McDonald achieved success working and co-writing with Armand van Helden and Axwell on the chart hits "My My My" and "Feel the Vibe". Both these projects debuted at number 1 in the club charts before peaking in the UK sales charts at No.12 and No.16, respectively. She has also collaborated with Todd Terry, co-writing the song "Get Down", and with David Guetta, co-writing "Delirious" and "You Are Not Alone" on his platinum selling album Pop Life.
McDonald hosted her own one-hour dance music radio show called I Like This Beat (formerly called Shut Up & Dance). The program was syndicated on over 50 stations in 40 countries and released as a free podcast through iTunes.[not verified in body]
At the start of 2012, McDonald worked as an assistant vocal coach on the first series of the TV show The Voice in Belgium alongside the French pop star Quentin Mosimann. The winner of this series, and member of Mosimann's team, Roberto Bellarosa, went on to sign a recording contract with Sony Music.
McDonald signed a three-album deal with Mercury/Universal in 2012.[1] In 2014, she released a single featuring Snoop Dogg called "Vay-K".[2][3]
Her "I Need a Miracle" single was chosen as the Europride anthem for 2016. The single charted in a number of European countries.[4]
Biography
Tara McDonald, Audrey Hepburn and Paul Van Vliet at the 1st Danny Kaye Award, after winning the competition for England. (Maastricht, Holland)
McDonald was born in Dartford, to parents of Irish descent.[citation needed] At nine years old, shewon her first prosessinal role playing young Eponine in Les Miserables at The Palace Theatre London, after attending an "open audition" which was advertised on the television.
At 11, she made her first television debut on BBC1's Saturday night talent show "Opportunity Knocks", performing as a solo singer, she won her week and performed in the final.
At 12, she won the Danny Kaye Award for the song "Make Your Own Rainbow".[5] Hosted by Audrey Hepburn and attended by the Queen of Holland. The show was a children's European song contest and Tara represented England. The prize - McDonald became a child ambassador for UNICEF for a year when she was 12, promoting and campaigning for the "rights of the child" throughout Europe and Africa. She also performed in the National Youth Music Theatre (NYMT) production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with Jude Law for the Edinburgh festival, and later won the juvenile lead part in a musical called St. Bernadette at the Dominion Theatre in London. McDonald was schooled at the Italia Conti stage school then later moved to the BRIT School.
McDonald worked as a backing dancer for Karen Ramirez for promotion of her single "Looking for Love" in Europe and appeared as a backing dancer for the Jungle Brothers single, "I'll House You" including a performance on BBC1 Top Of The Pops. She also worked for the charity Combined Services Entertainment as a "forces sweetheart", providing entertainment for the UK armed forces around the world.
David Guetta and Tara McDonald performing "Delirious" live at Tour and Taxi in 2008 (Brussels, Belgium) Photo: Ludovic Thysebaert, 2008
She continued to write songs for other artists and work as a session singer for a range of different artists, including Spike Edney SAS band, Thunder (band), Björn Again for various gigs, tours and TV shows. She co-wrote D-Side's debut UK Top-5 single "Stronger Together" with Cliff Randall and Simon Britton. In 2003 McDonald performed on the Jagz Kooner remix of "Butterfly Caught" for Massive Attack.[6][7]
Axwell, Armand van Helden, David Guetta & Strictly Come Dancing (2005–2012)
From 2004–07, McDonald sang lead and backing vocals on BBC1's programme Strictly Come Dancing.[8]
In May 2005, Desmond Lynam presented the BBC1 programme We'll Meet Again, marking the 60th anniversary of VE Day. During the show McDonald performed the song "We'll Meet Again" live.
