Tina Harris (born April 23, 1975), is an American singer best known for being a member of

Sweetbox Sweetbox is a German-based pop music project formed in 1995 by executive producer Heiko Schmidt and music producer Roberto "Geo" Rosan. Throughout the years Sweetbox has had several lead singers including Kimberly Kearney, Dacia Bridges, Tina H ...

Career

Early life

Tina Harris was born in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

, Maryland, and due to her military father being stationed there, the whole family moved to Frankfurt, West Germany, when she was four and grew up there. Tina Harris's start in the music industry came when her cousin, rapper

Turbo B Durron Maurice Butler (born April 30, 1967), known as Turbo B, is an American rapper and beatboxer. He was once the frontman of the German electronic music group Snap! After completing a period of service with the United States Army in Germany, ...

of the music group

Snap! SNAP! is a German Eurodance group formed in 1989 by producers Michael Münzing and Luca Anzilotti. The act has undergone several lineup changes over the years, featuring American singers, songwriters, and rappers such as Thea Austin, Turbo ...

chose Harris's sister Jackie to mime on the videoclip and on promotional appearances to the female parts of their hit " The Power". Later, Tina Harris and her other sister Angel became dancers on Snap!'s tour and in videoclips, first appearing in the videoclip for "

Ooops Up "Ooops Up" is a song by German Eurodance group Snap!, released in June 1990 as the second single from their debut studio album, ''World Power'' (1990). The song is a re-working of " I Don't Believe You Want to Get Up and Dance (Ooops!)"; a 1980 ...

". In 1991, the three Harris sisters left Snap! and formed the pop-rap group B.O.Y. (an acronym for Because Of You), which was active for two years. Sister Angel left in 1992 after the release of the second single and Tina and Jackie carried on as a duo for two more singles. After meeting singer Liza da Costa, Harris and her sister Jackie formed a Eurodance trio with her called Security for about two years in 1993–1995. Afterwards, Harris lent vocals to a few Eurodance records in the mid-90s.

Sweetbox

In 1997, Harris was contacted by

producer Roberto "Geo" Rosan to record vocals for the group's next single "I'll Die For You". While the single was not a big hit, it landed the group a record deal with

RCA records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

. Rosan decided to settle with Harris a lead vocalist of the group and the group's next single, co-written by Harris, " Everything's Gonna Be Alright", released in late 1997 in Germany and in 1998 in the rest of the world, went immediately into the top of the charts. This track, which fuses

urban music Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contemporary r ...

and

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

with

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

's ''Air'' (from Orchestral Suite No. 3, claimed Top Ten Chart positions in England, Ireland, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Norway,

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, Spain,

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, Israel, Italy and France. In Germany (#12), Denmark (#13) and the Netherlands the title reached the Top 20 and in the US the Single was among the Top 40 on the

Billboard Charts The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ' ...

. The track also stayed for 8 weeks in the Top 10 of the World Radio Charts (which is compiled of 150 radio stations in 40 countries). The first album of the band released in 1998 was called "''

''" in Europe and Asia and "''Everything's Gonna Be Alright''" in North America. In Japan the album reached double platinum and triple gold status and Sweetbox was awarded 2 Japanese Grammies in the categories "Best International Artist" and "Best Song of the Year". The album was released in 47 countries and sold in total nearly 3 million copies and Harris toured with

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Cultural impact of Brit ...

and

NSYNC NSYNC ( ; also stylized as *NSYNC or N Sync) was an American vocal group and pop boy band formed by Chris Kirkpatrick in Orlando, Florida, in 1995 and launched in Germany by BMG Ariola Munich. The group consists of Kirkpatrick, JC Chasez, ...

After Sweetbox

After spending two and a half years promoting the record all over the world, Harris tried to renegotiate the very prohibitive contract she had unknowingly signed for the group's second album. Instead of relenting, the record label and Rosan decided to replace her with a new vocalist,

Jade Villalon Jade Valerie Villalon (born August 12, 1980), also known by her project and stage name Jade Valerie, is an American pop singer, songwriter, and actress. From 1999 to 2007, she was the vocalist and lyricist of Sweetbox, releasing five original a ...

. The contract prevented her from releasing music for 8 years, although in 2003 Harris released her debut solo album "Love Makes The World Go Round", thanks to

Sony Music Japan , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is opera ...

, which managed to license her recording specifically for the Japanese market. When the contract was terminated, Harris released the album around the world digitally in 2007, retitling it "Sunshine" and adding the title track and a new version of "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" as new songs. In January 2016, Harris released her second solo album "Free To Love".

''Love Makes the World Go Round''

Harris released her only solo album entitled ''Love Makes the World Go Round'' on May 26, 2003. Track listing: # Intro – "Love Makes the World Go Round" # "Ooh Baby" # "Crush on You" # "Who's That Guy" # "I Feel You Feel Me" # "Apartment 424" # "Falling 4 U" # "Do You Love Me" # "Can I Be Your Sunshine" # "My First Love" # "On My Mind" (featuring Kevin Tyson) # "Love Makes the World Go Round" # "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" # "I'll Do 4 U" (featuring Kevin Tyson) # "Still-N-Love" (featuring Damon Elliott) # "I Tried" # "Outro" – Lullaby for JKJ # "Ooh Baby" (

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, England. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagemen ...

Mix) # "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" (Classic Mix) # "Who's That Guy" (Raw Flava Mix)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Tina Living people Singers from Maryland 21st-century African-American women singers American contemporary R&B singers African-American women rappers Sweetbox members 1975 births American hip-hop singers 21st-century American rappers American expatriates in West Germany 21st-century American women rappers