| | | |  | One of Australia's most prolific and enduring performers and all-round entertainer, Melissa Tkautz's career not only encompasses film and television acting, but also includes modeling as well as a triumphant singing career. In only 30 years, she has...
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| Interview | Access All Areas.net.au: Congrats on the new single, it’s been so long, you must really be itching to get back in to it!
Melissa Tkautz: I am!!!!!! It’s been fantastic.!
Access All Areas.net.au: This is your first single in ten years, Why did it take so long between singles?
Melissa Tkautz: I think when I left the industry I didn’t really leave, I was on E-Street and I think for them it was like let’s use this celebrity from this show that’s really really popular and see how it goes and make a quick buck and that’s an awful thing to say but at the end of the day that’s what it was so the album was released and it did quite well and I guess they were fed up then and wanted to get on to the next thing and I was left with a huge career and they didn’t want to do another album. It was tall poppy syndrome… people cashed in because I was popular on that show and as I know it is a bit harsh but at the end of the day that’s what it was… I’m not bitter at all about it, it was an amazing experience but I knew I hadn’t finished and I was too young and had no say and was led along by people who sort of wanted to do with me what they wanted to do. It did upset me a bit because I was writing songs since I can remember and singing as long as I was acting so I knew I wasn’t finished yet.
Access All Areas.net.au: Tell us a bit about your new single ‘All I Want’?
Melissa Tkautz: I wrote ‘All I Want’ five months ago now and basically it’s about a girl whose come out of a relationship and not really looking for another one but when you’re not looking it always seems to appear and she knows she wants this guy, knows it would work and he is reserved after she’s just come out of a relationship and thinks she should be spending some time on her own, but a girl knows when they have the right ones – I’m old fashioned that way, I’m only with a guy if potentially I’m going to be with him for a while. I am not in to one night stands.
Access All Areas.net.au: Most people probably already know you from your time on television with E-Street and also your hit single ‘Sexy Is The Word’ and ‘Read My Lips’, firstly, do you still get pulled up on the street from people who know you as Nikki from E-Street?
Melissa Tkautz: Yeah all the time. The more you’re in the public eye, more people will recognize you and after the music came out, I did four other TV shows after that and they all had cult followings rather than mass audience but people would come up to me and say “you’ve been out of industry for so long” but I haven’t been out of it I’ve been there just not on prime time. I did Pacific Drive for three years and that was shown at 11pm each night.
Access All Areas.net.au: How have you grown as a singer/songwriter as you are now to where you were then?
Melissa Tkautz: I can’t compare the two… my age, obviously, I’ve experienced live, experienced death, experienced love and experienced so much more. I’m not young or naïve or an innocent girl anymore and that comes to everyone through living life and definitely I am more confidant. When I was younger, I was sort of concerned about what people thought about me and that plays a huge role in life and people tend to hold back on themselves. People think that I am very confident and that is so not true… I am quite un-confidant. I am not one who could walk in to a crowded room and start dancing, I’d walk to the corner and suss it out first but I am at an age where I am definitely feeling confidant levels are so different and really allowing myself to express myself on stage and to me as a person and on the album, because I wrote the music…. I was really able to experiment a lot more.
Access All Areas.net.au: For those who aren’t familiar with you, how would you describe your music?
Melissa Tkautz: I like to call it dance music! Definitely, I think its definately more dance than pop, I like to think. I mean, you know, there’s so many types of music out there at the moment and some people will think its pop music, I don’t think it is pop I like to think it’s dance.
Melissa Tkautz: With every single I make sure there is a whole heap of remixes too so that each DJ will like one of the mixes to play. I said to my manager that I really want to do well on the dance floor because I’ve done the commercial thing, but what’s most important to me is for it to do really well in the clubs… that’s where the inspiration came to me. That’s where my passion is but having said that I can get together with a friend with a guitar and have a jam too. When ‘Glamorous Life’ debuted the dance charts at number six… I was ecstatic!
Access All Areas.net.au: You’re releasing your new album next month too, how long did the process take to record this album?
To record, a couple of months, but to get to that it took me bout five years.
Melissa Tkautz: The problem is, I mean it doesn’t matter which way you look at it – there is that perception of me as an ex-soap star and people think its an easier advantage to get stuff out there but actually it’s harder.
I’ve done shows where I’ve got off stage and people come to me and say oh my god you can actually sing and I’m like “aahhhh yeah”. People just think that if you come off TV that you can’t sing.
Melissa Tkautz: And I think that Natalie Bassingwaite from Neighbours from the Rogue Traders, she’s changing that perception because she has got a brilliant voice.
Melissa Tkautz: I love doing live gigs so much and I like shocking people. On a record I can sing a tune and doing three or four songs live, it shocks a lot of people. I get satisfaction performing live.
Access All Areas.net.au: Do you feel that you have more creative freedom on this album than you did when you recorded Fresh?
Melissa Tkautz: Complete creative freedom… my Manager and Record Company have been amazing and I think that’s why it took so long to get stuff out there. I was going to Record Companies and doing it for so long they seem to know what’s best for you and most of the time they do but I really wanted to be in the loop with what’s happening and what’s going on and I wanted to be part of the project from scratch which I wasn’t last time… I was adamant about it this time. My Manger and Record Company don’t do anything until they pass it through me first… I know what I want to do and what I want to get out there and at the end of the day that album is the way I wanted to do it and if it fails it’s all on my back [laughs]. But it’s very important to me this time around… I wanted to write and choose the songs and get the whole feel for it.
Access All Areas.net.au: You’ve given your own take on the hit ‘The Glamorous Life’ which has previously been made famous from artists such as Eden’s Crush and Sheila E, what Appealed to you about the song, and why did you decide to record it?
