Dina Carroll
Encyclopedia
Dina Carroll is an English
singer of Scottish
and African American
descent who had a string of hits from the late 1980s to the early 2000s.
talent competition, with her rendition of Barbra Streisand
's "Woman in Love". After leaving school, she worked in various jobs, including a one-day stint as a chambermaid in a Cambridge hotel in 1985.
At the age of sixteen, she was signed to the dance music record label
Streetwave, located in London
. Carroll moved to West London and recorded two singles, "Set It Off" and "One Nation", in the mid 1980s, credited to a non-existent group, Masquerade. After six unproductive months, she left Streetwave.
In 1989, Carroll secured a recording contract with Jive
/Zomba and released a number of singles in 1989 and 1990. Of particular note was her cover
of Dionne Warwick
's classic "Walk On By", co-produced by The Pasadenas
who also provided vocal arrangement and backing vocals. Although "Walk On By" did not make it to the UK
Top 40 (peaking at number 95), it was a minor hit in continental Europe
. Other solo hits during that era included "People All Around the World" and "Me Sienta Sola (We Are One)", the latter being an underground club hit in the New York
scene. Carroll also provided vocals to Brothers in Rhythm
's single "Peace and Harmony" in 1991.
After a short time at Jive/Zomba, Carroll was spotted by Dennis Ingoldsby, one half of First Avenue Management, a small and newly founded management group. First Avenue were also managing another unknown band called Quartz. Carroll provided vocals for Quartz on their cover of Carole King
's "It's Too Late", which topped the dance charts and reached #8 in the UK Singles Chart
in early 1991. A follow-up single, "Naked Love (Just Say You Want Me)" (co-written and produced by Nigel Lowis), was also released, reaching number 39.
After two singles with Quartz, First Avenue decided to relaunch Carroll as a solo artist. She was signed to A & M Records by managing director Howard Berman. Carroll's first solo single (produced and co-written by Nigel Lowis) "Ain't No Man" was released in June 1992, reaching number 16 in the chart.
and David Cole of C&C Music Factory who invited her to New York to become the first British artist to work with them. Carroll interrupted the writing and recording of her album to record "Special Kind of Love", which also reached number 16 in the UK Singles Chart
.
In January 1993, the album So Close
was released in March 1993 and entered the top 10 of the UK Albums Chart
.
The album continued to generate a string of hits, such as "This Time" (#23) and "Express" (#12). One of the tracks on the album, "Don't Be a Stranger", a cover version of a song originally recorded by Chyna, was the sixth single from the album, but a new version was recorded for the single release, with the London Session Orchestra providing strings for a new backing track. This completely transformed the song, and when it was released, it became Carroll's biggest chart hit, reaching #3 and spending many weeks inside the Top 10.
Carroll announced her first British tour for November and December 1993 with the then unknown Eternal
as supporting guests. To round off a highly successful 1993, Carroll recorded her version of "The Perfect Year" from Andrew Lloyd Webber
's "Sunset Boulevard
" and released it in December 1993. This was another top 5 hit, peaking at #5, and Carroll was to become the only British female to have two singles simultaneously in the Top 10 that decade, with "Don't Be a Stranger" still holding high when "The Perfect Year" entered the charts.
Carroll was named Best Female Artist at the BRIT Awards
in February 1994. She then took a break from her recording and touring obligations, stating that she felt "burned out". Although no new records were released, the album So Close extended its unbroken residency in the top 10 for the main part in 1994, eventually selling over 1.5 million copies in the UK, making it the fourth biggest-selling album of the year in the UK, and until Dido's No Angel, the biggest selling debut album by a female artist in the history of the UK charts. The album was also short-listed for the Mercury Music Prize. Towards the end of the year, Carroll announced another national tour in December, selling out over 15 dates at huge stadia.
Rumours of new songs from Carroll started to surface in the summer of 1995, but instead of releasing them, she found herself in the midst of contractual problems. Howard Berman, who had originally signed her to A&M, had moved to Mercury Records
but there were problems in convincing them to move Carroll with him. Eventually, Mercury agreed but it was not until May 1996 that the release of a new single was confirmed. "Escaping", a song written by Barry Blue
, first recorded by New Zealander Margaret Urlich
in 1989 and subsequently a minor hit for Asia Blue in 1992, was finally released in September, almost three years after Carroll's last record.
