Tiffani Wood

Tiffani Wood (born November 8, 1977) is an Australian singer–songwriter who rose to fame as a member of Australia's highest selling girl group Bardot. She currently manages her own record label Mudhoney Records from which she has released the singles "Devil In Your Soul" and "Spin The Bottle".

Early life
Wood developed the performing bug from an early age. Her parents quickly took note of this and enrolled her into her first jazz dancing class where she continued to dance and would eventually also assist teaching younger students until a new talent school came to town.

When the Australian television show called Young Talent Time opened a talent school in Newcastle, Wood, age 12, decided to take up singing. Her teachers quickly noticed her natural singing talent and at age 15 she was placed into a show troupe "The Young Stars" which performed at various venues around NSW. During her three year stint in this group, Wood had her first taste of recording for an album and performing solo in front of large crowds, her biggest being the opening of the Sydney Harbour Tunnel where she performed in front of over 20 000 people.

During her schooling years, she would skip school camps and functions to enter many talent quests winning her fair. She also played the lead vocal role in her school musical Murder In The Music Hall in 1994. In 1995, she completed HSC, her highest mark being 85% in music. At the age of 18, Wood became the lead singer of a cover band "Quiver", in which she sang a wide range of songs from Tracey Chapman, Pearl Jam, Shania Twain, Alanis Morrissette, 80's rock and much more and had her second taste of vocal recording of original songs with this band.

Her growing ambition to make it big saw her move to Sydney where she enrolled in The Australian Institute of Music choosing vocal as her major which included studying such fields as performance studies, music technology, music industry studies and music theory. She completed this in 1999 with a certificate with merit in music performance. During this time she had joined another covers band "The Anthill Mob" performing at various venues throughout NSW.

2000 - 2002: Big break
In 2000, at the age of 22, Wood auditioned for the first Australian series of Popstars, a reality television show which promised to produce "Australia's very own Spice Girls". After selections for the group were finalised by the judges, she just missed out. However, after original member Chantelle Barry was forced out of the group in controversial circumstances, Wood was selected to replace her as the fifth member of the band, now known as Bardot.

Popstars was one of the most popular, highest rating TV programs in Australia of 2000 and with the groups overwhelming exposure, Bardot's debut single "Poison" and self-titled debut album both debuted at number one on the Australian ARIA charts, both achieving multi-platinum sales. Further singles "I Should've Never Let You Go" and "These Days" continued the group's successful assault on the Australian charts and in August, Bardot embarked on its first national tour. Wood performed with her bandmates at the 2000 ARIA Awards for which they were nominated in three categories and promoted in numerous countries including Singapore, Taiwan, New Zealand, India and the UK.

In 2001, Bardot returned to the spotlight with "ASAP", the first single from their second album. "ASAP" went Top 5 as did the following single "I Need Somebody". In November, Bardot released its second album Play It Like That, which achieved gold status upon release and performed before 90,000 music lovers at the Rumba festivals. In early 2002, they embarked on their second national tour with Australian boy group Human Nature and released their final single "Love Will Find A Way", before deciding to "call it day" in April of that year. At the girl's final public concert, performed live at Channel V, Wood broke into tears, sad at the realisation that it was all coming to an end. Later in interviews, she stated that her and former bandmate Belinda Chapple were the two members keen to continue as a group.

2003 - 2004: Going solo
Like former Bardot bandmate Sophie Monk, Wood signed a solo contract with Warner Music and changed her name from Tiffany Wood to Tiffani Wood in order to avoid confusion with the 1980's American popstar Tiffany. The debut single, "What R U Waiting 4?" re-introduced Wood back into the music scene, marketed as an organic, light pop-rock singer (similar to the likes of Michelle Branch, Alanis Morissette etc). It debuted at #27 on the ARIA singles charts on March 22, 2004 and was one of the most-played songs on Australian radio in that month.

"What R U Waiting 4?" is a feel-good, motivational song written by Matthew Gerrard (who has also written hits for Mandy Moore and Delta Goodrem) which Wood connected to instantly despite having no lyrical input. It inspired her to begin writing material of her own that she would want used for the second and further singles. The two b-sides of the single showed the amazing skills she possessed both as an artist and songwriter and remain fan favourites. "The Mirror" speaks of growing up and the pressures encountered such as body image and self identity while "U&I" is an uplifting, romantic love song about the trials and tribulations of a relationship.

However, behind the scenes, tensions with Warner Music, who wanted to release someone else's song as the second single, grew and this resulted in Wood's decision to leave behind her secure recording contract for the option of artistic freedom.

2005 - present: Independence
In 2005, after leaving Warner Music, Wood decided to release her material independently and established her own record label Mudhoney Records. The first single "Devil In Your Soul" was released to the public on July 18th and showcased a harder, fast-paced rock sound with exhilarating electrical guitars, strong drum beats and a saucy vocal performance by Wood. The tongue-in-cheek lyrics, written by Tiffani and Richie Goncalves (who produced the song and looks to be one of Wood's biggest musical collaborators) takes a stab at the music industry and how major record labels take advantage of their younger artists in order to make them 'marketable'. The music video, which featured Wood in a 1980s inspired bubble dress, was co-produced and directed by her and featured a number of fans in several scenes. The single debuted at #13 on the Australian Independent Records (AIR) chart and spent numerous weeks in the Top 20.

Wood has since performed many acoustic, full band and nightclub shows across the nation, receiving nothing but praise for her live performances. On April 3rd 2006, she released her second independent single "Spin The Bottle" with a number of promotional commitments including gigs, magazine/newspaper interviews, and red carpet events. The song was also used for several promotional advertisements for Australian long-time TV soap Neighbours in the lead up to the 2006 Logie Awards. The single was a success, debuting Top 5 in the AIR charts, eventually peaking at #2. Wood's debut solo album Bite Your Tongue will be released sometime in September/October of this year, and the third single will be a cover version of the Divinyls early 1990's hit "I Touch Myself". It is confirmed that she has only one more song left to complete for her new album.

Albums

 * Bite Your Tongue (Due for release September/October 2006)

Singles

 * What R U Waiting 4? (2004) ARIA #27
 * Devil In Your Soul (2005) AIR #13, ARIA #128
 * Spin The Bottle (2006) AIR #2
 * I Touch Myself (Due for release August/September 2006)