Tiffany Renee Darwish (born October 2, 1971), known popularly as Tiffany, is an American singer who had a number of teen pop hits during the late 1980s.
Life and Career History
Tiffany was born in Norwalk, California to parents James Robert Darwish (of part Lebanese and English descent) and Janie Wilson (of mostly Irish and some distant Cherokee descent).[1] Her parents divorced when she was very young. When Tiffany was four years old, she learned the words to the song Delta Dawn, and she started singing it often.
[edit] Early singing career
In 1981, Tiffany made her first professional singing show, with a country music band at a country and western spot. She passed a hat along the crowd afterward, and collected US $235 in what would be her first career earnings.
Tiffany was singing at a Los Angeles club named El Palomino when she was discovered by Hoyt Axton and his mother Mae Axton. Mae took her to sing in Nashville, Tennessee, where she performed at the Ralph Emery Show, singing Juice Newton's "Queen of Hearts" and Tammy Wynette's "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad". In 1982 Tiffany toured several cities in Alaska, earning US$3000 for the tour. Also that year, she performed on the same bill as Jerry Lee Lewis and George Jones. At that time she was managed by George Tobin. In 1983, Ronald Kent Surut became her manager.
[edit] Recording contract and fame
Finally, in 1984, she was signed to a recording contract by George Tobin, who heard a demo tape she recorded and liked it.
Album cover from 12" vinyl single I Think We're Alone NowIn 1985, Tiffany appeared on Star Search with Ed McMahon, but she came in second place that year.
In 1986, she signed a contract that gave Tobin total control over her career. Then, she went into the studio to record her first album, and a contract was signed with MCA. Tiffany's eponymous album, Tiffany, was released in 1987, and she promoted it by touring shopping malls across America (the originality of this approach at that time earned substantial coverage on its own[2] and a decade later would inspire Britney Spears' similar Hair Zone Mall Tour). Her cover of the Tommy James & the Shondells hit, "I Think We're Alone Now", became a number one smash hit on the Billboard chart, propelling Tiffany to international stardom.
Soon, she was vying with fellow pop star Debbie Gibson for space on the covers of teen magazines, including Tiger Beat, Teen Beat, as well as on television shows on MTV, Fox, etc. Her ballad "Could've Been" also shot to the #1 spot of the Billboard charts in February 1988. Her modified cover of "I Saw Him Standing There" and "Feelings of Forever" also saw chart success from the over 4.1 million selling debut.[3] Tiffany also set a record for the youngest female artist to top the Billboard charts with a debut album. Later that year, she cast the then-unknown singing group New Kids on the Block as the opening act for her concert tour.
[edit] Family turmoil
In 1988, at the peak of her popularity, Tiffany ended up in the middle of a conflict between her manager (George Tobin) and her mother and stepfather over control of her career and earnings. This led to a court fight which included an attempt by Tiffany to have herself declared an emancipated minor. This was rejected by the court, but her grandmother became her temporary guardian.[4][5][6][7] Unfortunately, the legal battles took a toll on the singer's career.
[edit] Career stall
In late 1988, she released her second album, Hold An Old Friend's Hand. It did not do as well as her first album. It did not feature any number one hits, although the song "All This Time" made the top ten.[8] Hold An Old Friend's Hand received mixed reviews from critics but eventually went double-platinum. Later that year, she signed on to provide the voice of Judy Jetson for Jetsons: The Movie, which was ultimately released in 1990 after delays; she contributed 3 songs to the soundtrack including the single I Always Thought I'd See You Again.
Shortly after her 18th birthday in 1989, Tiffany bought a mansion that used to belong to action movie star Chuck Norris. She also left Tobin's management and signed with Dick Scott, who managed New Kids on the Block, by then a very successful teen pop group.
Her career suffered as musical tastes changed in the early 1990s, swinging away from Dance-pop, towards harder-edged rock and rap. This was shown in her third album, the Urban influenced New Inside. It was her first album away from Tobin, and some of her fans felt the new soulful, sultrier Tiffany was a hard sell. New Inside received good reviews from critics,[9] but failed to make the charts at all, although she made several TV appearances to promote it including on the sitcom Out of This World. Tiffany never regained her "Teen Queen" popularity.
In 1991, she took part in the recording of the song "Voices That Care" which peaked at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100.
