Rozalla
Rozalla Miller (born 18 March 1964), better known as simply Rozalla, is a Zimbabwean electronic music performer who was born in what was then Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). At the age of 18, she moved with her parents to her father's country of origin, Zimbabwe. She is best known for her three 1991/92 hit singles "Faith (In the Power of Love)", "Are You Ready To Fly", and particularly "Everybody's Free (To Feel Good)", which has been remixed and re-issued several times. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 98th most successful dance artist of all-time.[1]
Rozalla | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Rozalla Miller |
| Born | 18 March 1964 Ndola, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Labels | Epic, Pulse 8 |
Musical career
Rozalla began performing at a young age in her native Zambia singing in clubs and at events; then at age 13, she was singing on a children's TV show. Still in her teens, she relocated to Zimbabwe where she fronted various R&B cover bands before beginning her own recording career with a resultant five number-one hits on that nation's chart.[2] In 1988, Rozalla relocated to London with her manager Chris Sergeant and worked with the Band of Gypsies, a production duo consisting of Nigel Swanston and Tim Cox.[3]
Rozalla's first UK single "Born to Luv Ya" became a club hit in 1990. The singer's career really took off when the dance anthem "Everybody's Free (To Feel Good)",[3] reached number 6 in the UK Singles Chart in 1991. It became a Top 10 hit in many European countries soon afterwards and reached the Billboard Top 40 the following year. It remains her biggest hit to date. It was later included on her debut album Everybody's Free, which peaked at number 20 in the UK Albums Chart and went silver. The album spawned two more sizeable hits in "Faith (In the Power of Love)" and "Are You Ready to Fly", reaching number 11 and 14 respectively in the UK Singles Chart, plus a lesser charting single in the ballad "Love Breakdown".[4]
In 1992, Rozalla toured with Michael Jackson, opening all of his shows on the European leg of his Dangerous tour, including the UK. She enjoyed four UK Top 40 hits in 1994/95, including her rendition of "I Love Music", the theme song to the film Carlito's Way. The attendant album Look No Further featured more R&B and soul elements than her previous album.[5]
A 1996 remix of "Everybody's Free" reached number 30 in the UK Singles Chart. Her 1998 album Coming Home saw her reunite with the Band of Gypsies and spawned a stateside club hit with its lead single "Don't Go Lose It Baby", produced by METRO.[6]
In 2003, Rozalla entered the lower regions of the UK Singles Chart alongside Plastic Boy on the song "Live Another Life". She issued the jazz/soul album Brand New Version in 2009, adding her surname Miller to her recording guise. She promoted the album by performing as Billy Ocean's support act on his UK tour of 2009. A Global Deejays remix of "Everybody's Free" reached number 7 in Australia in 2009 after it had been used as the theme song to So You Think You Can Dance.
