Meet Tina Tara

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tina Tara.

Hi Tina, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I was born and grew up in a small town in Austria called Trumau, it lies about half an hour by car southwest of Vienna. My parents always sang a lot with my sister and I but we were never encouraged to pursue music as a profession or in any competitive fashion. I started, however, to play the piano when I was very little and received classical piano education from the age of five. When I was just a little older I came across a CD my mum had lying around, it was the first Whitney Houston album. I listened and was mesmerized by her vocal delivery. From that day I was hooked, I could not stop listening – At that time I did not understand English yet but I was enchanted with the love she captured in her vocal performance. As the time went on my obsession with singing grew bigger and bigger and I had this deep sensation I wanted to do exactly that with my life. I know a lot of people say they want to become singers or performers, but I never really wanted the spotlight, I just wanted to connect with people through music.

But my path was not as simple and straightforward. My family, friends, even my first boyfriend when I was 16 discouraged me from my goal. It seemed impossible, unattainable and too far away. Not feasible to make a decent living at etc. So I went and studied Marketing and Management after high school. In my first year at college I had stopped playing the piano and even singing, I discarded the idea of ever being able to do music but it hurt me deeply. So I became very depressed and did not see much meaning in my life – as dramatic as that sounds – my whole being needed to create, perform and just be in music. When I got the chance to go to Spain for an exchange semester in my second year in college, I took it without much consideration. Living in Spain, I came across a producer who was the first music professional I met who seriously wanted to help me get into the industry. I took it – not having any clue about how this business works. We produced a few songs together but this business relationship never developed any further. However, a fundamental thing changed in me – I decided I was good enough and I was worthy to do what I had dreamed of my whole life to do.

When I came back to Austria, I made it clear to my family that I was going to leave Austria and move to an English-speaking country. I had always written my songs in English and I wanted to get better at it plus, there were more opportunities for the type of music I wanted to create outside of Austria. My family was not very excited about me leaving the country but supported me after all.

So I moved to London. I began to study Popular Music Performance at the BIMM institute and learned many useful tools on how to arrange and create/produce my own music using different DAW’s and plugins. I also built a 10-piece band with whom I toured throughout London in 2013/2014. Suddenly in 2014, there was a big shift in my life. I suddenly got symptoms of numbness in my body and could not see out of my right eye. The weakness took over my entire physique until I could not sing properly anymore as I simply did not have enough energy. I tried to find out what had happened to me but no doctor I visited in London could give me an answer. Everyone simply called it a stress-related condition. After a phase of despair and depression, I decided to get up and do something about my situation. I began to work out vigorously every day, changed my diet to very clean and healthy foods and brought more relaxation into my life. I also began praying which I never believed in. A few months later I got better and was feeling much stronger again. Strong enough to perform and record. Over the next couple of years, I experienced a couple of these weakness/paralyzing episodes until I was finally diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis by an Austrian Neurologist. As one of the remedies, he advised me to quit the music industry as it was deemed to be too stressful for someone with MS.

For a short few months, I contemplated his advice while I trained to become a yoga teacher. After about three months I decided I was NOT going to quit music, I was going to focus on healing my body and remove stress from my life. I began regular self-healing meditations, did yoga daily and ate very clean. I focused on training my mind to believe that I do not have any illness in my body as I had learned that our thoughts can change and heal the cells in our bodies completely. On the music side, I worked with multiple producers in London and wrote a myriad of original songs and worked as a songwriter and singer for hire. The work as a musician did not stress me or worsen my medical condition, it enhanced the joy I felt and motivated me to heal myself even more.