The song entered the chart at #3. The B-side track, "Mind Body & Soul" on the other hand, topped the club chart, re-establishing Dina's dominance in the dance genre.
A new album, Only Human
followed in October. It debuted at #2 on the album charts, equalling the position of her debut So Close. The title track was released as a double A-sided (with "Run To You") Christmas single for 1996, but was Carroll's least successful single since "Naked Love", reaching #33. Subsequently, no more singles were released from the album, although the hugely popular "Living for the Weekend", co-produced by David Morales
, was released on 12" and became a big club smash.
During the recording of Only Human, Carroll discovered that she had developed otosclerosis
, a hereditary bone disease which affected her ears. She postponed treatment until after all her recording duties had been fulfilled. She had an operation to replace a whole eardrum, but went back to work almost immediately to promote the album. Although any dislodgement by noise could have cost her the sense of hearing, Carroll made a reasonable recovery, despite some inevitable permanent loss. Overall, Carroll considered the making of the second album a very dispiriting experience, and often described Only Human as a "lost baby", despite it selling 500,000 copies and achieving Platinum status.
Carroll was nominated for "Best British Female Artist" in the 1997 BRIT Awards. She then went into artistic hibernation, and although there were press reviews of tracks like "Living for the Weekend" (reviewed in Billboard Magazine as a promo US single), the decision was made to concentrate on the making of the 3rd album rather than release more singles from the 2nd as Mercury were happy with the sales figures off the back of just two singles.
She returned to the drawing board in 1998 for her third album. For this, she went to Los Angeles
to work with producer Rhett Lawrence
, most famous for his production of Mariah Carey
's début album. The collaboration was originally intended only for three tracks, but they ended up recording a full album in Rhett's home studio. The lead single was "One, Two, Three", a radio-friendly mid-tempo love song. This was released in October 1998, with new remixes of "Livin' For The Weekend" to satisfy both her pop and dance music fans. It was her third single to reach #16 in the charts.
The new album, Dina Carroll, was originally planned for release at the end of 1998, including her cover of the Dusty Springfield
song, "Son of a Preacher Man
".
"Son of a Preacher Man" was originally planned as the follow-up single to "One, Two Three". However, due to the untimely death of Dusty Springfield in early 1999, this single was withheld. At the same time, the album was postponed, because Carroll was not totally happy with some of the mixes on the album. Instead, Carroll's record company decided to relaunch her as a dance diva. A new uptempo track, "Without Love" was chosen to be the next single, with a host of remixes to suit all sections of the club scene. The single continued her uninterrupted string of Dance Chart-toppers, and re-established her place in the UK music scene when released in July 1999, reaching #13 in the UK Singles Chart.
It was during a television interview (promoting "Without Love") that Carroll mentioned that she was offered a number of film roles some years earlier. One of those films was "Speed 2", and another, which she said was "quite a serious film" (title unknown). She turned both film roles down.
A follow-up single, "Say You Love Me", was scheduled for release in November 1999. Part of promotion saw Carroll performing the track live on Dale Winton's Saturday night Lottery Show. The remixed version of the album was planned to follow this single two weeks later. However, Mercury suspended the release of the single, and both the single and the album were shelved. However, Carroll appeared on the charity single "It's Only Rock´n´Roll..." along with many other huge stars such as the Spice Girls. It reached No. 19 in the Christmas charts of 1999.
, Louise
, Dana Dawson
, Kele Le Roc
, The Honeyz
, Kéllé Bryan
, Michelle Gayle
, etc. All of their acts had declining record sales and Carroll was also caught up in this so left First Avenue at the end of 2000.
In 2001 Carroll released a new single and a greatest hits compilation released in the Spring and the Summer respectively. Carroll's cover version of Van Morrison
's "Someone Like You
", featured in the Bridget Jones's Diary
soundtrack and reached number 38. This was not helped due to the fact that Van Morrison's version is actually heard in the movie and Carroll's cover tracklisted on the OST CD, which had already been available for two months and topped the compilation album charts. To fulfil her contractual obligations to Mercury, Carroll released The Very Best of Dina Carroll in June 2001. It entered the UK charts at No. 15, despite her only having released two studio albums to date, although they had both sold enough copies to achieve multi-platinum certifications.
In Spring 2002, Carroll left her contract with Universal Music Group
.
In 2003, Carroll recorded her version of the Randy Crawford classic, "Almaz".
She currently resides in the USA with her husband, John Cooper.