In 2015, Rozalla returned to the Top 10 of the Billboard Club Dance Charts for the first time since 1994 with her track "If You Say It Again".[7] This was quickly followed by the single "Shadows of the Moon".[citation needed]
Discography
Studio albums
- 1989: Spirit of Africa
- 1992: Everybody's Free (UK No. 20,[8] AUS No. 75,[9] GER No. 53,[10] NED No. 62,[10] SUI No. 31,[10] SWE No. 36)[10]
- 1995: Look No Further (UK No. 138)[11]
- 1998: Coming Home
- 2009: Brand New Version
Compilation albums
- 1993: Everybody's Free- Style 1993 - Remixed To Perfection
- 1998: Feelin' Good'
- 2003: Best Of
- 2004: Everybody's Free (Special Edition with DVD)
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) | Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [9] | AUT [12] | FRA [12] | GER [13] | IRE [14] | NED [15] | NZ [12] | SWE [12] | SWI [12] | UK [8][16][11] | US Club [17] | ||||
| 1990 | "Born to Luv Ya" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Everybody's Free | |
| 1991 | "Everybody's Free (To Feel Good)" | 11 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 1 | ||
| "Faith (In the Power of Love)" | 62 | — | — | — | 14 | 14 | — | — | — | 11 | 4 | |||
| 1992 | "Are You Ready to Fly" | 88 | 21 | 11 | 25 | 16 | 32 | — | 15 | 6 | 14 | 1 | ||
| "Love Breakdown" | — | — | 33 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 65 | — | |||
| "In 4 Choons Later" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 50 | — | Single only | ||
| 1993 | "Don't Play with Me" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 50 | — | Everybody's Free-Style 1993 | |
| 1994 | "I Love Music" | 90 | — | — | 69 | — | — | 39 | — | — | 18 | 1 | Look No Further | |
| "This Time I Found Love" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 33 | — | |||
| "You Never Love the Same Way Twice" | — | — | — | 54 | — | — | — | — | — | 16 | 11 | |||
| 1995 | "Baby" | 233 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 26 | — | ||
| "Losing My Religion" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 1996 | "Everybody's Free (Ca$ino Mix)" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 30 | 14 | Single only | |
| 1997 | "Coming Home" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 137 | — | Coming Home | |
| 1998 | "Don't Go Lose It Baby" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 134 | 23 | ||
| "Friday Night" (with Phat 'N' Phunky) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 76 | — | Singles only | ||
| 2003 | "Live Another Life" (with Plastic Boy) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 55 | — | ||
| 2014 | "Can You Feel The Love" (with David Anthony) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2015 | "If You Say It Again" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 5 | ||
| 2019 | "Turn on the Light" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Single | |
| 2020 | "Magnificent" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Single | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released. | ||||||||||||||
See also
References
- ^ "Greatest of All Time Top Dance Club Artists Chart". Billboard.com.
- ^ Vibe, Vol 2 No. 2, (March 1994) p. 37
- ^ a b Colin Larkin, ed. (1998). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Dance Music (First ed.). Virgin Books. p. 291. ISBN 0-7535-0252-6.
- ^ "Artists". Officialcharts.com. Archived from the original on 26 December 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
- ^ Billboard, 30 September 1995, p. 28
- ^ Billboard, 17 January 1998, p. 31
- ^ "Steve Aoki's 'Neon' Lights Up Top Dance/Electronic Albums Chart". Billboard.com. 22 May 2015.
- ^ a b "Official Charts > Rozalla". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
- ^ a b Australian (ARIA) chart peaks:
- Top 50 peaks: "australian-charts.com > Rozalla in Australian Charts". Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
- Top 100 peaks to December 2010: Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (pdf ed.). Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 240.
- "I Love Music": "The ARIA Australian Top 100 Singles Chart – Week Ending 13 Mar 1994". Imgur.com (original document published by ARIA). Retrieved 25 February 2016. N.B. The HP column displays the highest peak reached.
- All ARIA chart peaks to 20 September 2018: "Response from ARIA re: Rozalla chart history, received 20 September 2018". Imgur.com. Retrieved 20 September 2018. N.B. The High Point number in the NAT column represents the release's peak on the national chart.
- ^ a b c d "australian-charts.com > Rozalla 'Everybody's Free' (album) worldwide peaks". Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
- ^ a b UK singles and albums chart peaks outside the top 100: "Chart Log UK 1994-2010 > The Rabble Army – RZA". Dipl.-Bibl.(FH) Tobias Zywietz. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
- ^ a b c d e "lescharts.com - Discographie Rozalla". Lescharts.com.
- ^ "Home - Offizielle Deutsche Charts". Offiziellecharts.de.
- ^ . Irishcharts.ie. Archived from the original on 2 June 2009.
- ^ Top 40, Stichting Nederlandse. "Top 40". Top40.nl.
- ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 473. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ "Club Chart Billboard peaks". Retrieved 1 August 2020.
- ^ Search for UK certification 24 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine