Tara Slone

With a sultry hard edge and a feisty voice, Canadian rocker Tara Slone is known for her collaborations and ties with Joydrop, her solo successes, and her appearances on the CBS rock reality show Rock Star: INXS. Slone was born September 7, 1973, in Montreal. She grew up in Newfoundland, and at the age of 18 she returned to Quebec to attend Concordia University in Montreal, studying music. After her university studies, she decided to pursue music and acting and moved to Toronto. As an actress, she received a three-episode recurring role in La Femme Nikita, but no other jobs surfaced for Slone. In 1996 she decided to form the rock band Joydrop with Thomas Payne, Tom McKay, and Tony Rabalao. In 1999, Joydrop released their first album, Metasexual. Three singles were released from the album: "Beautiful," which received widespread North American release; "If I Forget," which was only released in Canada; and "Spiders," which was only released in the United States. The album went on to sell over 100,000 copies. In 2001, Joydrop released their follow-up album, Viberate. The album spawned two singles: "Sometimes Wanna Die" and "American Dreamgirl." The album was nominated for a Juno Award, the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy. Following label woes, Joydrop disbanded and Slone continued pursuing music through a solo career. In 2005 she participated on CBS' hit reality show Rock Star: INXS, a televised contest searching for the next lead singer of INXS. She was the fifth finalist to be eliminated from the competition, and on three out of four occasions had appeared in the bottom three, but nonetheless was considered a true talent. In 2007 Slone signed to The Orange Record Label and released her debut solo album, Just Look Pretty and Sing.