Rozalla

Rozalla was born in 1964 in Ndola, a town in Zambia. When she was a teenager she moved to Zimbabwe with her family. As a young girl she used to skip school to play with a band. Later she sang at fashion shows and soon became a national celebrity. Rozalla enjoyed several chart hits in Zimbabwe, but she still had to work as a secretary to make ends meet. At the age of 18 she appeared as an extra (a prostitute) in Richard Chamberlain's King Solomon's Mines. Wanting to become an international star Rozalla left Zimbabwe and moved to London in 1988.
In England Rozalla was soon discovered by the Band Of Gypsies production team (the producers Nigel Swanston and Tim Cox) who noticed her deep, soulful voice and would catapult her to stardom a few years later.

In 1990 their first single, the dance song Born To Luv Ya, was released on the small label Pulse 8 unfortunately without any success. Not discouraged, the Band Of Gypsies wrote and produced some more songs for Rozalla and her second single Faith (In the Power of Love) was her first song to chart in the UK. But it is the single Everybody's Free (To Feel Good) which really made her career take off. It was not only a no.1 dance hit in Canada and the U.S., but it was also no.1 in Spain, no.2 in Belgium, no.3 in Italy, no.4 in France, no.5 in Germany and no.6 in the UK. Followed by the re-issued Faith which did much better the second time, and the very successful Are You Ready To Fly.
In 1992 Rozalla's first album Everybody's Free was released. All the songs were produced by the Band Of Gypsies. The album entered the UK. Top 20 in its first week. Rozalla signed a contract with Epic who released her album and singles in the US, where Everybody’s Free reached the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 almost a year after its European release. This came after something of a legal squabble, with Rozalla attempting to take the studio tapes to Epic. Pulse 8 objected and won their day in court.
She toured with Michael Jackson and started working on the follow-up to her successful debut CD. A remix CD of her hit singles Everybody's Free-style was also released.
In 1994 her second album Look No Further was released, it was a multi-genre album which featured the production skills of DNA, Lamont Dozier, Andre Betts, John 'Jellybean' Benitez, Frankie Knuckles or Apollo 440. It contained great tracks such as You Never Love The Same Way Twice, Losing My Religion, I Love Music, and many more. Rozalla gave up her African look, she was launched as a crossover pop soul diva. I Love Music, the first single, was the soundtrack to the Sean Penn film 'Carlito's Way'. The US release contained a track not available on the UK release entitled Free The Love. The UK release contained a non-US album track named Love Work. Nevertheless, Look No Further did not reach the success of the first album.
After a one-year silence Rozalla enjoyed success with a remixed version of ‘Everybody’s Free’ in 1996. Then came Feelin' Good, an album that was released in the US only, a sort of ‘best of’.
In 1998, Rozalla finally released a third album Coming Home, only in the UK (because Popular – who were supposed to release it in the US – had some problems which prevented its release). Once again she worked with the Band Of Gypsies and co-wrote most of the songs. The first singles to be released were Coming Home, Don't Go Lose It Baby, and Don't Stop The Lovin'. Rozalla has also released a non-album track in collaboration with Phat N' Phunky Friday Night.
Rozalla has achieved massive international success and has been hailed as The Queen of Rave. In her native Zimbabwe she has had an impressive 5 no.1 singles, establishing her as their top female artist. Her distinctive vocal style and melodic Techno/Rave songs have helped to propel Rozalla into the realms of international stardom. In total, she has earned 10 international Top 10 singles. Meanwhile, Rozalla got married. She lives in London and is still a popular club attraction.
2000: Rozalla was working on a new album for a new label (Mikeli Music). Richard (Humpty) Vission mixed a new version of Everybody's Free, released in July. This is the follow-up of a long series of covers for this hit; among them, a single by Blümchen (Ich Bin Wieder Hier), and by Alice DeeJay (Everybody's Better Off).
2001: Her new single Everybody's Turning Back was released on the Balloon/ZYX label. It's a joint venture with Gitta, a mix of her song No More Turning Back with the Everybody's Free vocal over it.
2002: Rozalla teamed up with the German dance act Aquagen to re-interpret her biggest hit Everybody's Free. The single is already on Germany's Top 40 singles chart.