Martika

Martika (* 18th May 1969 as Marta Marrero in Whittier , California ) is an American singer and actress of Cuban descent. In the summer of 1989 she had her greatest success with the title Toy Soldiers , which reached the top of the US charts .

Background and career

As a child, Martika was in front of the camera as Gloria on the show Kids, Incorporated ( Disney Channel ). In 1982 she played one of the orphans in the musical Annie . From then on she was often seen in the children's TV program of the station.

In the fall of 1988, Martika released More Than You Know, the first single that made her way into the top 20. With her second release, Toy Soldiers , she jumped to number 1 on the US charts in mid-1989 . In 1990 Martika wrote the song Blue Eyes Are Sensitive to the Light for the soundtrack of the feature film Arachnophobia . But because the producers didn't like her voice, Sara Hickman sang the title in the film.

In 1991 the US musician Prince wrote some songs for Martika. The album Martika's Kitchen resulting from this cooperation was not commercially successful in the USA , but the single Love… Thy Will Be Done became a radio station favorite. In the 1990s, Martika tried to advance her acting career, but to no avail.

In 2003 she founded the band Oppera with her husband, the musician Michael Mozart . In early 2005, her song Toy Soldiers was sampled by Eminem ; With Like Toy Soldiers , the American rapper reached number one in the UK charts .

Discography

→ Main article : Oppera

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1988	Martika	-	AT18 (6 weeks) AT	CH11 (7 weeks) CH	UK11 platinum (37 weeks)UK	US15th gold (39 weeks)US	First published: October 1988 Recording: Trax Recording Studio, Hollywood, May 1988
1991	Martika's Kitchen	DE51 (5 weeks) DE	-	-	UK15th gold (5 weeks)UK	US111 (9 weeks) US	First published: September 1991

Compilations

• 1993: Twelve Inch Mixes
• 1997: More Than You Know - The Best Of
• 2004: Toy Soldiers - The Best Of
• 2004: Love ... Thy Will Be Done

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US	Dance
1988	More Than You Know Martika	-	-	-	UK15 (7 weeks) UK	US18 (20 weeks) US	Dance12 (7 weeks) Dance	First published: October 1988 Authors: Martika, Marvin Morrow, Michael Jay Producer: Michael Jay
1989	Toy Soldiers Martika	DE5 (20 weeks) DE	-	CH3 (17 weeks) CH	UK5 silver (11 weeks)UK	US1 gold (20 weeks)US	-	First published: January 1989 Authors: Martika, Michael Jay
	I Feel the Earth Move Martika	DE20 (16 weeks) DE	AT4 (12 weeks) AT	CH22 (3 weeks) CH	UK7 (14 weeks) UK	US25 (11 weeks) US	Dance20 (8 weeks) Dance	First published: July 1989 Author: Carole King (Original from 1971)
1990	Water Martika	-	-	-	UK59 (3 weeks) UK	-	-	First published: December 1989 Authors: Larry Treadwell, Martika, Sue Sheridan
1991	Love ... Thy Will Be Done Martika’s Kitchen	DE26 (20 weeks) DE	-	CH26 (1 week) CH	UK9 (9 weeks) UK	US10 (15 weeks) US	-	First published: August 1991 Author: Prince Producer: Martika, Paisley Park
	Martika's Kitchen Martika's Kitchen	DE40 (10 weeks) DE	-	-	UK17 (10 weeks) UK	US93 (2 weeks) US	-	First published: November 1991 Author: Prince Producer: Martika, Paisley Park
1992	Colored Kisses Martika’s Kitchen	DE83 (5 weeks) DE	-	-	UK41 (3 weeks) UK	-	-	First published: February 1992 Authors: Martika, Frankie Blue, Les Pierce Producers: Robert Clivillés and David Cole

More singles

• 1987: We Are Music (as Martika and the We Ares)
• 1989: Special Touch (feat. Toy Soldiers; Japanese Version)
• 1990: Martika (EP)
• 1992: Safe in the Arms of Love
• 1992: Spirit
• 2012: Flow with the Go

Video albums

• 1990: Martika (VHS)
• 1990: For You (Laserdisc)

Awards for music sales

Golden record  Canada 1989: for the single Toy Soldiers  Spain 1989: for the album Martika 1991: for the album Martika's Kitchen Platinum record  Canada 1989: for the album Martika

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Canada (MC)	-	gold1	platinum1	150,000	musiccanada.com
Spain (Promusicae)	-	2 × gold2	-	100,000	Sólo éxitos: año año, 1959-2002
United States (RIAA)	-	2 × gold2	-	1,000,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	silver1	gold1	platinum1	600,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	silver1	6 × gold6th	2 × platinum2

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: Singles Albums UK US
2. ^ Joel Whitburn : Hot Dance / Disco 1974-2003, ISBN 978-0-89820-156-7 .

Web links

• martikamartika.com
• Martika in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Martika at Allmusic (English)
• Martika at Discogs (English)
• Martika and the Ares We at Discogs (English)
• Singles Discography on 45cat.com
• Discography on rateyourmusic.com
• Charts and data at [1]