this bay area native launched onto the music scene in the early 90s with a couple of catchy r b hits
right off the bat it may have been a surprise to others but not to her she knew even as a child
that one day she'd be a star then just as quickly as things took off everything abruptly stopped
let's find out what happened to american 90s r b singer tara kem tara kemp was born and
raised in livermore california at the age of nine she began studying acting at the american
conservatory theater this was also around the time she began learning to play the harp
several years after beginning her instrument instruction at four with the piano a little later
on she'd begin voice lessons at 18 tara would move to san francisco and continue in the adult program
with the conservatory after that experience music took center stage when she moved to berkeley
california she got her first gig as a member of a top 40 band for a very short amount of time
it just wasn't a fulfilling experience then she would meet the woman who would change her life
tara scored an audition with singer songwriter and record producer rosie gaines she got the
gig and at the tender age of 21 took to the stage as the designated backup singer
in a band including several major players in the music industry as excited as she was about
the job there was still so much that she didn't know so tara leaned on those around her for help
rosie played a major role in helping her learn how to ad-lib and perfect harmonies before his career
caught fire she even got the opportunity to take lessons from folk jazz vocalist
bobby mcferrin tara's formal training background and raw talent were no doubt significant factors
in helping her get her foot in the door and so were her looks in later interviews
she would confirm that one of the reasons rosie chose her for the band was because she's wide
from the get-go the goal was to put together a racially diverse group and they specifically
wanted to find a white girl with some soul tara fit the bill perfectly after several years
under rosie's tutelage next on the agenda naturally was making a demo tape tara got
together with a couple of producers and banged one out on the tape was a song called hold you tight
it got into the hands of the program director at legendary urban contemporary radio station
106.1 kmel the response was so overwhelming that it brought numerous labels out of the
woodwork vying to sign tara she initially signed with a small independent label before making her
way over to giant records in a sea of nothing but rock acts tara would become their first r
b artist later followed by groups color me bad and jade hold you tight went on to achieve gold
status and reach number three on the billboard hot 100 chart making it her biggest hit ever
her self-titled debut album dropped in january 1991. the follow-up single
piece of my heart was released in may of the same year and also became another top 10 hit
tara's quick success was short-lived however as her third single too much didn't do as well she
did also record a song called action speaks louder than words which was featured on the
soundtrack for the fox teen drama television series beverly hills 90210 at one point tara
asked to be released from her label to move on to hopefully greener pastures she was signed with two
album deal however from day one there was a lot of controversy surrounding her association with giant
she'd experienced a lot of frustration with them because the powers that be namely founder
irving azov didn't understand her artistry one particular strange conversation with an anr exec
the label wanted tara to work with named cassandra mills was also a key contributing factor for
tara wanting to leave but cassandra mills said to me to my face i see you
uh wearing a black blaze teddy carrying an uzi and acting like a black girl from the ghetto
like my dad's an orthodontist right like what do i know about pretending to be a black girl from the
ghetto and why why is that not insulting not to me but i mean to my fans or to anybody like why
would you do that it just seemed weird and um they knew that i was a pacifist they knew that i didn't
uh believe in promoting violence um guns and all that stuff so yeah that was weird
things really took a turn for the worse after tara refused to participate in a project that could
have been a very positive move for her career the all-star persian gulf anthem voices that care
that decision didn't sit well with irving tara then made her way over to atlantic records
interestingly they were one of the labels years before that wanted tara on their roster but lost
out to giant she had a meeting with the president and was all set to jump ship until irving dug his
heels in and refused to let her go her next move asking to be released from her contract
didn't produce the results she had hoped she thought that after she was free atlantic would
scoop her right up that didn't happen and she had a lot of trouble trying to sign with anyone else
tara eventually had to come to terms with the fact that she had been shut out of the industry
after her experiences left a bad taste in her mouth tara opted to release her work independently
her next single called come correct dropped in 1994. then she disappeared for a time she lived
all over asia and even spent several months on the island of guam developing a love for their
signature dish kelaguen her relationship with actor joe finfara produced a son and taurus spent
much of the following years focused on raising him as the well-rounded artist that she is she
also dabbled in interior design art directing styling and professional hair and makeup then
one day tara just knew that the time was right to get back to music she reconnected with long
time friend and former member of oakland-based r b group tony tony tony dwayne wiggins and they
began working together in 2013 she revealed in interviews that she was working on new material
and also released a teaser to a new trap called water three years later tara released the track
paris in spring featuring dwayne wiggins the single which is actually a recycled song
that was meant to be included on her second album is her first in over 20 years she released it as
a charity song to benefit victims of the november 2015 paris attacks 2021 marks the 30th anniversary
of tara's self-titled debut album fans can also look forward to a couple of surprise releases in
the near future as well she revealed the year prior that she has plans to finally release
that shelled sophomore album as well as remastered versions of her 1991 singles
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