She is now recording a new album with Silvio Gigante.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
singer of Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
descent who had a string of hits from the late 1980s to the early 2000s.
Early career
Carroll started singing at age of five, primarily at home with her sister. Despite the lack of formal vocal coaching, in 1981, at the age of thirteen, she won a local CambridgeshireCambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
talent competition, with her rendition of Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
's "Woman in Love". After leaving school, she worked in various jobs, including a one-day stint as a chambermaid in a Cambridge hotel in 1985.
At the age of sixteen, she was signed to the dance music record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
Streetwave, located in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Carroll moved to West London and recorded two singles, "Set It Off" and "One Nation", in the mid 1980s, credited to a non-existent group, Masquerade. After six unproductive months, she left Streetwave.
In 1989, Carroll secured a recording contract with Jive
Jive Records
Jive Records was a record label based in New York City, operating under RCA Music Group. Jive was primarily known for a string of successes with hip hop artists in the 1980s, and in teen pop and boy bands in the late 1990s. The word "jive" was inspired by Township Jive, a form of South African...
/Zomba and released a number of singles in 1989 and 1990. Of particular note was her cover
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health....
's classic "Walk On By", co-produced by The Pasadenas
The Pasadenas
The Pasadenas were a R&B / pop group from the United Kingdom, best known for their hit songs, "Tribute " and "I'm Doing Fine Now".-Career:...
who also provided vocal arrangement and backing vocals. Although "Walk On By" did not make it to the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Top 40 (peaking at number 95), it was a minor hit in continental Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Other solo hits during that era included "People All Around the World" and "Me Sienta Sola (We Are One)", the latter being an underground club hit in the New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
scene. Carroll also provided vocals to Brothers in Rhythm
Brothers in Rhythm
Brothers In Rhythm is a house music duo consisting of producers / remixers and DJs Steve Anderson and Dave Seaman. As a duo and individually, they have remixed and/or produced tracks by Lulu, M People, Secret Life, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Kylie Minogue, Garbage,...
's single "Peace and Harmony" in 1991.
After a short time at Jive/Zomba, Carroll was spotted by Dennis Ingoldsby, one half of First Avenue Management, a small and newly founded management group. First Avenue were also managing another unknown band called Quartz. Carroll provided vocals for Quartz on their cover of Carole King
Carole King
Carole King is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. King and her former husband Gerry Goffin wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists during the 1960s, many of which have become standards. As a singer, King had an album, Tapestry, top the U.S...
's "It's Too Late", which topped the dance charts and reached #8 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
in early 1991. A follow-up single, "Naked Love (Just Say You Want Me)" (co-written and produced by Nigel Lowis), was also released, reaching number 39.
After two singles with Quartz, First Avenue decided to relaunch Carroll as a solo artist. She was signed to A & M Records by managing director Howard Berman. Carroll's first solo single (produced and co-written by Nigel Lowis) "Ain't No Man" was released in June 1992, reaching number 16 in the chart.
Success
In order to capitalise on the momentum of "Ain't No Man", Carroll and Lowis worked on future singles together, one of which being the top 20 hit "So Close", which was released in December 1992; coincidentally the title of her debut album. Carroll was approached by Robert ClivillésRobert Clivillés
Robert Clivillés is a record producer, songwriter, arranger, music video director most noted for his work with C+C Music Factory, a group he founded with musical partner David Cole...
and David Cole of C&C Music Factory who invited her to New York to become the first British artist to work with them. Carroll interrupted the writing and recording of her album to record "Special Kind of Love", which also reached number 16 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
.
In January 1993, the album So Close
So Close (Dina Carroll album)
So Close is the debut album by British soul–dance singer Dina Carroll, released in January 1993 on the A&M label.-Overview:Three tracks from So Close had already been top-20 singles in the United Kingdom during 1992...
was released in March 1993 and entered the top 10 of the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
.
The album continued to generate a string of hits, such as "This Time" (#23) and "Express" (#12). One of the tracks on the album, "Don't Be a Stranger", a cover version of a song originally recorded by Chyna, was the sixth single from the album, but a new version was recorded for the single release, with the London Session Orchestra providing strings for a new backing track. This completely transformed the song, and when it was released, it became Carroll's biggest chart hit, reaching #3 and spending many weeks inside the Top 10.
