Sheila Chandra
| Sheila Chandra | |
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Chandra at The Big Chill in 2008
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Sheila Savithri Elizabeth Chandra |
| Born | 14 March 1965 |
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres | Pop, world fusion, world beat, house |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, author, songwriter, actor |
| Instruments | vocals, Linn drum |
| Years active | 1981–2010 |
| Labels | Indipop Records, Phonogram, Mercury/PolyGram Records, Real World Records, Shakti/Narada |
| Associated acts | Monsoon, Ancient Beatbox, The Imagined Village |
| Website | sheilachandra |
Sheila Chandra (born 14 March 1965) is a retired British pop singer of Indian descent. She is no longer able to perform, after she was rendered effectively mute by burning mouth syndrome in 2010.
Sheila Chandra was born in London. She first came to public attention as an actress, playing Sudhamani Patel in the BBC school drama Grange Hill from 1979 to 1981.
As a teenager she formed the band Monsoon with Steve Coe (who became the band's producer) and bassist Martin Smith. Monsoon created a fusion of Western and Indian pop styles. The band recorded its only album, Third Eye, in 1982 from which it had a surprise hit single, "Ever So Lonely", which peaked at No. 12 in the UK. Monsoon followed-up with the single "Shakti," which peaked at No. 41, but this was to be the band's final charting single. The album also includes a cover of the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows", featuring the distinctive EBow guitar sound of Bill Nelson.
Resenting pressure from their record company over musical direction, Monsoon dissolved in 1982 and Coe and Smith set about promoting Chandra as a solo artist on independent Indipop Records.
Chandra went on to release a number of albums in the 1980s, at times experimenting with her voice as an instrument through a range of techniques. After a creative split with Martin Smith, Chandra released three albums on Peter Gabriel's Real World label —Weaving My Ancestors' Voices (1992), The Zen Kiss (1994), and ABoneCroneDrone (1996).
In the 1990s Chandra decided, having been a studio artist exclusively, to give concerts for the first time, and concurrently released a trilogy of albums on Peter Gabriel's Real World label. These were in the minimalist solo voice and drone style, which she developed especially for live performances, so that she could perform alone on stage with only the occasional taped drone for accompaniment. Martin Smith was no longer actively involved by this time. Drawing on similarities of structure between Indian ragas and English folk melodies, she started to incorporate many British and Irish traditional songs and techniques, as well as other vocal styles and techniques from around the world.
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