In 2005, when McDonald was 29, she co-wrote and sang "Feel the Vibe ('Til the Morning Comes)" with Axwell, which became one of the biggest dance tracks of the year. It peaked at No.1 on the UK Dance Singles Chart and No.16 on the UK Singles Chart, and also charted in Finland, the Netherlands and France. McDonald's next release was "My My My" with Armand Van Helden in 2006, My My My" which reached number 4 on the world internet charts, number 5 in the Belgian and Dutch charts, number 6 in Australia, number 12 in the UK, and top 30 in the world dance charts and entered the UK commercial charts at No.11. Both tracks became dance anthems and McDonald performed them on Pete Tong BBC1 dance show in Ibiza.[citation needed] In 2007 McDonald co-wrote two tracks on David Guetta's third studio album, Pop Life, the hit single "Delirious" Peaked at #24 on Billboard's Dance/mix show airplay chart for 20 weeks in 2008. [9] and an album track entitled "You're Not Alone". Guetta later described her as a "tigress on stage"[10] and "the chic sexbomb of electro music."[11]
McDonald also co wrote two singles with Todd Terry on his All Stars project "Play On" and "Get Down". "Get Down" Peaked at #11 on 12 January 2007 spending 20 weeks on Billboard Dance/mix show airplay. [12]
McDonald worked with Bryan Ferry on his Dylanesque album as a backing singer, arranging some of the vocal harmonies, and toured with him for a year.[13] In 2009 McDonald featured on and co-wrote the song "Revolution" by Vibers, (written as the anthem for the electronic music festival Liberty Parade) which won best electronic track of the year in Romania.[14] In 2010 McDonald collaborated on songs with several artists including: "I'm Your Goddess" with David Vendetta; "Elevated" with the Australian dance duo TV Rock; "Everything", "Funkerman", and "Beats for You" with Mischa Daniels; and "Set Me on Fire" with Sidney Samson.
McDonald performed with the "Leo Green experience" as a guest vocalist at jazz venues in the UK like Ronnie Scott's. She performed at a 2008 show for the charity Childline Rocks at O2 Indigo, London. In 2011 McDonald performed at the festival 24hrs of Burning House at Smederevo Fortress, Serbia.
McDonald won "Best Female Voice of 2010" in electronic music from OnlyForDj's magazine in a worldwide competition voted on by the public.[15][16][17] In 2012, McDonald presented three awards at the NRJ DJ awards in Monaco.[18][19]
In 2011, McDonald released "Dynamite" with Sidney Samson on Spinnin Records and the remix by Nicky Romero became one of the most-successful club tracks of that year with over 2million views on YouTube. With David Guetta and Afrojack, McDonald released "Pandemonium" from the 2011 FMIF Ibiza mix album which reached No.2 Switzerland, No.3 France, and charted in Austria and Spain. She also co-wrote, sang and produced the vocals for "Tomorrow (Give in to the Night)", the anthem to Tomorrowland 2010 with Dimitri Vegas, Like Mike and Dada Life, which was an international club hit and broke the Top20 in Belgium.[20] She released the record Generation 24/7 though Hed Kandi Records on 12 December 2011.
Radio show and The Voice (2012–2013)
In 2012 McDonald started a weekly late-night radio show called Shut Up & Dance. She was the only non-GJ to have a show on FG Radio (France and Belgium).[21] In 2013 the show was renamed to I Like This Beat and was syndicated in 45 countries, Emirates, and as a free podcast on iTunes.[citation needed]
In 2012, McDonald was the assistant vocal coach on The Voice in Belgium, working alongside the Swiss pop star Quentin Mosimann.[22] In 2012, McDonald signed a two-album deal with Mercury/Universal,[23] soon after releasing the single "Give Me More".
McDonald performed "Give Me More" alongside Justin Bieber, Jennifer, 1789 and Merwan Wim at the NRJ Music Tour de Paris.[24][25][26] She performed a show at the Grand Palais in celebration of 20 years of FG radio in Paris.[27][28][29] McDonald performed "Give Me More" live at the 18th Salon du Chocolat at the Parc des Expositions Porte de Versailles on 30 October 2012, wearing a dress made entirely of chocolate and arrived on stage in a chocolate space ship.[30][31][32]
"Shooting Star", Zaho and Paris Olympia (2013)
McDonald released her second solo single, the duet "Shooting Star" featuring Zaho. It also appears on the 2013 re-release of Zaho's album Contagieuse. She performed the song with Zaho and a full live band at an electronic party called So Happy in Paris held at the Paris Olympia.
McDonald was the only non-Dutch artist to be asked to perform at Strijders Voor De Liefde Warriors For Love, a special televised concert to raise awareness for equal rights for LGBT citizens.
Ambassador of Paris Pride and "Vay-K" (2014)
Tara McDonald headlining Paris Pride 2014, Place de la Republique
McDonald was chosen to be the ambassador, a.k.a. La Marraine (the sponsor), of LGBT Paris Pride. Her duties included a presentation for a press conference, delivering a speech to open the march in front of 500,000 people, performing on the main stage and delivering a speech to close the year's event. She performed an electric set at Ultra Music Festival in South Korea alongside M.I.A. and Far East Movement. McDonald's performance at the Exit Festival sister festival Sea Dance received positive reviews,[citation needed] performing on the main stage.