[edit] Marriage and comeback attempts
On the cover of Playboy, April 2002In 1992, she married make-up artist Bulmaro Garcia and gave birth to her son, Elijah Garcia, on September 17th of the same year.
During a brief early-1990s comeback attempt, she got back together with Tobin, released the album Dreams Never Die in Asia (but not in the United States), and did some performances at the Las Vegas Hilton in the summer of 1993, before breaking with Tobin again.[10]
In 1995, she moved to Nashville to attempt a country music career, but never released any music of that genre.[11]
Her "comeback" album, The Color of Silence, was released in 2000 and received stellar reviews. Billboard pegged it as "one of the best pop albums of the year" and the year's "biggest surprise".[12] Despite the critical validation - and a record-breaking turnout for her college campus tour - a record deal with a shady, now defunct company and the teen-pop "stigma" attached to her name hindered the album's potential success.
In 2004, she was the subject of an E! True Hollywood Story television show. She also had a greatest hits album released in Singapore and three in Japan. At the age of 30, she appeared in a nude photo spread for Playboy magazine.[13]
Having divorced her first husband on August 1, 2004, she married a British man named Benn George, and she has been dividing her time between Cannock, England) and Los Angeles.
[edit] Back in public eye
On April 2, 2005, Tiffany was featured in British TV show Hit Me Baby One More Time, winning the first heat and subsequently securing a place in the show's finale. She also appeared on the U.S. version of the show on June 2, 2005, but lost to hip-hop group Arrested Development. Both versions of the show aim to bring former pop stars back into the limelight. Tiffany performed the Girls Aloud song "Love Machine" on the UK version of the show. In 2006, Girls Aloud returned the favor by covering Tiffany's best known song "I Think We're Alone Now" on their greatest hits album The Sound of Girls Aloud.
In May 2005, Tiffany released the album, Dust Off And Dance, independently through CDBaby (and later for download on iTunes ). It was dedicated to her new husband, but recorded as a "Thank You" to her fans (particularly her gay and European fanbase) for reminding her about the fun to be had with her career, and it serves as a reminder of a lighter time when she could lose herself on the dance floor.[14] The album consists of Eurodance and Hi-NRG style songs. The singles from Dust Off And Dance such as "Ride It", "Fly", "Be With U Tonite", "Na Na Na" and "Artificial Girlfriend" all charted on listener sponsored radio stations that also stream online such as WMPH and C895Worldwide. Both radio stations are Rhythmic/Dance format stations. A few of the singles made the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.
She toured with the album, working her way back into the public eye from the ground up. It paid off; in September 2006 the album was nominated for six JPF awards. She won for best dance song of the year for "Be With U Tonite" and best dance CD of the year on November 4. She was mentioned several times (along with fellow pop diva Deborah Gibson) in the film, Music and Lyrics.
In 2007, Tiffany was also one of the contestants on the fifth season of the TV show Celebrity Fit Club, going from 152 lbs to 124 (a loss of 28 lbs).
In recent years, she has performed frequently at gay pride events; although she is heterosexual, she is a supporter of gay rights.[15]
[edit] New record contract
Tiffany signed a record deal with 10 Spot Records, a new division of Water Music Records Group, which is distributed by Universal Music Group. She released a new album on June 5th, 2007, titled Just Me[16].
Tiffany has also re-recorded an updated version of "I Think We're Alone Now" for a new album of cover material released by Cleopatra Records in early April 2007, I Think We're Alone Now: '80s Hits and More . The album carrying a less than flattering picture of Tiffany from her 1980's glory days contains several updated versions of songs from her debut album, and also features her take on songs like "Voices Carry", "Kids In America", "Venus" and more.
The new album will contain all new material in a singer/songwriter format a la The Color of Silence. It includes a studio recording of "Winter's Over." The first single from the album, "Feels Like Love" was released on May 1, 2007. On April 15, 2007, Tiffany filmed a music video for "Feels Like Love" in Los Angeles.
In early August 2007, the dance single "Higher," not featured on the album, began showing up online. On October 2, 2007 (Tiffany's 36th birthday), it debuted on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart at number 45, her first Billboard chart appearance since 1989.
