Terri Walker

Terri Walker (born Chanelle Gstettenbauer, 14 April 1979) is an English R&B and soul singer-songwriter.

Walker has released four albums in the United Kingdom, Untitled, L.O.V.E, I Am and Entitled.

She also provided the majority of the vocals for Shanks & Bigfoot's debut album Swings and Roundabouts.

Walker was born in the Wimbledon district of London, England to Jamaican parents, but moved to Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany when she was four.

She speaks fluent German.

Walker released her debut album Untitled in 2003 to critical acclaim.

In a review from the BBC, Denise Boyd stated that "In Ms Walker we have an artist who can bravely take on the US diva and who may even come out unscathed on the other side. Terri Walker and Untitled can't be pigeon holed. This is not just urban, this is not just R&B, this is music for the soul."

The album received further acclaim when it was nominated for the 2003 Mercury Music Prize alongside Walker's nominations for Best R&B Act, UK Act of the Year, Best Album and Best Newcomer at the 2003 MOBO Awards.

Walker's debut single and the first single from Untitled was "Guess You Didn't Love Me", a collaboration with Mos Def, which was released on 17 February 2003.

The single debuted and peaked at number 60 on the UK Singles Chart and remains one of Walker's biggest hits to date.

Although a collaboration with Mos Def, he did not appear in the song's music video.

The second single from the album was "Ching Ching (Lovin' You Still)", which became her biggest hit single to date on the UK Singles Chart, reaching the top 40.

Promotion included an appearance on Jools Holland, performing both "Ching Ching" and the album's third single "Drawing Board".

Walker states that the album was called Untitled as "It's like when you go to an art gallery and see a piece of work called 'Untitled'. That's how I want people to see my work. I want them to judge for themselves and make up their own minds."

Despite critical acclaim, the album was not a commercial success when it was released on 3 March 2003, peaking at number 118 on the UK Albums Chart, leading Walker's record label to push her into a more commercial direction for second album L.O.V.E.

Walker was also the guest vocalist on the single version of Jaimeson's "Common Ground", the fourth single taken from his album Think on Your Feet.

It was released on 24 May 2004.

Walker also provided vocals on Lemon Jelly's single "Make Things Right", which peaked at number 33 on the UK Singles Chart.

Following the critical success of her debut album, Walker released her second studio album L.O.V.E (an acronym for "Love Overcomes Virtually Everything") two years after the release of Untitled on 28 March 2005.

During the promotion of Untitled, Walker spoke on her second album, stating "I'm gonna be doing my new album soon. The next one will be a bit more serious. I've grown up since writing some of my original material and I've seen a lot of things that I would like to write and sing about."

Upon the release of the album, Walker explained the more commercial direction by stating, "A lot of people didn't really know where to put me, I was 23 but everybody thought I was about 90 the way they were going on!".

Producers that worked with Walker on the album included Soulpower and Copenhaniacs.

Reviews for L.O.V.E were also positive with the Daily Mirror stating that "The opening track confidently predicts that This Is My Time and, with a voice that knocks competitors into the underachieving box and songs a cut above her substandard debut, Ms T is in the ascendant. Pop soul sweetness."

Contactmusic.com gave the album 4/5 stars, explaining that "Terri's second album, picks up from where her debut album left off, but there is a different a huge step up in the quality of production... The lyrics, production and vocal performance are all jaw dropping. If you are 29 or younger view this as the female Lemar if you are over 30 be prepared to be shocked and have your breath taken away cause this album is something special, very special."

The first single from the album was "Whoopsie Daisy", produced by Remee and Cutfather & Joe.

The song missed the UK Top 40 by one place, peaking at number 41.

The second single was "This Is My Time" which featured a sample of Dynasty's "Adventures in the Land of Music" but the song was not commercially released, even though a music video was produced for the song.

Despite a more mainstream direction, L.O.V.E performed worse on the UK Albums Chart than its predecessor, peaking at number 142.

This lack of commercial success lead to Walker parting with Mercury Records and recording her third studio album independently.

In a 2007 interview with Soul Culture, Walker stated: "I love Deutschland, it's moulded me into what I am. I love here [London] too and I came back to go to boarding-school."

Walker moved back to the UK permanently to study at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London, which is a performing arts centre of excellence.

Here, she began to study and sing opera.

She stated: "I started to study opera when I was about 15 and I started to sing it professionally from about 18. It was always a life-long ambition of mine. I think classical training is the best kinda training you can get."

Walker began working on music independently providing vocals for garage artists such as 187 Lockdown and TNT.

Walker also provided vocals on the Shanks & Bigfoot album Swings and Roundabouts, most notably on the UK top 20 hit "Sing-A-Long".

During this time, she was introduced to producers James Yarde, Sammy Jay and Amber Rene of Xosa Entertainment.

Walker travelled to LA to record some demo tracks and then returned to the UK, continuing her attempts at landing a deal.

Receiving her demos from LA, months later, Walker's UK management sent the recordings to labels in the US, who requested to see her.

However, due to 9/11, this was delayed.

Def Jam were one of the labels to which they had sent Walker's demos and her management contacted their UK offices who signed her to 'Def Soul UK'.