Tina Charles born as Tina Hopkins changed her name to Tina Charles by adopting her father’s name on launching her music career. The reason for this she said was that many would confuse her for Mary Hopkin, who was well known at that time. Charles' big break came in 1975, when Indian – British composer / producer Biddu, who had just enjoyed massive success worldwide with the disco hit Kung Fu Fighting for singer Carl Douglas, happened to meet her. The rest they say is history.

Tina Charles is the true sound of disco and we could label her as the 70's top pop chick. If you want to know what disco was back then, you can check out one of her many albums.

‘Heart ‘n’ Soul’ is the fifth album by the English singer that reached No. 35 in the UK Albums Chart. Biddu, who discovered this young singer, has produced the album that boasts of tracks like the album opener the classic Love Bug moving onto a mix with Sweets for my Sweets. The song Love Bug is a cover of Sweets for my Sweet recorded in 1961 by The Drifters. The song still rocks. Many would have totally forgotten about her songs, but the up-tempo melodies still play on whenever you think of playing disco.

Moving on we have I’ll go where you music takes me, another very rhythmic number with that peppy disco beat all around. The song was a cover of the Jimmy James song. James is a Jamaican vocalist who scored a hit in Britain with this tune in 1976 (#23 April '76), Tina's version was a Top 30 at home nearly matching Jimmy James' by rising to #27(the last of her 7 chart successes).

Rendezvous is another favorite here with fab lyrics like “I'm not school girl Juliet, Who falls in love each night, But I think I've fallen on first sight, Know we only met just yesterday, I barely know your name, But I think I love just the same…….”

The pace slows down as you flip to the Side B and play on I’ll be Your Light (In Your Moment of Darkness), a mushy track full of meaning. You can feel the words and the music to her songs. You could also tune into the other pieces like Ain’t Gonna Hide my Love and Go.

The beautiful songstress of the 70s not only looks attractive, her songs are awesome. It’s like bringing back your childhood memories. Surely the world enjoyed this gem and had quite the ear to recognize this talent.

Label: CBS

Rating: ****

Reviewed by Verus Ferreira