Tricky

Artist and producer Adrian Thaws, more known as Tricky, was born in England in 1968 into the family with international roots - including Jamaican, Spanish, British and other heritages. Tricky's father left his mother, Maxine Quaye, before the son was born. She committed suicide of desperation, when the boy was only four. Tricky grew up with his grandmother, who let him miss school classes and watch horror movies on the TV instead. At the age fifteen, he already wrote verses. At seventeen, the future artist was taken to prison - soon he was released, but Tricky gave himself a word that he would never come back to jail. In late 80s, the singer became the member of The Wild Bunch, which later was reformed in Massive Attack. Tricky rapped on their debut album Blue Lines in 1991. He made an appearance on their second long-play Protection. The artist did not like the commercial side of the project. Besides, the other Massive Attack members did not show interest in his creativity. Tricky recorded his first single Aftermath independently in 1993, and soon he got a contract for the solo disc.

The musicians called his debut Maxinquaye in the honor of his mother. This trip hop album became the sensation all over the world, bringing Tricky to international stardom. The vocalist of the project was young Martina Topley-Bird, who was only sixteen for the moment of the record. Tricky mixed hip-hop, reggae, British rock and pop music in his sound, which made him successful along all the mentioned genre fans. His texts touched upon such uneasy topics as race, sexuality and person's place in the society. The next Tricky's disc, Nearly God, saw light in 1996. The cover for Tattoo by Siouxsie & The Banshees opened the album. The same year, he issued the follow-up Pre-Millennium Tension. By that moment, the artist was sick and tired of the press fuss around him, which could be seen in the lyrics of the disc. Besides, he got the image of fight initiator, as in 1995, Tricky dated with Bjork during their collaboration over her album Post, but later the artists parted and Bjork started a romance with musician Goldie - later, both men had a fight in a nightclub. Two year later, Tricky recorded a notable electronic full-length Angels with Dirty Faces and self-produced it.

Besides the solo career, Tricky also acted in films - thus, one of his best-known appearances is the role of Michael, the right hand of the main evil character Mister Zorg, in The Fifth Element picture by Luke Besson. In 1999, the disc Juxtapose with the single For Real was released, Tricky worked over it with DJ Muggs and Grease from DMX. The album features trip hop and hip-hop elements. In 2001, the musician recorded a surprisingly bright album BlowBack, which featured many celebrity vocalists. The long-play Vulnerable 2003 was labored with Costanza Francavilla, the Italian fan of Tricky, who managed to give him her demo during the artist's concert in Rome. The same year, the performer issued the disc Back to Mine. After five years of silence, Tricky finished the follow-up Knowle West Boy. On this trip hop album, he travels back to the past and through his today’s vision tells how he grew up in Knowle West and what he liked. The autobiographical long-play is sure to be listened in one breath. Release of the musician’s new record titled Mixed Race took place in 2010. The representatives of record label Domino Records who worked with Tricky stated that Mixed Race proved to be one of the artist’s most emotional works. There is absolutely no reason to question that; however any music lover may easily make sure that Tricky’s ninth long play is of the highest quality indeed, just by enjoying the atmosphere of Mixed Race.