Nikka Costa

Domenica "Nikka" Costa (born 4 June 1972) is an American singer whose music combines elements of pop, soul, and blues. She also had a career as a child singer starting in the early 1980s. She is the daughter of music producer Don Costa.

Nikka Costa was born in Tokyo, Japan. Her father, Don Costa, was a producer and musician. During her childhood, Costa was surrounded by famous musicians and traveled around the world with her father.

At age five, Costa recorded a single with Hawaiian singer Don Ho. Italian producers, Danny B. Besquet and Tony Renis, were working with her father on the album *Don Costa Plays the Beatles* when they had a brainstorm to produce an album with Nikka singing, while her father played acoustic guitar. The album was well received in Europe and Costa became known as a child star. At age 9, Costa sang with Frank Sinatra in an appearance on the lawn of the White House.

Costa's career as a recording artist under her own name started in 1981, when she recorded the song "(Out Here) On My Own" (from the movie *Fame*). The single reached No. 72 in Germany, No. 7 in Switzerland, No. 32 in the Netherlands, No. 13 in the Flanders region of Belgium, and No. 1 in Italy. The album *Nikka Costa* was released outside the U.S. in 1981. Costa toured the world. Her second album *Fairy Tales (cuentos de hadas)* was released in 1983. Don Costa died of a heart attack shortly after the album was recorded. The pop album *Here I Am... Yes, It's Me* was released to fulfill a contractual obligation in 1989.

After graduating from high school, Costa decided to move away from pop and move toward funk and soul, becoming influenced by Motown artists.

While already a music business veteran, in the early 1990s, Costa transitioned away from childhood pop to mature soul. She married Australian producer/songwriter Justin Stanley and moved to his country. (Costa and Stanley now have a daughter named Sugar McQueen.) While in Australia, Costa began writing her own songs and formed a "happy funk" band called Little Mona & the Shag Daddies, which broke up after four gigs in Sydney. Costa's next venture was a band called Sugarbone, which toured Australia in 1994. Costa describes the experience as "It was really scary to unveil it, but the reaction was good. It helped my confidence." After Sugarbone, she signed to the Mushroom label in Australia. In 1996, Costa released the album *Butterfly Rocket* in Australia. The record led to a nomination for ARIA Music Awards Breakthrough Artist in 1996 and Best Female Artist in 1997.