Tasha Baxter Does Cock Pop

By guestwritter , 05 Jul 2009

Tasha BaxterWhen people first heard Tasha Baxter’s music on the local radio stations in South Africa nobody would have guessed that she was a home-grown talent.

She took South Africa by storm with her debut album “Colour of me”, and began to dominate radio stations with her new sound which she called “Cock pop”.

“When people hear music and think This is great! This is fantastic! It can’t be from South Africa it’s nice to know that it is great talent and home-grown.”

“Cock pop comes from the 80s and is sort of rock pop which is supposed to be hardcore. Now it’s kind of taken over!”

The multi-talented Tasha’s incredible song writing and vocal skills landed her many high-profile projects, albums and songs. The success of Roger Goode’s ambient hit “In the Beginning” from his album “Coming up for air” is still remembered. Tasha’s lyrics and vocal skills contributed to the song which turned into a world smash hit. The track was also voted Pete Tong’s favourite single on Radio One and took Number One spot in the UK dance charts.

“…I think we can actually build our own economy, with the amazing artists who live in South Africa.”

Just when South Africa was about to lose a remarkable talent, the mother of two described her move from Cape Town to Johannesburg as a hectic one. She had to start her life from scratch, looking after her children, and working as a Rentokil sales rep. Although her job paid the bills Tasha couldn’t help desiring to do what she was born to do, music, music, music!

She started singing with DJs at a regular club in Melville and that’s when she met her song writing partner, Andre Scheepers.

“We used to do Drum and Bass nights in Melville, and when Andre saw me he said ‘If you are serious about music, give me a call’. I called him and that was the moment I started writing again!”

Tasha Baxter’s debut album scooped two Sama awards: Best newcomer and best pop album out of four nominations and “The People’s Choice Award”. On the album she teamed up with a trio band from Holland called “Noisia” whom she met through an online dancing community. Noisia were quickly impressed by her. This all led to her being signed by EMI.

“It was a European sound because those boys were European. The songs were written here in South Africa, and the production of the album is a fusion of the two.”

The Europeans versus the South African? How did they break into the South African market?

“I think the South African public are not difficult to break. You need to push an artist, especially in a country like South Africa. I was all over the radio and I had loads of media support. The people and the market seemed to like my sound.”

Tash, as I call her, also highlighted the problem that many South African artists suffer, due to the so called international artists who come to perform in South Africa.

“If the international artist comes over, half the time we don’t even get paid. We might be getting exposure but, at the end of the day, I think we can actually build our own economy, with the amazing artists who live in South Africa.”

Tasha Baxter featured on Loyiso Bala’s latest album “Blow your mind.” She is working on her new album and she will be back in the UK, this coming July, for six months.

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