Two years after my diagnosis I went off my MS medication, which did not work for me, and trusted that my body will heal itself with a combination of herbal supplements, vitamins and healthy lifestyle. That was the beginning of 2018. Until now in 2023 I have never been in better health. I have not had any MS symptoms and I am certain I will never have any issues in that area ever again. My body is stronger and healthier than it has ever been and I now know that the mind can heal us beyond our learned beliefs. This newly gained energy and love for life got me to create some energetic pop music with London-based producer Anthony Goldsbrough. I learned how to create music videos and started directing and editing the videos to these songs as well. I had a blast 🙂

In 2019, I traveled to Los Angeles to make connections in the Music industry. I met my now-manager who helped put my original song “Maybe” on the radio. The song ended up on #34 of the Billboard Top 40 charts in 2020 as the only independent song on that chart and in that year. Following this success, I was able to move to the United States, which was a lifelong dream of mine. I started to build a music career for myself. In the past two years, I released a few originals and videos, I sang the National Anthem for the Chicago Bulls and the White Sox in front of tens of thousands of people – a lifelong and seemingly unattainable dream of mine – and I am now performing live regularly.

This coming year will be full of creating, singing, playing, performing and loving life. All this would never have been possible if I would have listened to all the people telling me I am not able to make music for a living. ‘Cause, guess what! I am now making music for a living 😉

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It was not a smooth road whatsoever, but I have learned that the path is really the goal and all the obstacles I am facing are just a mirror that teaches me a little bit more about myself. I am now excited to move forward, set goals and find out how to achieve them in the best possible way. I now know that my mind is the strongest asset and best tool I have to get everything and anything I want in life. And I know that we can only inspire others by becoming the best version of ourselves. That’s what I try to do every day.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a soul, pop, r’n’b vocalist. I was classically trained in vocal and piano and I also am a songwriter, video director and producer. My biggest passion nowadays is to create ‘content’ that makes people feel something that comes from the heart and most importantly, that is truthful. I have a big passion for letting people know all the good stuff. That they are great the way they are, they are enough and they can do anything they want to do. I truly and wholeheartedly believe that and I want to go forward communicating exactly that through my music, songs, videos and all the other projects and products I will work on in the future.

When I healed from MS, I had undertaken a big process of self-healing, which is not just the body but most importantly the mind. I learned a lot about positive thinking, positive language and the things we should focus on and the things we should discard. I do not use words like “hate” at all. It is almost like I am on a mental diet and only let information in that will produce the best possible outcome for myself and my art. All this shift has manifested in my work and I started writing lyrics/songs that were mainly uplifting and positive.

As a musician and artist, I perform mainly with piano and voice, but I also put a band together for different occasions. I love singing my own material but I also really enjoy singing music other people wrote and songs that already are out there and loved by a crowd. I have taken on influences of different performers over the years and have been told that my performance style stands out because of the combination of these. Some of them are Whitney Houston, Lady Gaga, Adele, Etta James, Elton John and Pink. I am proud of having been able to overcome the challenges I have faced and for not giving in. I am most proud of this because I have seen that there is light at the end of the tunnel which makes me excited because I get to share this information with anyone who wants to listen. Maybe it can help or motivate someone to keep going themselves.

We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
As much as I do not like to say this out loud, but the Covid-19 crisis did not affect me in a very negative way. I was lucky to just have traveled to visit my family in Austria as the lockdowns started to happen, and decided to stay there to see how things develop. When the lockdown happened, I saw it as a gift to be spending some more quality time with my family – I stayed there for over three months until I went back to London. During that time I used my spare hours to work on music, write, record (my mum helped me create a recording booth in one of the corners wardrobes at my parent’s house – lol) and participate in several online courses. It was a time of reflection and self-improvement. I learned how much influence the media has on our minds and our decision-making process, which was a big lesson for me. Furthermore, I got to set up my big move to the United States.

But the most important lesson is that we are all emotional beings that need to spend time together and not just online. Being locked off from the rest of the world without social connection is a sure way to a lonely life for most of us. I am glad we got through this time and can see and hug our loved ones again.

Pricing:

• 2hour live performance piano & voice from $250.00
• Vocal coach $100/hour
• Songwriting on demand from $100/song

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tinataraofficial.com
• Instagram: tinataraofficial
• Youtube: tinataraofficial
• SoundCloud: tinataraofficial
• Other: TikTok: @tinataraofficial

Image Credits
Photographer: Charley Pavlosky Photographer: Eveline Toplak Photographer: Warren Yaeger photo 5: in the studio together with Nick Axel Kaufmann