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TAMIA OJ f DW
Every so often, an unforgettable voice comes along. One possessed by a deep-rooted passion that subtly powers a soulful, silky sound that will never go out of style. The voice in question: Tamia.
To follow up her No. 1-debuting R&B album Love Life in 2015, Tamia returned with the sizzling single "Leave It Smokin," a top 10 hit at urban AC. "Leave It Smokin" set the alarm for Passion Like Fire, Tamia's seventh studio album in 2018. The album in turn also marked another momentous occasion: the 20th anniversary of Tamia's critically acclaimed, self-titled 1998 debut album. The album initiated a string of hits that the six-time Grammy Award nominee has steadily spun off along the way, including "You Put a Move on My Heart," "Missing You" with Brandy, Gladys Knight and Chaka Khan, "Spend My Life with You" with Eric Benét, "So into You," "Stranger in My House" and "Into You" with Fabolous.
Among the first to fall in love with Tamia's voice was celebrated music producer Quincy Jones. He introduced U.S.
VV audiences to the Canadian-born songstress via two tracks on his 1995 album Q's Jook Joint: the singer's breakthrough hit "You Put a Move on My Heart" and "Slow Jams," which also featured Jones, Babyface, Portrait and Barry White. Both tunes, as well as her guest stint on "Missing You" from the Set It Off film soundtrack, netted Tamia her first three Grammy nominations for best female R&B vocal performance, best performance by a duo or group with vocals and best pop collaboration with vocals, respectively. And all before she released her self-title debut album in 1998.
Tamia added a No. 1 R&B/top 10 pop hit to her catalog a year later when her duet with Benét on his single "Spend My Life with You"-which also garnered her a fourth Grammy nod. Since then, in addition to her aforementioned hits, Tamia has recorded five studio albums: A Nu Day, More, Between Friends, Beautiful Surprise and Love Life. While Beautiful Surprise brought her total Grammy nominations up to six including best R&B album, Love Life's No. 1 debut on Billboard's R&B tally became her highest-charting album to date.