Plavka Coleridge | |
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Birth name | Plavka Lonich |
Born | December 14, 1962 San Jose, California, United States |
Genres | Trance |
Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, performer |
Instruments | Vocals |
Associated acts | Jam & Spoon, The Shamen, Rising High Collective |
Plavka Coleridge (née Lonich) (born December 14, 1962) an American singer of Croatian and Peruvian origin who lives in Los Angeles. She is best known for being the singer of the German trance act Jam & Spoon, whose classically infused trance sound dominated the international charts in the mid 1990s, as well as for her previous stint with The Shamen.
The Californian-born Plavka is the daughter of a Peruvian mother and Croatian father. At age 21 she moved to London, where she was lead-singer for the seminal British acid-house band the Shamen. She sang on the group's first hit, "Hyperreal". They toured UK and Europe with their traveling show, "Synergy", and recorded a John Peel session in the UK. In 1991, the Shamen with Plavka were covered by UK's Face magazine to take rave to Russia, touring as far as Siberia.
Plavka was then poached by the management of Jam & Spoon to be their singer. Their first single, "Right in the Night", went Top 10 in the UK and they performed on the legendary UK show Top of the Pops. Plavka also sang on Jam & Spoon's hits "Find Me (Odyssey to Anyoona)" and "Angel" and on their album Kaleidoscope Skies. The single, "Kaleidoscope Skies", was the first single off the album and made the Top 20 in several European territories. She also performed Jam & Spoon's final single "Butterfly Sign" at the New Pop Festival in Germany.
Plavka's interest in jazz singing later led her to acquiring a jazz residency at Annabel's, the private London members club. Plavka was nominated for Best Dance Act with Jam & Spoon at the first ever MTV European Music Awards held in Berlin.
In the early to mid 1990s, Plavka worked with, and dated, Caspar Pound, producer, composer and owner of Rising High Records. They formed Rising High Collective with producer Peter Smith. They were known for some very well regarded trance, ambient and house tracks on the underground electronic music scene. Their first single, Fever Called Love, was a revolutionary track as it was the first techno dance production to have a vocal song. This underground hit garnered Rising High Collective live engagements across Europe and critical acclaim.
Plavka has been featured as guest vocalist with DJ Ils (Razorblade) and Nu Frequency (Love Sick), J. Nitti (Surrender). She also penned the song 'Never Ever', for the English band James Taylor Quartet (Acid Jazz records).