Sinitta Renet Malone (born 19 October 1963) is an American-British singer and actress. She initially found commercial success in the mid-to-late 1980s with the singles "So Macho", "Toy Boy", "GTO", and "Cross My Broken Heart" and had several other hits during the decade. In the 2000s, she appeared on television in Loose Women, The Xtra Factor and This Morning. She took part in the ITV show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! in 2011.
She was born in Seattle, Washington in 1963. Sinitta's mother is Miquel Brown, who was a Canadian disco-soul singer in the 1970s and 1980s and a member of the cast of Hair. Sinitta's father's name is Anthony.
Sinitta was born and raised in Seattle and later Detroit, but frequently travelled with her mother on tour including to Sydney. Her mother then directed the London production of Hair; Sinitta was sent to boarding school in East Sussex, and ballet school in Tunbridge Wells from the age of 9. She auditioned for musical roles in London, performing in The Wiz at age 12 while still in school.
In 1981, Sinitta appeared in the film Shock Treatment as Frankie, credited as Sinitta Renet. Sinitta continued her career by appearing in several West End productions, notably the first production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats. She also later appeared in Little Shop of Horrors. In 1983, she appeared in the video for Forrest's version of The Hues Corporation's "Rock the Boat".
1986–1988: Sinitta! and "So Macho"
In 1986, Sinitta released the single "So Macho", which debuted at 59 on the UK charts; the single remained rather low in the charts but, later that year, reached number 16, climbing to number 5 the following week. The subsequent week, "So Macho" reached number 2 in the UK, scoring its highest position on the charts and also giving Sinitta her first Top 3 charting single. "So Macho" spent the following six weeks in the Top 20 in the UK. Alongside this success in the UK, "So Macho" also reached the Top 20 in Sweden, Australia and Austria. "So Macho" subsequently became the highest-charting of Sinitta's career to date. Sinitta's second single "Feels Like the First Time" was less commercially successful, charting at number 45.
In 1987, Sinitta released the lead single from her upcoming debut album, after seeking the help of producers Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW). The product of that collaboration, "Toy Boy", was based on a tabloid headline about Sinitta's love life, and featured a rap written by the singer. It debuted at number 41 and climbed to number 4 in the UK, where it remained for three consecutive weeks. The single remained in the Top 20 for eight weeks. The track also reached number 3 in Switzerland, reaching the Top 20 in Ireland, Belgium, Sweden, Finland and Germany. Sinitta then released the second single from the album, "GTO"; the single reached number 15 on the UK chart.
"GTO" also became Sinitta's first hit in Spain, reaching number 3. The track reached number 11 in Switzerland, number 9 in Norway and number 13 in Ireland. The success of the track came despite the singer initially expressing her dissatisfaction with the subject matter of the song when first presented with the idea by record label boss, Simon Cowell. Fearing that the title would mean nothing to her core audience of gay men and younger record buyers, Sinitta had unsuccessfully begged producers Stock Aitken Waterman to retitle the track before recording. Sinitta later released her debut album Sinitta!, which performed moderately, charting at number 34 in the UK. This album also reached number 69 in Australia.
In 1988, Sinitta released "Cross My Broken Heart", taken from Sinitta!, which reached number 6 in the UK and number 7 in Ireland. The track charted at number 12 in Spain, becoming her second Top 20 single in Spain. Sinitta then released "I Don't Believe In Miracles", which reached number 22 in the UK.
1989–1990: Wicked and "Right Back Where We Started From"
In 1989, Sinitta moved away from working directly with producers Stock Aitken Waterman amid creative differences and the producers' changing priorities following the rise of their in-house superstar Kylie Minogue. However, Sinitta did continue to work with Pete Hammond, Phil Harding and Ian Curnow with PWL, in co-operation with German producer Ralf-René Maué who was responsible for such hits of the Hamburg-based eurodisco duo London Boys as "Harlem Desire", "Requiem" and "London Nights". The second album was confirmed as Wicked.
The lead single of the album was a cover of Maxine Nightingale's "Right Back Where We Started From", which debuted at number 19 in the UK and rose to number 6. The track subsequently charted at number 4 for two weeks and remained in the Top 40 for another four weeks. It also charted across the rest of Europe, including reaching number 7 in Finland and the top 40 in Denmark, Spain and Germany. "Right Back Where We Started From" also charted successfully in Oceania, reaching number 7 in Australia and number 2 in New Zealand, thus becoming her highest-charting single in both countries. The track also reached the year-end charts in three countries, including number 45 in Australia, number 38 in New Zealand and number 49 in the UK. As a follow-up single, Sinitta released "Love on a Mountain Top", which charted at number 20 in the UK and number 81 in Australia.
The final single of the album, however, was the least successful out of the three, failing to chart. In 1990, Sinitta released the single "Hitchin' a Ride", which performed moderately, charting at number 20 in the UK, whilst "Love and Affection" peaked at number 62.
1992–1997: "Shame Shame Shame" and "Naughty Naughty"
In July 1992, "Shame Shame Shame" debuted at number 31 in the UK, and later peaked at number 28.
The following April, Sinitta released the 4 track EP The Supreme, containing covers of 4 songs originally by The Supremes which charted at number 49 in the UK. In 1995, Sinitta released a cover album called Naughty Naughty, which was also her only album to be released in Asia.
She appeared on the cast recording album for What a Feeling, a live recording taken from the Apollo Playhouse Theatre, Edinburgh, in May 1997, and replaced Irene Cara to tour with Sonia (a fellow former SAW artist) and Luke Goss (formerly of Bros) in the rock and pop musicals concert, What a Feeling the same year.
In 1997, Sinitta recorded vocals for a cover of the Limmie & Family Cookin' hit "You Can Do Magic" with Mike Stock and Matt Aitken, believing it to be her comeback single. However, the track was in fact an elaborate stunt by TV show The Cook Report, which aimed to expose alleged chart rigging by attempting to hype the track into the charts. The record was fronted by reporter Debbie Currie, who pretended to sing to Sinitta's vocal. Sinitta only discovered this when the show was aired, leaving her feeling used and betrayed.