Melissa Tkautz: Actually, Penny, my Manager, said “you know what would be a great cover ‘Glamourous Life’ from Sheila E”… and I really couldn’t remember that song at all and when she played it to me I hated it and thought it was too poppy and thought it was terrible and then I didn’t think about it for another month and as savior, my Manager asked me about it again and me and my producer were in the studio and I was like “have you heard it?” and was mucking around with the song… and the next day I came in and he says to me “I’ve been playing with the song, have a listen to this”, I had a listen and oh my god it sounded hot and I couldn’t believe how good the song came out – it is so now and really punk and liked it and yeah it was the first single.
Melissa Tkautz: I think it was also good to bring out a single that people could remember to re-introduce me, but for me this single ‘All I Want’ is where I start now and it means a lot to me.
Access All Areas.net.au: As is usually the case with an album release, you’re likely to perform a bunch of shows, what can fans expect to see from your shows?
Melissa Tkautz: I think its just me on stage probably have a bongo player, a drummer, a couple of guitarists, not sure how we will do it but I have performed in certain clubs and then two new songs and then the current single and I think that’s what we’re going to do – its fun and I really enjoy singing, and singing live, and to a crowd and have them walk away and make up their own mind what they think and don’t have to read about it in the papers.
Access All Areas.net.au: Your Album is Released on the 4th of December what are your plans after that?
Melissa Tkautz: Oh dear, probably promote the album of coarse and then probably have a little break and then next year this single has been picked up by seven other countries, so I’m hoping to go to some of those other countries if it does well enough you hope they will send you there and yeah working on the next album and I hope this album does really well so we’re not struggling with the next album… fingers crossed, we’ll see what happens.
Melissa Tkautz: It’s hard in the Australian market because we have so many overseas artists as well as Australian artists and it’s unfortunate that my album is coming out in December and that it is a gamble with everyone bringing out Christmas albums, but I was adamant about getting it out this year and not having a huge break between singles and albums. I think my loyal fans will stick by it and buy it and hope it opens up to a different market and younger people as well.
Melissa Tkautz: ‘All I Want’ has a bit of an edge to it and I think it will appear to younger people as well. |
| Biography | One of Australia's most prolific and enduring performers and all-round entertainer, Melissa Tkautz's career not only encompasses film and television acting, but also includes modeling as well as a triumphant singing career.
In only 30 years, she has attracted the level of success that would take most others an entire lifetime to achieve. Born in 1974 in Sydney, Australia, Melissa began her career at the age of 3, featuring in over one hundred and sixty television commercials over five years, produced for both Australian and international companies which include Qantas and Cadbury.
The Austrian/Maltese descended teenager made the natural progression to television drama, taking on roles in Richmond Hill and Home and Away as well as the acclaimed mini-series The Girl From Tomorrow. After graduating from the Academy of Dramatic and Social Arts in 1991, Melissa took on a starring role in E Street, becoming a household name overnight with her appealing performance as Nikki Spencer. Following her success on Australian TV, the performer surprised the nation by signing a record contract with Phantom Records. Her debut single 'Read My Lips' shot to number 1 on the charts and attained platinum sales in a matter of weeks. Her second hit single 'Sexy Is the Word' reached gold sales, and the artist was showered with accolades including ARIA awards for 'Most Popular New Talent' and 'Most Popular Music Video' whilst touring the country throughout 1992.By this time Melissa had become a national phenomenon, gracing the covers of virtually every newsstand magazine known including Vogue, Cosmopolitan, TV Week, Smash Hits, Dolly and TV Hits, in which she was voted the 'Hottest Woman on Earth'.
Melissa returned to television screens in 1993 with a starring role in the series Paradise Beach and Echo Point and in 1996 portrayed Bethany, a model who comes to terms with HIV infection in the series Pacific Drive. In the same year, Melissa appeared in various magazines including the highly reputed photo journal Black and White, and featured on the cover of both Australian Playboy and the premiere issue of Ralph. She continued to appear in magazines such as Australian Swimsuit and FHM before taking on her first feature role in the motion picture 'Game Room' which was completed in 1998. In 1999, Melissa was flown to Barbados by FHM UK for a photo shoot, and in that same year featured in the Australian FHM calendar as well as performing cover girl duties for the second anniversary issue of Ralph.
As well, Melissa graced North American television screens in a guest role for the hit US series Beastmaster. The celebrity's dazzling looks were in demand for the Myer Intimacy Apparel Parade in Melbourne as well as the Wella ADC Mercedes Australian Fashion Week both in 2001.
And recently, Melissa went before the cameras for a guest role in the Channel Seven drama 'All Saints'. Melissa has made a recurring guest spot in ‘All Saints’ as the same character through to 2005. She has appeared on the very popular reality show, Celebrity Hypnosis, where she was hypnotized by the world famous Peter Powers. She recently also had been the ‘face’ for an advertisement campaign for a Medical Company, that produces products for men with sexual problems. This campaign shows Melissa in major print newspapers on a regular basis.
In 2005 she made a guest appearance at ARQ Nightclub in Sydney for the very popular “Retroseuxal” night, and performed her smash hits songs “Read My Lips” and Sexy is the Word”. She had 2 wonderful male dancers with her and the crowd showed that enthusiasm and applause for Melissa, was still as strong as ever! This showed to a small music company JRB Music, that indeed Melissa was a star still to be heard, and promptly signed Melissa to a new recording contract.
Melissa has already been in the studio, and is in the process of putting down her first single in 10 years. This will be a new version of The Glamorous Life.
So with out to much longer to wait, Melissa’s fans will be able to see & hear her riding high on the charts once again, where she belongs! With so much already accomplished, Melissa Tkautz promises to excel in her established fields, and has proven time and again that she is nothing short of Star material. |
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