Her third single "Vay-K" was released in October 2014, and featured Snoop Dogg.[33]
"A Place To Go" with Investo (2014)
"A Place To Go," the dance track of the DJ / producer, Investo, with vocalist McDonald, was on the playlist of Greece's largest radio stations and climbed to the Top 50 of the Official Greek Airplay Chart.[34] The track released by our country's top dance company, Down2Earth Records, was nailed directly to number of the Greek iTunes Chart and is also on the Shazam Chart.[35]
"Happy Hour" (2015)
McDonald released "Happy Hour" on the compilation album TPMZ together with hit French TV show TPMP. The song was co-written by McDonald, producer Tefa, Trackstorm and Ben Adams from UK boy-band A1. The track was picked to be the album's lead single and released ahead of McDonald's solo single "Girls Just Wanna Funk".[36]
"I Need a Miracle", Europride anthem / Europride ambassador and "Love Me" (2016)
On 15 January 2016 McDonald released the single "I Need a Miracle" (a cover of the 1996 Coco Star song) through Mercury Universal Records in France and Bip Records in Belgium.[37] "I Need a Miracle" charted #18 Portugal, #47 France and #15 iTunes Global charts France, #5 iTunes Pop charts France,#6 Spotify Viral charts France,#1 iTunes Global charts Belgium, #1 iTunes Dance charts Belgium, #3 iTunes Global charts Portugal, #1 iTunes Dance charts Portugal & #20 iTunes Dance charts Italy.[38] This track is better known worldwide from the mashup "Toca's Miracle" by Fragma, which was a No.1 hit in 14 countries in 2000.[37] McDonald believed the lyrics were significant at a time of war and religious friction and could help bring people together.[39][40][41][42] It was used as the official anthem of EuroPride 2016.[43][44] McDonald opened Europride at Dam Square in Amsterdam and performed the song at the Human Rights concert with a full orchestra.[45]
"I Need a Miracle" was also featured in the British film White Island starring Billy Zane and UK singer/rapper Example.[46][47]
McDonald collaborated with Spanish singer-songwriter Juan Magan on the single "Love Me", which she co-wrote with Mexican boy-band Urband 5.[48][49]
"Taxxxi" and new recording contract
In 2017, McDonald signed a new recording contract with Play Two/Warner Music France for an album deal. She released the first solo single, "Taxxxi" on 10 November 2017.[50] McDonald first performed Taxxxi live headlining Winter pride in Gran Canaria 2017[51] Taxxxi charted in the UK & French club charts #7 UK upfront club charts #8 commercial pop charts #18 Cool cut charts UK and #5 buzz chart #13 club charts in France.[52][53]
"Money Maker" featuring Zion & Lennox
On 3 May 2019, McDonald released "Money Maker", featuring Latin Grammy winners Zion & Lennox through Play Two/Warner Music France,[54][55] the song was licensed through Ditto Music for Latin America,[56] 9122 Records for India,[57] Magic Records in Poland and surrounding territories,[58] Roton for Romania,[59] Universal Music Mena for Middle East & North Africa[60] The official music video was released on 2 May 2019[61] directed by Felicity Ben through Hi Five Production. McDonald 1st performed the single on TV on TucasaTv MVS in Mexico,[62] and at Amsterdam Pride 2019.[63]
Rawdolff feat Tara McDonald
In 2021, McDonald featured on Rawdolff's single, "Outta My Head", reaching top 3 in the UK Pop Chart[64] In 2022, McDonald co-wrote and featured on Rawdolff's "Downtown"[65] reaching the Top 4 Upfront Club Chart and Top 5 in the Commercial Pop Chart in the UK, followed by single "Lose You", which contained a sample of Robert Miles "Children", remixed by Anton Powers[66]
On 6 October 2012, McDonald performed at the Night For Life at PrideMetz arena concert in France to raise money for Cancer Night For Life - a televised charity event supporting children with terminal diseases. She performed alongside Tal, Big Ali, Jean Roch, Cascada, and Craig David.[74]
McDonald was invited to perform at Teleton por La Vida on 5 December 2015 in (Guayaquil, Ecuador). She performed her single "I Need A Miracle' and a melody of greatest hits to raise money for the Teleton foundation which made $1.5 Million for the children in Guayaquil.[75][76][77]
In 2016, McDonald gave her single "I Need A Miracle" to be included in the #WEHELPU music compilation, where all proceeds are given to help raise money for those affected in the earthquake in Italy which was released on 16 September 2016.[78][79]
Also in 2016, Europride chose McDonald to be one of the official ambassadors and her single "I Need A Miracle" to be the official anthem with a special remix by Dutch DJ/producer Gregor Salto which was used to promote equality and LGBTQIA+ rights.[80][81][82][83]
In 2020, McDonald released a new version of "I Need A Miracle" for Unicef to raise money for children around the world affected by Covid-19.[84][85]
