Martina Topley-Bird

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Martina Gillian Topley-Bird (born 7 May 1975), an English singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who first rose to fame on trip hop pioneer Tricky's debut album, Maxinquaye (1995).

She also worked with him on his subsequent albums Nearly God and Pre-Millennium Tension (both 1996).

Topley-Bird's debut solo album, Quixotic, was critically praised and received a Mercury Prize nomination in 2003. Anything (2004), The Blue God (2008), and Some Place Simple (2010) were among those that were grouped into Things (2004), Anything (2004), and Someplace Simple (2010).

She has worked with Gorillaz, appearing on their album Demon Days (2005), as well as with Mark Lanegan, Diplo, and Massive Attack on Heligoland (2010), which she followed with a world tour with the group.

Sandpaper Kisses was covered by Stephen Marley and sampled by Berry Weight and The Weeknd.

Early life

Martina Topley-Bird was born in London, England, to Charlette Conlon (née Pouncey) and Martin Geoffrey Topley, who died in 1974 before her birth; Martina was named after him. Dr. Beth Bird, a British direct marketing specialist, is her stepfather, whose surname she adopted in lieu of her father's. Her mother is of Salvadoran and Seminole descent, but her father is of untraceable African-American descent. Topley-Bird grew up in a large family, with five siblings and three step-siblings.

Her family was later relocated from London to Bristol. "We travelled about a bit as a child, but that wasn't a problem for me," she said. "If you're not white and middle-class, you're a little different and exotic in those new cultures." "I thrived and thrived in those situations." She studied piano at Clifton College, where she was a member of the school choir and took piano lessons.

Topley-Bird grew up with R&B, opera, and soul music throughout her childhood. As an adolescent, she discovered alternative rock and became a fan of The Sugarcubes, Faith No More, and Jane's Addiction.

Personal life

Elizabeth Topley-Bird has an elder sister named Elizabeth.

Tricky was present in Topley-Bird's one daughter. Mina Mazy (19 March 1995-April 8th, 2019) was born just one month after the introduction of Maxinquaye.

She hasn't declared that she is not religious, but that "the need to have a healthy spiritual life" is a motivator.

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Career

Topley-Bird was discovered by trip hop pioneer Tricky in 1993 when she was a teenager at Clifton College, singing to herself. "That's really how it happened," she said. "It's one of those things people are always surprised to find out is true." The graveyard behind the wall is visible to me. A few weeks later, I went back to his house with some friends. Since our GCSEs, we'd been enjoying cider. We were banned from entering his house, but he wasn't interested. "This is Tricky's house, jump in through the window," Mark Stewart, who lived there, told us. "I jumped through the door, opened the door, and we were mashed."

Topley-Bird collaborated with Tricky as a featured vocalist on his debut album Maxinquaye (1995) (a printing mistake mistook her for "Martine"). Almost all of her vocals on the album were recorded in a single take. "It was totally instinctive." She recalled during the recording sessions. There was no time to drum up an alter ego. I liked the fact that the information people wanted about me was what they would hear if they were to hear when they turned the record on. Anything else was ostensibly extraneous. "I didn't know there was anything in my biography that would explain my musical choices." Topley-Bird continued her collaboration with Tricky on his latest albums - Nearly God (1996), Pre-Millennium Tension (1996), and Angels with Dirty Faces (1998).

Topley-Bird began working alone following the breakdown of her professional and personal relationship with Tricky in 1998. Quixotic, her debut album on Independiente Records, was not before 2003, she performed in Los Angeles, California. Topley-Bird and production team AMP9 (Alex McGowan, Steve Crittall, Nick Bird) at Space Eko Recording Studios London primarily produced the album. She spoke about the album's underpinnings, adding: "She spoke about the beliefs that underpinned it."

Quixotic hit its high point at no. The UK Albums Chart reached 70, received lauded comments from critics, and was a finalist for the 2003 Mercury Music Prize. In July 2004, the album received a limited release in the United States, when the Palm Pictures label introduced a re-designed and re-sequenced version under the name Anything, which featured a shorter track listing and all-new cover art. She appeared on the Starbucks compilation album Sweetheart 2005: Love Songs, which features contemporary singers covering classic love songs. She performed "I Only Have Eyes for You," a song written by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Al Dubin.

In May 2008, she released The Blue God, her second solo album. "Carnies" was the first single on March 3, 2008, and it debuted at No. 3 on the charts on March 3, 2008. The UK Indie Charts are ranked 20th on the UK Indie Charts. "Poison" was released as the second single on the Indie Charts and ranked No. 9 in the Indie Charts. The album received mainly critical feedback; the BBC reported it "warps thoughts of Ella Fitzgerald, two-tone ska, dark psychedelia, and Pentangle's 'acid folk' into unsettling forms," according to the BBC. It's often awesome record, and it if Tricky's comm. comesback can't quite match it, may have branded him as "the bloke who used to rap with Martina Topley Bird."

Topley-Bird appeared on Massive Attack's album Heligoland in 2010, lending her voice on tracks "Psyche" and "Babel" as her character. She appeared onstage with Massive Attack as their support act and as a guest vocal at their shows. Some Place Simple, her third album, was released in July 2010. It featured stripped-down versions of songs from her first two albums as well as four new ones. Topley-Bird performed Maxinquaye live at the Sundance Festival in London in May 2012 and appeared on the tracks "Open" and "Secret" on electronic musician Clark's album Iradelphic. With Mark Lanegan and Warpaint, he contributed to a front page of the xx's "Crystalized" in 2013, as well as touring Warpaint as a support act on their 2013 world tour. She appeared on "The Day Is My Enemy," The Prosecu's second single from the group's album "The Day Is My Enemy (2015), on January 26, 2015.

Martina Topley-Bird's single "Solitude" appeared on MTB Continued in 2018. Topley-Bird's single "Pure Heart" from her upcoming album Forever I Wait was released in May 2021.

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