 2000, the Hartmanns launched Glasgow Animation, a sister company their record label that would develop T-Babe further. They sought to raise £5 million in private equity for the development, and hired Benfield Advisory from the
City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...
to assist in raising the funds. They received a £10 million offer from a public company, but turned it down.
Silicon Graphics Silicon Graphics, Inc. (stylized as SiliconGraphics before 1999, later rebranded SGI, historically known as Silicon Graphics Computer Systems or SGCS) was an American high-performance computing manufacturer, producing computer hardware and soft ...
provided sponsorship to the company, and supplied graphics software used to develop the character. "Peter Pumpkineater" was eventually released on 15 March 2001, but failed to make the UK's Top 100 chart. In January 2002,
Alexis Petridis Alexis Petridis (born 13 September 1971) is an English journalist. He is the head Rock music, rock and pop music critic for ''The Guardian'', and a regular contributor for ''GQ''. In addition to his music journalism for the paper, he has written ...
of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' stated that T-Babe had sunk "without a trace".


References

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2016 Animated human characters Animated characters Fictional American people Fictional characters introduced in 2000 Fictional female musicians Fictional singers Fictional characters invented for recorded music