Carroll announced her first British tour for November and December 1993 with the then unknown Eternal
Eternal (band)
Eternal were an English R&B girl group formed in 1992. The group featured two sisters Easther and Vernie Bennett, alongside Kelle Bryan and Louise Nurding...
as supporting guests. To round off a highly successful 1993, Carroll recorded her version of "The Perfect Year" from Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
's "Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard (musical)
Sunset Boulevard is a musical with book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Based on the 1950 film of the same title, the plot revolves around Norma Desmond, a faded star of the silent screen era, living in the past in her decaying mansion on the...
" and released it in December 1993. This was another top 5 hit, peaking at #5, and Carroll was to become the only British female to have two singles simultaneously in the Top 10 that decade, with "Don't Be a Stranger" still holding high when "The Perfect Year" entered the charts.
Carroll was named Best Female Artist at the BRIT Awards
Brit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...
in February 1994. She then took a break from her recording and touring obligations, stating that she felt "burned out". Although no new records were released, the album So Close extended its unbroken residency in the top 10 for the main part in 1994, eventually selling over 1.5 million copies in the UK, making it the fourth biggest-selling album of the year in the UK, and until Dido's No Angel, the biggest selling debut album by a female artist in the history of the UK charts. The album was also short-listed for the Mercury Music Prize. Towards the end of the year, Carroll announced another national tour in December, selling out over 15 dates at huge stadia.
Rumours of new songs from Carroll started to surface in the summer of 1995, but instead of releasing them, she found herself in the midst of contractual problems. Howard Berman, who had originally signed her to A&M, had moved to Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
but there were problems in convincing them to move Carroll with him. Eventually, Mercury agreed but it was not until May 1996 that the release of a new single was confirmed. "Escaping", a song written by Barry Blue
Barry Blue
Barry Blue is a singer / producer / songwriter from the United Kingdom. He is best known for his hit songs, "Dancin' " , which he co-wrote with Lynsey de Paul, and "Do You Wanna Dance" .At 14 he signed to record producer Norrie Paramor whose erstwhile assistant was one Tim Rice - the producer of...
, first recorded by New Zealander Margaret Urlich
Margaret urlich
Margaret Urlich is an ARIA Award-winning musician based in New South Wales. Urlich came to Sydney, Australia, in 1988 to pursue her singing career. Her debut solo album, Safety in Numbers, was highly successful winning Breakthrough Artist - Album at that years ARIA Awards, as was the follow-up...
in 1989 and subsequently a minor hit for Asia Blue in 1992, was finally released in September, almost three years after Carroll's last record.
The song entered the chart at #3. The B-side track, "Mind Body & Soul" on the other hand, topped the club chart, re-establishing Dina's dominance in the dance genre.
A new album, Only Human
Only Human (Dina Carroll album)
Only Human is the second album by British soul/dance singer Dina Carroll, released in 1996 on the Mercury label. It includes "The Perfect Year", a track which had been a top 5 single in the United Kingdom in 1993, during the long chart run of Carroll's debut album So Close, on which it had not...
followed in October. It debuted at #2 on the album charts, equalling the position of her debut So Close. The title track was released as a double A-sided (with "Run To You") Christmas single for 1996, but was Carroll's least successful single since "Naked Love", reaching #33. Subsequently, no more singles were released from the album, although the hugely popular "Living for the Weekend", co-produced by David Morales
David Morales
David Morales is an internationally acclaimed Grammy-winning house music DJ and producer. In addition to his production and DJ work, Morales is one of the most prolific remixers of all time, transforming many pop music songs into club-friendly dance tracks...
, was released on 12" and became a big club smash.
During the recording of Only Human, Carroll discovered that she had developed otosclerosis
Otosclerosis
Otosclerosis is an abnormal growth of bone near the middle ear. It can result in hearing loss.-Clinical description:Otosclerosis can result in conductive and/or sensorineural hearing loss...
, a hereditary bone disease which affected her ears. She postponed treatment until after all her recording duties had been fulfilled. She had an operation to replace a whole eardrum, but went back to work almost immediately to promote the album. Although any dislodgement by noise could have cost her the sense of hearing, Carroll made a reasonable recovery, despite some inevitable permanent loss. Overall, Carroll considered the making of the second album a very dispiriting experience, and often described Only Human as a "lost baby", despite it selling 500,000 copies and achieving Platinum status.
Carroll was nominated for "Best British Female Artist" in the 1997 BRIT Awards. She then went into artistic hibernation, and although there were press reviews of tracks like "Living for the Weekend" (reviewed in Billboard Magazine as a promo US single), the decision was made to concentrate on the making of the 3rd album rather than release more singles from the 2nd as Mercury were happy with the sales figures off the back of just two singles.
