Zeeteah Massiah

Zeeteah Silveta Massiah (born December 24, 1956) is a Barbadian-born British singer particularly associated with reggae, jazz and house music.

Zeeteah Massiah
Massiah in 2014
Born
Zeitia Silveta Massiah

(1956-12-24) December 24, 1956
Saint John, Barbados
OccupationSinger
Years active1980–present
Spouse(s)Paul Caplin
Musical career
GenresReggae, Jazz, House
InstrumentsVocals
Labels
Associated acts
Websitezeeteah.com

In a wide-ranging career she has recorded and/or toured with artists including Robbie Williams, Tom Jones, Michael Jackson, Phil Collins, Sting, Leo Sayer, and Michael Bolton.[1] She is best known in the United States as the lead vocalist on the 1993 Billboard No.1 dance hit Slide on the Rhythm.[2]

Massiah was born in Saint John, Barbados and grew up in London.[1] In 2001 she moved to Germany, and in 2012 returned to England, where she now lives.

Biography

Born in Barbados, Zeeteah moved to London with her parents when she was five years old. Her first name was originally spelled Zeitia.[3] As a teenager she recorded a cover of The Jackson 5's We Got A Good Thing Going in a reggae style for Trojan Records.[3] She went on to record two more reggae tracks for the label.

In 1984 Massiah appeared for nine months as "Chiffon" in the hit musical Little Shop of Horrors in London.[3]

She has been an additional vocalist for artists including Barry Manilow and Boy George, and toured with Michael Bolton, Climie Fisher and Paul Weller.[1] In 1988 she sang with Kim Wilde on the European leg of Michael Jackson's BAD tour, and in 1994/95 toured the world with Tom Jones. She has also toured extensively with Eikichi Yazawa[4] and Johnny Hallyday,[5] among the most successful rock stars in Japan and France respectively.

In 1993 Massiah was the lead vocalist on the Arizona track Slide on the Rhythm, later remixed by C&C Music Factory, which was a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Dance Chart in the US.[6] She went on to record I Specialise in Love with Arizona, which was a UK chart hit.[7]

On the back of her success with Arizona, Massiah signed a deal with Virgin Records and released two singles: Sexual Prime, which was a UK club hit, and This Is The Place, which charted on the UK Single Sales Charts.[7] In 1996 she was a UK finalist in the Eurovision Song Contest with A Little Love.

In 2001, Massiah moved to Cologne, Germany, where she worked with a wide range of musicians, and recorded the single Lovely Deep. During this time she spent nine months as featured singer in the hit show Fantissima, and three months touring Japan with Eikichi Yazawa.[4]

In 2012 she returned to London to start a new musical project with her husband Paul Caplin. She performs regularly with her band, The Disciples, playing songs composed by Caplin as well as her own interpretations of musical classics. Since her return to London, she has released two albums, both produced by Caplin: Juice (2014), an album of original songs[8], and Maybe Tomorrow (2016), a collection of classics[9].

In 2018 Caplin and Massiah announced their intention to release music together as a duo. The first single by Caplin & Massiah, entitled All You, was released on 13 July 2018[10].

Discography

Singles
  • 1980 We Got A Good Thing Going
  • 1980 A Love Like Yours
  • 1981 I'm Still Waiting
  • 1991 (Homegirl) Sing The Blues
  • 1992 Feel My Love
  • 1993 Slide on the Rhythm – Arizona feat. Zeitia
  • 1994 This Is The Place
  • 1994 Keep It Up – Sharada House Gang feat. Zeitia Massiah
  • 1994 I Specialize in Love – Arizona feat. Zeitia
  • 1996 Sweet Love – With It Guys feat. Zeitia
  • 1996 Sexual Prime
  • 1997 You Got It – Fargetta feat. Zeitia Massiah (five tracks on album)
  • 1997 Beat of Green – Fargetta feat. Zeitia Massiah
  • 1998 Wishing on a Star – Curtis & Moore presenting Zeitia Massiah (remixed by Mousse T)
  • 1998 Wishing on a Star Part 2 – Curtis & Moore presenting Zeitia Massiah
  • 1998 Baby Come Back – North on 41 feat. Zeitia Massiah
  • 1998 You Came – North on 41 feat. Zeitia Massiah
  • 2005 Lovely Deep
  • 2014 Whatever This Is

Albums
  • 2013 Live in London
  • 2014 Juice
  • 2016 Maybe Tomorrow

Guest Vocals

Singles

Albums
gollark: Here in the UK something like 30Mbps is the common available internet connection speed outside of cities, which means a lot of compression and/or low framerate and/or resolution.
gollark: I think bandwidth might actually be more of an issue because video data is big.
gollark: On the "fibre" connection at home (VDSL to a nearby box advertised as fibre because BT) I get something like 25ms latency to Google DNS, which is less than two frames at 60Hz, so not that bad.
gollark: I think 5G is overhyped horribly anyway. LTE/4G is pretty fast anyway, the main limit for end users is data caps.
gollark: Apparently, use of the same frequencies to something or other.

See also
  • List of number-one dance hits (United States)
  • List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

References
  1. Discogs biography of Zeeteah Massiah
  2. Billboard article on Arizona
  3. Jazz Services Biography of Zeeteah Massiah
  4. Eikichi Yazawa tour details
  5. Johnny Hallyday tour details
  6. List of number-one dance singles of 1993
  7. Roberts, David. Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums. Guinness World Records Ltd 17th edition (2004), p. 356. ISBN 0-85112-199-3
  8. Discogs credits for Juice
  9. Discogs credits for Maybe Tomorrow
  10. Press Party article
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