Sheila Chandra

Biography

14 March 1965, Waterloo, London, England. Born of Indian parentage, Chandra was enrolled at the Italia Conti stage school at the age of 11, where she was taught song and dance as well as acting skills. However, the school’s preoccupation with show tunes argued against her personal instincts for jazz, soul and gospel. This inclination saw her instigate her own rehearsal and practice schedules in opposition to the prescribed timetable. The school did allow her to record an audition tape for Hansa Records, however, and this was eventually passed to songwriter and producer Steve Coe. He was in the process of forming a new group, Monsoon, to fuse pop music with Indian classical structures such as fixed note scales. Chandra’s heritage made her the perfect choice of singer, and three months before she left the Conti school she had enrolled as Monsoon’s full-time vocalist. After an independent EP the group was signed to Phonogram Records, for whom their...

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