She returned to the drawing board in 1998 for her third album. For this, she went to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
to work with producer Rhett Lawrence
Rhett Lawrence
Rhett Lawrence is a record producer and songwriter. He is originally famous for producing the Grammy Award–winning, Billboard #1 Hot 100 and #1 R&B single "Vision of Love" for Mariah Carey. He produced and co-wrote the Kelly Clarkson pop rock hit "Miss Independent” which was #1 for 6 weeks at Top...
, most famous for his production of Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...
's début album. The collaboration was originally intended only for three tracks, but they ended up recording a full album in Rhett's home studio. The lead single was "One, Two, Three", a radio-friendly mid-tempo love song. This was released in October 1998, with new remixes of "Livin' For The Weekend" to satisfy both her pop and dance music fans. It was her third single to reach #16 in the charts.
The new album, Dina Carroll, was originally planned for release at the end of 1998, including her cover of the Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
song, "Son of a Preacher Man
Son of a Preacher Man
"Son of a Preacher Man" is a song recorded by Dusty Springfield in September 1968 and featured on the album, Dusty in Memphis. It was written by John Hurley and Ronnie Wilkins. The rights to cover "Son of a Preacher Man" were originally offered to Aretha Franklin, who turned it down...
".
"Son of a Preacher Man" was originally planned as the follow-up single to "One, Two Three". However, due to the untimely death of Dusty Springfield in early 1999, this single was withheld. At the same time, the album was postponed, because Carroll was not totally happy with some of the mixes on the album. Instead, Carroll's record company decided to relaunch her as a dance diva. A new uptempo track, "Without Love" was chosen to be the next single, with a host of remixes to suit all sections of the club scene. The single continued her uninterrupted string of Dance Chart-toppers, and re-established her place in the UK music scene when released in July 1999, reaching #13 in the UK Singles Chart.
It was during a television interview (promoting "Without Love") that Carroll mentioned that she was offered a number of film roles some years earlier. One of those films was "Speed 2", and another, which she said was "quite a serious film" (title unknown). She turned both film roles down.
A follow-up single, "Say You Love Me", was scheduled for release in November 1999. Part of promotion saw Carroll performing the track live on Dale Winton's Saturday night Lottery Show. The remixed version of the album was planned to follow this single two weeks later. However, Mercury suspended the release of the single, and both the single and the album were shelved. However, Carroll appeared on the charity single "It's Only Rock´n´Roll..." along with many other huge stars such as the Spice Girls. It reached No. 19 in the Christmas charts of 1999.
Latest Projects
In 2000, First Avenue Management entered into a crisis phase when most of their artists were dropped by their labels, e.g. EternalEternal (band)
Eternal were an English R&B girl group formed in 1992. The group featured two sisters Easther and Vernie Bennett, alongside Kelle Bryan and Louise Nurding...
, Louise
Louise Redknapp
Louise Elizabeth Redknapp is an English singer and media personality. She was a member of the girl group Eternal from 1992 to 1995, before becoming a solo singer . She has presented several television shows and served as a judge on the UK version of So You Think You Can Dance...
, Dana Dawson
Dana Dawson
Dana Dawson was an American actress and singer.-Early life and career:Dawson made her acting debut at the age of 7 in a national tour of Annie. She was an understudy of the character Mimi, in the national tour of Rent in 2000 and joined the Broadway cast in 2001...
, Kele Le Roc
Kele Le Roc
Kele Le Roc is a British pop, UK garage and R&B singer.-Career:Le Roc began singing at the age of three, and she attended Langdon Comprehensive School in East Ham. She first found widespread acclaim in 1995 with the underground hit "Let Me Know"...
, The Honeyz
The Honeyz
Honeyz were a British-based R&B girl group formed in 1997.-Early years:The lineup was initially made up of Heavenli Roberts , Naima Belkhiati, and Célena Cherry...
, Kéllé Bryan
Kéllé Bryan
Kéllé Bryan is a British singer turned actress and television personality, best known as a member of the girl group Eternal.-Biography:...
, Michelle Gayle
Michelle Gayle
Michelle Patricia Gayle is a British recording artist, actress and author. Gayle had success as a Soul and R&B singer in the 1990s. She achieved seven Top 40 singles in the UK Singles Chart, her two biggest hits to date being "Sweetness" and "Do You Know"...
