Tanita Tikaram

English singer-songwriter Tanita Tikaram was born in Münster, West Germany, to a Malaysian mother, Fatimah Rohani, and an Indo-Fijian father, Pramod Tikaram. The Sweet Keeper track "I Owe It All To You" is a tribute to her mom.

Tikaram's musical career began in West Germany where her Fijian-born father was posted with the British army. She recalled to Q magazine February 1990: "When I was little I was always writing my own songs, singing them and playing guitar. My elder brother and I used to do Elvis Presley songs together. I was The Jordanaires, he was Elvis. He was really into all that '50s stuff which we used to tune into on German forces radio. Punk, which was happening at the same time, just went completely over my head. What was that punk film called? The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle. Yes, well I thought that was really for grown ups."

Tikaram's family moved to England in 1982, where she found herself smitten by early 20th central writer Virginia Woolf's political fiction. She recalled to Q magazine: "While other people in Basingstoke were listening to the Velvet Underground, I was going on long walks hoping to get into a trance-like state so that I could write like Virginia Woolf. But it didn't work."

These literary inspirations would later find their way into her songs.