Sinitta

Sinitta Malone (born 19 October 1963), known mononymously as Sinitta, is a British-American singer.

Sinitta's mother is Miquel Brown, who was a popular Canadian disco-soul singer in the 1970s and 1980s and a member of the cast of Hair.

Sinitta's father's name is Anthony.

She has a sister, Gretta, who was adopted by a relative.

Sinitta was born and raised in Seattle and later Detroit, but frequently travelled with her mother on tour including to Sydney.

Her mother then directed the London production of Hair; Sinitta was sent to boarding school in East Sussex, and ballet school in Tunbridge Wells from the age of 9.

She auditioned for musical roles in London, performing in The Wiz at age 12 while still in school.

She initially found commercial success in the mid-1980s with the single "So Macho" and had several other hits during the decade.

In 1981, Sinitta appeared in the film Shock Treatment as Frankie, credited as Sinitta Renet.

Sinitta continued her career by appearing in several West End productions, notably the first production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats.

She also later appeared in Little Shop of Horrors.

In 1986, Sinitta released the single "So Macho", which debuted at 59 on the UK charts; the single remained rather low in the charts but, later that year, reached number 16, climbing to number 5 the following week.

The subsequent week, "So Macho" reached number 2 in the UK, scoring its highest position on the charts and also giving Sinitta her first Top 3 charting single.

"So Macho" spent the following six weeks in the Top 20 in the UK.

Alongside this success in the UK, "So Macho" also reached the Top 20 in Sweden, Australia and Austria.

"So Macho" subsequently became the highest-charting of Sinitta's career to date.

Sinitta's second single "Feels Like the First Time" was less commercially successful, charting at number 45.

In 1987, Sinitta released the lead single from her upcoming debut album, after seeking the help of producers Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW).

The product of that collaboration, "Toy Boy", was based on a tabloid headline about Sinitta's love life, and featured a rap written by the singer.

It debuted at number 41 and climbed to number 4 in the UK, where it remained for three consecutive weeks.

The single remained in the Top 20 for eight weeks.

The track also reached number 3 in Switzerland, reaching the Top 20 in Ireland, Belgium, Sweden, Finland and Germany.

Sinitta then released the second single from the album, "GTO"; the single reached number 15 on the UK chart.

"GTO" also became Sinitta's first hit in Spain, reaching number 3.

The track reached number 11 in Switzerland, number 9 in Norway and number 13 in Ireland.

The success of the track came despite the singer initially expressing her dissatisfaction with the subject matter of the song when first presented with the idea by record label boss, Simon Cowell.

Fearing that the title would mean nothing to her core audience of gay men and younger record buyers, Sinitta had unsuccessfully begged producers Stock Aitken Waterman to retitle the track before recording.

Sinitta later released her debut album Sinitta!, which performed moderately, charting at number 34 in the UK.

This album also reached number 69 in Australia.

In 1988, Sinitta released "Cross My Broken Heart", taken from Sinitta!, which reached number 6 in the UK and number 7 in Ireland.

The track charted at number 12 in Spain, becoming her second Top 20 single in Spain.

Sinitta then released "I Don't Believe In Miracles", which reached number 22 in the UK.

In 1989, Sinitta moved away from working directly with producers Stock Aitken Waterman amid creatives differences and the producers' changing priorities following the rise of their in-house superstar Kylie Minogue.

However, Sinitta did continue to work with Pete Hammond, Phil Harding and Ian Curnow with PWL, in co-operation with German producer Ralf-René Maué who was responsible for such hits of the Hamburg-based eurodisco duo London Boys as "Harlem Desire'", "Requiem" and "London Nights".

The second album was confirmed as Wicked.

The lead single of the album was "Right Back Where We Started From", which debuted at number 19 in the UK and rose to number 6.

The following week the track climbed to number 4 in the UK, holding this position for the subsequent week.

In the 2000s, she became known for television appearances, including Loose Women, The Xtra Factor and This Morning.

She took part in the ITV show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! in 2011.

She was born in Seattle, Washington.