This Grammy-nominated R&B singer

Listen: Fabolous - So Into You feat. Tamia

Tamia Hill is a veteran R&B performer who broke into the music industry under the name ‘Tamia’ after singing on the track “You Put a Move on My Heart” by legendary producer and musician Quincy Jones in 1994. Born in Windsor, Ontario, Tamia had aspirations of escaping her low-income upbringing and becoming a vocal coach in Los Angeles. The spotlight that was thrust upon her after her work with Jones put her on a different path however, and after a Grammy nomination for the collaborative track “Missing You” that same year, Tamia was about to parlay the buzz surrounding her singing into two more Grammy nominations over the next 4 years, culminating in the release of her debut album Tamia in 1998.

Two strong singles emerged from the album, “Imagination” and “So Into You”, with the latter cracking the Top 10 Billboard R&B singles chart. A fourth Grammy nomination accompanied her first number one track in 1999, the Eric Benet duet “Spend My Life With You.” In 2000 Tamia scored her biggest hit with the track “Stranger in My House” which spent 10 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Dance chart. In the wake of the success of her album A Nu Day, Tamia decided to take a leave of absence from the business and spend more time with her husband Grant Hill and young daughter, Myla.

After a four year hiatus her third album on Atlantic Records was released in 2004, and Tamia once again rode a wave of popularity cresting with the track “Into You”, which was a collaboration with rapper Fabolous. Sadly, personal problems made it difficult for her to enjoy her achievements. After going public regarding her battle with multiple sclerosis in 2005, Tamia made the break with her record company and decided to explore more personal music and write from her heart. Returning to the studio with Shep Crawford, who had produced “Stranger In My House”, Tamia was determined to re-capture lightning in a bottle. “(We) always said that if we ever had time and wanted to have fun, we'd just go into studio and make the music that we wanted to make. We both loved the creative process and creating songs,” she said in a 2005 interview