, etc. All of their acts had declining record sales and Carroll was also caught up in this so left First Avenue at the end of 2000.
In 2001 Carroll released a new single and a greatest hits compilation released in the Spring and the Summer respectively. Carroll's cover version of Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
's "Someone Like You
Someone Like You (Van Morrison song)
"Someone Like You" is a popular, romantic ballad written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and recorded on his 1987 album, Poetic Champions Compose...
", featured in the Bridget Jones's Diary
Bridget Jones's Diary (film)
Bridget Jones's Diary is a 2001 British romantic comedy film based on Helen Fielding's novel of the same name. The adaptation stars Renée Zellweger as Bridget, Hugh Grant as the caddish Daniel Cleaver, and Colin Firth as Bridget's "true love", Mark Darcy...
soundtrack and reached number 38. This was not helped due to the fact that Van Morrison's version is actually heard in the movie and Carroll's cover tracklisted on the OST CD, which had already been available for two months and topped the compilation album charts. To fulfil her contractual obligations to Mercury, Carroll released The Very Best of Dina Carroll in June 2001. It entered the UK charts at No. 15, despite her only having released two studio albums to date, although they had both sold enough copies to achieve multi-platinum certifications.
In Spring 2002, Carroll left her contract with Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
.
In 2003, Carroll recorded her version of the Randy Crawford classic, "Almaz".
She currently resides in the USA with her husband, John Cooper.
She is now recording a new album with Silvio Gigante.
Albums
- 1993 — So CloseSo Close (Dina Carroll album)So Close is the debut album by British soul–dance singer Dina Carroll, released in January 1993 on the A&M label.-Overview:Three tracks from So Close had already been top-20 singles in the United Kingdom during 1992...
— UK #2 - 1996 — Only HumanOnly Human (Dina Carroll album)Only Human is the second album by British soul/dance singer Dina Carroll, released in 1996 on the Mercury label. It includes "The Perfect Year", a track which had been a top 5 single in the United Kingdom in 1993, during the long chart run of Carroll's debut album So Close, on which it had not...
— UK #2 - 1998/99/00 — Dina Carroll — Remains unreleased
- 2001 — The Very Best Of — #15
- 2004 — The Collection
Singles
| Year | Song | UK | Ireland | U.S |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | "Set It Off" (as Masquerade) | 86 | — | — |
| "One Nation" (as Masquerade) | 54 | — | — | |
| 1989 | "People All Around The World" | — | — | — |
| "Walk On By" | 95 | — | — | |
| 1990 | "Peace And Harmony" (with Brothers in Rhythm Brothers in Rhythm Brothers In Rhythm is a house music duo consisting of producers / remixers and DJs Steve Anderson and Dave Seaman. As a duo and individually, they have remixed and/or produced tracks by Lulu, M People, Secret Life, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Kylie Minogue, Garbage,... ) |
94 | — | — |
| "Don't Stop The Music" (with Simon Harris Simon Harris Simon Harris , is predominantly known as the owner and founder of the record label Music of Life and writer/producer of most of its extensive catalog of songs, although he is also an influential DJ, award winning producer, remixer of several Grammy Award winning artists and pioneer of electronic... and Monte Luv) |
84 | — | — | |
| 1991 | "It's Too Late" (Quartz introducing Dina Carroll) | 8 | — | — |
| "Naked Love (Just Say You Want Me)" (Quartz and Dina Carroll) | 39 | — | — | |
| 1992 | "Ain't No Man" | 16 | — | — |
| "Special Kind Of Love" | 16 | — | — | |
| "So Close" | 20 | — | 95 | |
| 1993 | "This Time" | 23 | — | — |
| "Express" | 12 | 28 | — | |
| "Don't Be A Stranger" | 3 | 6 | — | |
| "The Perfect Year" | 5 | 4 | — | |
| 1996 | "Escaping" | 3 | 14 | — |
| "Only Human"/"Run to You" | 33 | — | — | |
| 1998 | "One, Two, Three" | 16 | — | — |
| 1999 | "Without Love" | 13 | — | — |
| "It's Only Rock N' Roll" (various artists charity single) | 19 | — | — | |
| 2001 | "Someone Like You Someone Like You (Van Morrison song) "Someone Like You" is a popular, romantic ballad written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and recorded on his 1987 album, Poetic Champions Compose... " |
38 | — | — |