Tanika Turner, internet music star

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It seems the days of a slow careful rise to the top, funded by music company investment, have gone forever. Stars are now created by distribution platforms giving instant access to millions via the internet.

The latest young woman to became a recording star, sitting in her bedroom, is Australia's own Tanika Turner. Tanika who?

In Australia, she may seem a nobody, living in a modest house with her parents in Sydney's western suburbs. But in the US, Tanika Turner is a rising star.

Her first song has just leapt into the top 10 on the American charts, overtaking bigtime artists like Janet Jackson.

"I go over to LA and I just look at everything, like Hollywood, and I'm from Camden - it's a small town!" Tanika said.

Tanika, 20, has been singing and dancing her heart out since she was just three.

"My idol is Mariah Carey," Tanika said. "She's pretty much been my idol since I was a little girl."

Like all little girls, Tanika dreamed of one day reaching the top, but she was wise enough to know those dreams often end in disappointment.

After studying to be a nurse, Tanika recorded a few songs in an amateur studio, supporting herself by working in a gym and teaching dance classes

Then Tanika's life changed forever. Someone important heard her music.

"I just put a couple of songs on MySpace with a couple of friends," Tanika said.

"We pretty much put it on there for fun and an American company called Kountree Boyz actually picked it up and they started talking to us on the phone."

Just like that, top music producers in Los Angeles saw Tanika's personal MySpace site and wanted to do business.

"I started getting emails from producers in America," Tanika said.

"I was pretty much ignoring them for the entire time, then we exchanged numbers and it ended up being legit, so we started talking to them and they said 'you better go over and get started'."

She got started immediately, heading straight to Los Angeles for her first professional recording session.

Amazingly, Tanika's first single "Right Here" was an instant hit.

The man who found Tanika's music on the internet was Thomas Goodin from LA production house Kountree Boyz Entertainment.

"I found her through MySpace," Thomas said. "I was digging around on the MySpace pages to find out what talent was doing around the world."

Gone are the days of sending out demo tapes to recording studios who may never take notice. It's the age of electronic discovery: upload your music onto the internet for instant exposure.

"My music is pop, R&B, so it's got the Britney vibe in terms of radioworthiness, but it's got an R&B vibe to it, because my voice is kind of soulful," Tanika said.

"She just belts it out like she was born to do it," Thomas said.

Tanika's mother Sharlene agrees: "I started to see the 'it' factor when she was about seven."

Sharlene doesn't like the term 'stage mum', but she is happy to be her daughter's personal publicity machine.

"She's done it all herself, she has. I've just always reassured her. I think she is talented enough, I just hope the world will see what I see."

It looks like we're about to see a lot more of Tanika. she's packing to go over to Los Angeles to live the dream.

Universal and Sony BMG are both said to be interested. It's a tough decision: which major record label to sign with.

Then there's finding time to reply to the fans on MySpace.

"Today's been 1100 hits today, but it averages about 2000 a day," Tanika said.

Thomas says Tanika dances as well as she sings.

"I think she can fill the shoes of Britney, but go even further," he said.

From Camden to California, Tanika Turner is almost famous.

"It might sound like a cliche, but I wake up and I think 'wow, I've got a song on Billboard' or, you know, 'I am in America recording, I never would have dreamt of it'," Tanika said.

Visit Tanika's website for further information: www.tanikaturner.com
Tanika on MySpace: www.myspace.com/tanikaturner