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Tamia Marilyn Washington Hill (born May 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Windsor, Ontario, Tamia performed in various singing and dancing competitions as a child. In 1994, after signing a development deal with Warner Records, she was asked by veteran producer Quincy Jones to appear on his album Q's Jook Joint (1995), earning her Grammy Awards nominations for their collaboration on "You Put a Move on My Heart" and "Slow Jams". Her self-titled debut album was released in 1998 and followed by a series of successful albums with Elektra Records, including A Nu Day (2000) and More (2004). Several songs from these albums became hit singles on the Pop music and R&B record charts, including "So Into You", "Stranger in My House", and "Imagination", as well as her collaborations "Into You", "Missing You", and "Spend My Life with You".
Since her departure from Elektra, Tamia has released most of her projects independently on her own label Plus One Music Group, through ventures with Def Jam Recordings, eOne Music, and others. In 2015, her sixth album Love Life debuted and peaked at number two on Billboards Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, becoming her highest-charting album on the chart. An NAACP Image Award recipient for her work with singer Eric Benét, Tamia is a six-time Grammy Award nominee and has been nominated for numerous other awards and accolades, including a Soul Train Music Award, a Source Award, and four Juno Awards. She has been married to former basketball player Grant Hill since 1999; they have two daughters. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2003, Tamia is an advocate for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) on behalf of others affected by the disease.
Along with attending high school at Walkerville, she made several appearances in local theater and choral concerts before winning Canada's prestigious YTV Achievement Award for vocal performance in 1993. In 1994, Tamia performed at a multiple sclerosis benefit in Aspen, Colorado, when she met music manager, Lionel Richie's ex-wife Brenda, who was cosponsoring the event and introduced herself to Tamia after the show. A few months later, Tamia, who was being courted by Warner Records at the time, called Richie to say that she was coming to Los Angeles, California, for a photo session, resulting in her lasting stay and a management deal with Richie. Weeks later, Richie arranged for her to perform at a star-studded party that she held for singer Luther Vandross. Her performance reportedly impressed all in attendance, including veteran producer Quincy Jones, who took notice and later offered her the chance to appear on his album Q's Jook Joint (1995).
In 1997, Tamia made her film debut in the action-thriller . Playing the cruise liner's musical entertainer, she performed the Diane Warren-penned single "Make Tonight Beautiful", which was released as part of the . The same year, she has also appeared in television sitcoms such as Rock Me Baby and Kenan & Kel and recorded the all-star Charity record "Love Shouldn't Hurt" for the National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse along with All-4-One, Michael Bolton, and others. Following this, Jones enlisted the services of several producers to work on Tamia's debut self-titled album, including Jermaine Dupri, Tim & Bob, and Mario Winans, many of which would become frequent producers on subsequent projects. Upon its April 1998 release, Tamia received a mixed to positive reception by critics, who complimented Tamia's vocal performance and the progression from her earlier recordings but found the material uneven. It debuted and peaked at number sixty-seven on the US Billboard 200. Five singles were released from the album, including the top twenty entries "Imagination" and "So Into You". In 1999, Tamia garnered her two Juno Awards nominations for Best New Solo Artist and R&B/Soul Recording of the Year.
In 2003, Tamia appeared on the international top ten hit "Into You", a collaboration with rapper Fabolous from his second studio album Street Dreams (2003) based on her 1998 single "So Into You". It reached the top five in Australia and the US and was followed by "Officially Missing You", the lead single from her third album. Initially titled Still, the project was indefinitely bumped from its original August 2003 schedule after Tamia's multiple sclerosis diagnosis and subsequent treatment. With the illness in remission, she resumed work later that year and arranged additional recording sessions to revamp parts of the album. Finally released in April 2004, More was released to generally mixed reception from music critics and debuted and peaked at number 17 on the US Billboard 200 and number four on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, with first week sales of 71,000 copies, marking the highest-selling and highest-charting opening of Tamia's catalogue yet. In support of More, Tamia was featured as a special guest on the Verizon Ladies First Tour, co-headlined by Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, and Missy Elliott, which became one of the biggest concert tours of the year. In 2005, More became Tamia's third consecutive album to earn a Juno Award nomination in the R&B/Soul Recording of the Year category.
