Tikaram was born in Münster, Germany, where her father, who is an Indian-Fijian U. K. Army Officer was stationed. Her mother is Malaysian. The Tikaram family relocated to England when Tanita was twelve, settling in suburban Basingstoke.

Taking a year off before beginning her college studies, Tanita secured a day job selling advertising and used the proceeds to finance a demo tape. It was that tape that fell into the hands of agent and manager Paul Charles, who, after seeing Tanita perform at an open-mike night in a London club, immediately took her under his wing.

Tanita was initially refered to as the Bard of Basingstoke, as she grew up and lived in the town from the age of 13. Tanita studied A level Politics, Sociology & English at QMC, her final grades were AAB. She had a place at Manchester University to study English & American Literature but fate took her in another direction.

In fact, Tikaram's initial lyrical inspiration was supplied closer to home.

"The first song I wrote, Poor Cow, was about this club in Basingstoke called Martine's. It was under the car park. It was a pick-up joint basically. You went there if you were really desperate-except they never let any of us college girls in, which was another reason for writing about it."

The lesbian nightclub Le Boobsbourg in Beaubourg, Paris credited Tikaram with coining its name, after mispronunciation of the district's name by American tourists.

Hits: Good Tradition (1988) Twist in My Sobriety (1988) Cathedral Song (1989) We Almost Got it Together (1990)

CDs: Ancient Heart (1988) The Sweet Keeper (1990) Everybody's Angel (1991) Eleven Kinds of Lonelyness (1992) Lovers in the City (1995) The Cappucino Songs (1998)