McDonald is an active supporter of gay rights. She was an ambassador for Europride 2016 and her single "I Need A Miracle was chosen as the official anthem. McDonald said "Equal rights for me is such an important issue, I believe anything less than equality is an insult! It's unjust to give a selected few preferential treatment, we are all human after all! Everybody deserves to be treated fairly, equally. This is an issue I will spend my life campaigning for, until the laws are changed to protect and implement this and for all the countries around the world to unite and have the same global vision for equality."[88] In an interview with Maxazine magazine for the Netherlands, McDonald said "Forget about the label, it's about the person".[89] McDonald, godmother of Paris Pride 2014 said in an interview for the weekly news magazine Le Point (France) she was "shocked by the people anti-gay marriages in France". This shows that there is still work to be done (...) We need to change attitudes and educate people."[90] "I will always fight for equality!"[91]
McDonald identifies as vegan and is passionate about animal rights. Tara became vegan in 2017 after meeting a Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka who was vegan. Tara calls plant based food a "good karma diet". She is an ambassador for the worldwide vegan/vegetarian restaurant guide website HappyCow.[92] In an interview with London Vegans, McDonald said: "I thought being vegetarian was good enough. But when you know better, you do better. There's no way I would ever go back to eating animal products". "The vegan lifestyle has made me feel so good that it's only natural that I want to share it with people."[93]
Armand van Helden is an American DJ, record producer, remixer and songwriter from Boston. He is considered one of house music's most revered figures, with a career spanning three decades.
Cascada is a German dance music act founded in 2004 by singer Natalie Horler and DJs/producers DJ Manian and DJ Yanou. It is best known for the hit singles "Everytime We Touch", "What Hurts the Most", "Evacuate the Dancefloor", and "Miracle". Cascada represented Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden with "Glorious". While being one of the most successful acts of the dance music genre itself, Cascada was named as the 3rd most successful German act of the 21st century.
Pierre David Guetta is a French DJ and record producer. He has sold over 10 million albums and 65 million singles globally, with more than 14 billion streams. In 2011, 2020, 2021 and 2023, Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs poll. In 2013, Billboard ranked his song "When Love Takes Over" as the number one dance-pop collaboration of all time.
Pop Life is the third studio album released by French DJ David Guetta. It was released in 2007 and produced with Joachim Garraud. Longtime collaborator Chris Willis is the main vocalist; guest vocals are provided by JD Davis, Tara McDonald, Cozi Costi, Juliet Richardson and Thailand. The album has sold 530,000 copies worldwide and 18,000 copies in the United States.
"Delirious" is a house song performed by French DJ David Guetta and Tara McDonald for Guetta's third studio album, Pop Life. The song was released as the album's fourth single on January 31, 2008. Several remixes of the song, including mixes by Fred Rister, Marc Mysterio, Laidback Luke, and Arno Cost and Norman Doray were released.
Quentin Gérard John Mosimann is a Swiss DJ and record producer. He has been ranked in the top 100 of the best disc jockeys for four consecutive years by DJ Mag, ranking 93rd in 2015. Quentin Mosimann took up his DJ career in the south of France, in Saint-Tropez when he was only 14. Aged 20, he won the French TV reality show Star Academy, and gained success with 2 albums in Universal Music and a tour featuring a show at the famous Olympia of Paris. That was a stairway to his current international career of "DJ Singer".
Fuck Me I'm Famous is a series of electronic dance music compilation albums by the French DJ David Guetta. His now ex-wife Cathy Guetta collaborated in the production. The first album in the series was released in 2003. The albums have traditionally been released during the summer months of their respective years.
"When Love Takes Over" is a song by French record producer David Guetta with vocals by American singer Kelly Rowland, from Guetta's fourth studio album, One Love (2009). It was released as the lead single from the album on 21 April 2009 by Virgin Records. The song was conceived when Guetta played the instrumental version during one of his DJ sets in summer 2008; American recording artist Kelly Rowland, who fell in love with the track, convinced Guetta to allow her to take it so that she could write and record vocals for it. It was co-written by Nervo.
Sidney V. Samson is a Dutch DJ and music producer. He is best known for his track "Riverside", which was released in 2009.
Susan Brice, better known by her stage name Coco Star, is an English singer and songwriter, who was signed to Universal Music and EMI. Brice has collaborated with artists such as Craig David, Artful Dodger and Fragma for the number 1 hit, "Toca's Miracle".