[edit] Other musical Tiffanys
Tiffany Darwish is not the only musical act to go by the surnameless stage name Tiffany, which has at times caused confusion for her fans. In 1984, a song entitled "Remembering Love", credited to "Tiffany", was released in Canada, followed up in 1987 by another song "In The Dark". As these turned up in used-record catalogs, fans debated whether they were by "the" Tiffany or not, and even Tiffany's own denial wasn't always fully trusted (people sometimes suggested that she was either mistaken or was trying to cover up early failures in her career). However, these releases were ultimately found to be by Canadian singer Kimberly Warnock, who has sometimes used the stage name "Tiffany" but has no connection with the famous singer of that name.
Other uses of the name for musical artists or groups have included a 1960s British vocalist, a 1970s Dutch band, a German band, an Italian singer, and two different R&B singers (with real names Charli Baltimore and Tiffany Nichole Tatum).
[edit] Discography
[edit] Regular studio albums
Statistics Singles
Tiffany
Released: May 1987 (U.S.)
Chart positions:
#1 U.S.
RIAA certification: 4x platinum (U.S. only)
"Danny"
"I Think We're Alone Now"
"Could've Been"
"I Saw Him Standing There"
"Feelings of Forever"
Hold an Old Friend's Hand
Released: November 1988 (U.S.)
Chart positions:
#17 U.S.,#18 Japan
RIAA certification: 2x platinum (U.S. only)
"All This Time"
"Radio Romance"
"Hold an Old Friend's Hand"
"It's the Lover (Not the Love)"
"Oh Jackie" (Asia Only)
New Inside
Released: October 1990 (U.S.)
Chart positions:
#17 Japan
RIAA certification: Uncertified
"New Inside"
"Here In My Heart"
"Back in the Groove" (Asia Only)
Dreams Never Die
Released: November 1993 (Asia); re-released 2005 (U.S.)
Chart positions:
RIAA certification: Uncertified
"If Love Is Blind" (Asia Only)
"Can't You See" (Asia Only)
The Color of Silence
Released: November 2000 (U.S.)
Chart positions:
RIAA certification: Uncertified
"I'm Not Sleeping"
"Open My Eyes"
Dust Off and Dance
Released: May 2005 (U.S.)
Chart positions:
RIAA certification: Uncertified
"Be With U Tonight"
"Na Na Na"
Just Me
Released: June 5, 2007 (U.S.)
Chart positions:
RIAA certification: Uncertified
"Feels Like Love "
[edit] Other albums
1988 I Saw Him Standing There (EP; Japanese release)
1994 Best of Best (Japanese release; greatest-hits compilation)
1995 All the Best (Singapore release; greatest-hits compilation with 2 new songs)
1996 Best One (Japanese release; greatest-hits compilation)
1996 Tiffany - Greatest Hits (U.S. release)
2007 I Think We're Alone Now: '80s Hits and More (Tiffany re-records hits of the 1980s)
[edit] Singles
Year Single Album U.S. U.S. AC UK
1987 "Danny" Tiffany - - -
1987 "I Think We're Alone Now" Tiffany 1 - 1
1988 "Could've Been" Tiffany 1 1 4
1988 "I Saw Him Standing There" Tiffany 7 - 8
1988 "Feelings of Forever" Tiffany 50 - 52
1988 "All This Time" Hold an Old Friend's Hand 6 10 47
1989 "Radio Romance" Hold an Old Friends Hand 35 - 13
1989 "Hold an Old Friend's Hand" Hold an Old Friend's Hand - 27 -
1989 "It's the Lover (Not the Love)" Hold an Old Friend's Hand - - -
1989 "Oh Jackie" 1 Hold an Old Friend's Hand - - -
1990 "I Always Thought I'd See You Again" Jetsons: The Movie Soundtrack - - -
1990 "New Inside" New Inside - - -
1990 "Here in My Heart" New Inside - - -
1991 "Back in the Groove" 1 New Inside - - -
1993 "If Love Is Blind" 1 Dreams Never Die - - -
1994 "Can't You See" 1 Dreams Never Die - - -
2000 "I'm Not Sleeping" The Color of Silence - - -
2000 "Open My Eyes" The Color of Silence - - -
2005 "Be with U Tonite" Dust Off and Dance - - -
2006 "Na Na Na" Dust Off and Dance - - -
2007 "Feels Like Love" Just Me - - -
2007 "Big Girls Dont Cry" TBA
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