You have seen her video on MTV. A writhing redhead who looks like she's one of the "band-aids" from Almost Famous dances in front of a lighted billboard to the tune of a funky 70's jam worthy of George Clinton. Who is that girl? She's Nikka Costa.
Nikka Costa is both one of the newest and oldest singers on MTV. Her song, "Like a Feather," comes from the recently released album Everybody Got Their Something, Costa's first ever U.S. release. But overseas she's been a star off and on since the age of five.
Costa is the daughter of arranger/producer Don Costa, who worked with Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Jr., and many other singers of traditional popular music. In fact, Sinatra is Nikka Costa's godfather. When she was five, she began to sing as well and soon her father had her making albums of traditional songs and soft pop.
At the age of eight she opened for The Police in front of 300,000 fans in Chile. You have to wonder how they reacted to a seven year old girl singing the theme from Ice Castles. Check out this Nikka Costa discography for some cute-as-a-button shots from her child star days. Costa's records were released in Europe, Israel, and South America, but never in the United States.
She spent a few years away from the business after her dad's death when she was ten. Fast forward to 1989: Costa is in her late teens and resurfaces in Europe with teased-blonde hair and a dance-pop record called Here I Am, Yes It's Me. (Any similarity to Alanis Morrissette's early career in Canada is unintentional.) The record was huge in Europe, but once again was not released in the United States.
Next it was off to Australia, where she re-invented herself as a soul-funk diva and become popular on the local Australian scene. She put out a record called Butterfly Rocket which was the first to feature her current sound, which approximates Sly and the Family Stone if they had been fronted by Janis Joplin. Once again, the record was quite popular abroad. Once again, the record was not released in the U.S.
Now, after this long and varied career everywhere else in the world, Nikka Costa has finally put out an album in the U.S. She's getting a big push from both her record company and from MTV, which is playing "Like a Feather" in its "Buzzworthy" slot. She also got a song (the ballad "Push Pull") on the soundtrack to Blow.
That push is showing in searches for Costa by Lycos users. Since the beginning of May her searches have quadrupled. Last week she placed between Irish pop group The Corrs and the departed but still popular Rage Against The Machine on the list of popular music acts on Lycos. She may not reach the status of the teen queens who are a decade her junior, but these searches show Costa's U.S. career is getting a good start.
You can check out these downloads of Costa at Lycos Music. Click on the video downloads to see a 9-minute documentary on her album called EPK.
TOMORROW: More music -- battle of the rap posses!
(Hey Howard Stern Fans! Looking for yesterday's column on top radio hosts? It's right here.)