In November 2009, Greatest Hits, a compilation album, was released in South Africa. The same year, Tamia announced that she was working with Crawford to form a supergroup called TDK along with singers Kelly Price and Deborah Cox. Their joint album The Queen Project failed to materialize, however, due to timing issues and label politics. In August 2012, Tamia's fifth studio Beautiful Surprise was released on Plus One and EMI. She worked with a vast of different producers on the album, including Chuck Harmony, the Runners, and Carvin & Ivan. Beautiful Surprise earned a mixed reception from music critics and debuted at 23 on the Billboard 200 and at number six on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. The lead single "Beautiful Surprise", co-written by Claude Kelly and Salaam Remi, peaked at number 24 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Both the single and its parent album received nominations in the Best R&B Song and Best R&B Album categories at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, while garnering Tamia a Soul Train Music Award nomination at the 2012 Soul Train Music Awards. In support of Beautiful Surprise, Tamia joined R. Kelly during his the Single Ladies Tour from October until December 2012.
Tamia's seventh album, Passion Like Fire, was released in September 2018 through Plus One, 21 Entertainment, and eOne Music. A breakaway from her previous album, she worked with a smaller team of collaborators on the album, involving longtime contributors Lil' Ronnie, Shep Crawford, and Salaam Remi. While critical reception was generally lukewarm, the album debuted at number 145 on the US Billboard 200, becoming her lowest-charting album yet, also reaching number 17 on Top R&B Albums chart. Its release was preceded by the singles "Leave It Smokin'" and "Today I Do", the former of which became her biggest hit in years, peaking at number two on Billboards Adult R&B Songs. In support of the album, Tamia embarked on the Passion Like Fire Tour which launched on September 18, 2018, and visited most of the major US cities. In 2019, she was awarded the Soul Music Icon Award at the fourth annual Black Music Honors. In 2023, Tamia was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia.
In 2003, amid the recording of her third album More, doctors at Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina, diagnosed Tamia with multiple sclerosis, a demyelinating disease in which the Myelin of Neuron in the Human brain and spinal cord are damaged, after she had been experiencing mystifying bouts of fatigue and Hypoesthesia in her hands, feet, and legs. While the music project was indefinitely bumped from its original August 2003 schedule, she went into subsequent treatment, using to help delay the onset of more severe symptoms. Diagnosed early, the illness has since been in remission though she has occasional but controllable symptoms.
|- | rowspan="3" | 1997 | "Missing You" (with Brandy Norwood, Chaka Khan and Gladys Knight) | Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals | |- | "You Put a Move on My Heart" (with Quincy Jones) | Best Female R&B Vocal Performance | |- | "Slow Jams" (with Quincy Jones, Babyface, Barry White and Portrait) | Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals | |- | 2000 | "Spend My Life with You" (with Eric Benét) | Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals | |- | rowspan="2" | 2013 | "Beautiful Surprise" | Best R&B Song | |- | Beautiful Surprise | Best R&B Album | |}
|- | 2000 | "Spend My Life with You" (with Eric Benét) | Outstanding Song | |}
|- | rowspan="2" | 1999 | | Breakthrough Artist of the Year | |- | Tamia | R&B/Soul Recording of the Year | |- | 2001 | A Nu Day | R&B/Soul Recording of the Year | |- | 2004 | Officially Missing You | R&B/Soul Recording of the Year | |- | 2005 | More | R&B/Soul Recording of the Year | |}
|- | 2012 | | Best Independent/Soul Artist | |}
|- | rowspan="2" | 2012 | rowspan="2" | Beautiful Surprise | Best Independent Urban Album | |- | Best R&B Album Of The Year | |}
|- | 2013 | | Best Female Artist | |}
|- | 2007 | | Top R&B/Hip-Hop Artist - Female | |}
|- | 2003 | "Into You" (with Fabolous) | R&B/Rap Collaboration Of The Year | |}
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