"Commander" is a song performed and co-written by American recording artist Kelly Rowland and French disc jockey and record producer David Guetta from Rowland's third studio album, Here I Am (2011). It serves as the project's international lead single and her debut release with Universal Motown. It was the pair's second collaboration, having previously topped charts around the world with a similar dance production, "When Love Takes Over", in 2009. Rowland and Guetta co-wrote the song with French DJ Sandy Vee and American songwriter Rico Love, who described the song as a "fun and aggressive club record" with themes of female empowerment and lyrics with deliberate grammatical errors. Guetta and Vee produced "Commander" with synthesized dance beats that blend R&B with electronica and house music, with Love providing backing vocals and vocal production. The song was premiered at the 2010 Winter Music Conference and subsequently garnered acclaim from contemporary critics for Rowland's vocal performance as well as Guetta's musical production.
Here I Am is the third studio album by American singer Kelly Rowland, released through Universal Motown and Universal Music Group on July 22, 2011. The album is Rowland's first release since parting ways with her manager Mathew Knowles and longtime Sony Music record label Columbia Records. Here I Am is predominately a pop, R&B and dance album. It follows Rowland's assertion that "no one puts her in a box" with common themes around womanhood, sexual intimacy and love. Originally scheduled for release in 2010, the album was pushed back after the first round of singles were released to mixed critical and commercial reception.
"Down for Whatever" is a song by American recording artist Kelly Rowland featuring production collective The WAV.s, taken from Rowland's third studio album Here I Am (2011). The song was released on October 26, 2011. The Eurodance driven up-tempo song is the album's third international single and sixth overall and final single, released from October 26, 2011, by Universal Motown and Universal Music. "Down for Whatever" was written by Teddy Sky and Bilal Hajji and co-written and produced by RedOne, Jimmy Joker and The WAV.s. The song has been described as a Eurodance and Electro music. The song received mostly positive reviews from music critics, who say that the song is as catchy as Rowland's previous dance hits, "When Love Takes Over" and "Commander". It was also described as a "Radio friendly song".
Rebecca Claire Hill is an English singer and songwriter. She rose to fame after appearing on the first series of The Voice UK, auditioning with John Legend's "Ordinary People". She joined Jessie J's team and reached the semi-final of the competition.
"Shooting Star" is a song by British singer-songwriter Tara McDonald, released as the second single from her debut studio album in Europe. The song features platinum selling Francophone artist Zaho.
"Feel the Vibe", also released as "Feel the Vibe (Til the Morning Comes)" and "(Can You) Feel the Vibe", is a song by the Swedish dance producer Axwell, co written by and featuring the English/Irish singer-songwriter Tara McDonald. It was a breakthrough record for both Axwell and McDonald and was a number-one club record and a radio hit as well.
"Tomorrow (Give in to the Night)" is a song by Belgian electronic DJ duo Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Swedish DJ duo Dada Life and English/Irish singer-songwriter Tara McDonald. The song reached number 5 in the Belgian dance charts and 16 in the commercial charts making it the biggest selling anthem for Tomorrowland to date.
"I Need a Miracle" is a single released by British singer-songwriter Tara McDonald in 2016. It was chosen as the Europride anthem for 2016 remixed by Gregor Salto. The single charted at No. 83 in Portugal and No. 47 in France. It is a cover of the song originally recorded by Coco Star released on Green Light Recordings, which was re-released as a mashup/remix by Fragma called "Toca's Miracle". It was co-written by Rob Davis and Victor Imbres. McDonald's version of the song is produced in a tropical dance style and the BPM for this cover version is slower than the original. One line repeated often in this version is "I won't take nothing less than a deeper love", which McDonald felt was the message of the song she wanted to share.
"Another Life" is a song by Dutch DJ and record producer Afrojack and French DJ and record producer David Guetta, featuring American singer-songwriter Ester Dean. It was released on 28 April 2017 via Afrojack's label Wall Recordings.
7 is the seventh and most recent studio album by French DJ and record producer David Guetta, released on 14 September 2018 by What a Music, Parlophone and Big Beat Records. Released as a double album, the collection features commercial pop collaborations on the first disc, whilst disc two features underground house music akin to Guetta's starting roots as a DJ. The latter is credited to Jack Back, which Guetta revealed to be his alias and as a means to release more dance music alongside his pop collaborations. This side of the album is known as the Jack Back Project and was also released independently as a mixtape titled the Jack Back Mixtape, preceded by the release of the song "Overtone". 7 is David Guetta's first album since 2014's album Listen .
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