Vivienne Tanya Stevens was born in St Mary and attended St Mary's High School. After leaving school Tanya got involved in the music business, as she puts it, "I was supposed to go back to school and I needed an excuse not to so singing became it."
Vivienne Tanya Stevens was born in St Mary and attended St Mary's High School. After leaving school Tanya got involved in the music business, as she puts it, "I was supposed to go back to school and I needed an excuse not to so singing became it."
Her first released recording was "Big Things A Gwaan Fi Yuh" went straight into the playlists of every local radio station when it hit the streets in 1993. "I did not begin in the church or on the school choir or anything, when I told my friends that I was going to become a singer they were shocked."
Stevens who used to write love songs while going to school, said she was too shy to even think of singing them. But after leaving school she started practising on her keyboard at home, then she recorded some songs on her cassette and contacted Penthouse who referred her to New Name Music. There she met Noel Brownie who was impressed with her voice and soon took her under his wings.
While nothing big came of that association Tanya said she got a valuable experience. Soon after she met producer Barry O'Hare and recorded "Is This For Real" which didnt create any waves on the music scene. With a smile Tanya says although the song wasnt a success it's still a favourite of hers.
Tanya boxed around for a while then took a break to have her daughter Kelly. She re-emerger in late 1995 with "Man Fi Rule" and "Ganster Girl" which enjoyed a lot of air play and helped in launching Tanya in the spotlight as a singer to be reckoned with.
The song wich the 24 year old has tearing up the charts is called "Yuh Nuh Ready Fi Dis", which Tanya claims the song is all about her and many other females. The song came about when Dave Kelly gave her a rhythm and asked her to sing something on it. He explained to him what she wanted to say in the song and dave penned the lyrics. She has since performed at Cactus, Mirage, Sting, Jamworld and Mobay and many other out of town shows with the Shocking Vibes Crew, but is not yet a full fledged member of the Crew, as she is still in negotiation stages.
She is busy working on an album with O'Hare entitled "Big Tings A Gwaan" and another with Computer Paul which is un-named and has a mixture of reggae, rock, pop, disco and country and western.