Nikka Costa

A steadfast believer in the power of classic soul, Nikka Costa avoids the pitfalls of nostalgia by accentuating her throwback moves with stylish flair. This blend of traditional and modern fashion could be heard on Everybody Got Their Something, the 2001 album that introduced her to the world at large. Costa spent the remainder of the 2000s walking the tightrope separating contemporary dance-pop and retro elegance, establishing a foundation for a career that allowed her to indulge in the drama of Nikka Costa & Strings: Underneath and In Between and the cheerful hedonism of Dirty Disco, the 2024 album that marked her first collection of original material in 16 years. The daughter of Don Costa — a famed arranger and producer best known for his work with Frank Sinatra — Nikka Costa was born in Tokyo on June 4, 1972. Attracted to music at an early age, Costa made her first appearance on record at the age of five when she sang on a Christmas single by Don Ho. In 1981, Tony Renis and Danny B. Besquet — a pair of Italian producers who had worked with Don Costa — helmed Nikka’s eponymous debut, which appeared across Europe. Thanks to a version of “(Out Here) On My Own” — a song co-written by Lesley Gore that was recorded by Irene Cara on the soundtrack to the 1980 musical Fame — Nikka Costa became a continental hit, but the record did not receive an American release. Costa did perform in the U.S. — Sinatra had her sing “To Love a Child” with him at a White House ceremony during the first year of the Ronald Reagan administration — but during her childhood, her recording career concentrated on Europe. After releasing Here I Am…Yes, It’s Me in 1989, Nikka Costa married Australian musician Justin Stanley. The pair moved to his home country, where Costa cycled through bands — the short-lived Little Mona & the Shag Daddies begat Sugarbone — before going solo by the mid-’90s. Butterfly Rocket, a 1999 debut released on Mushroom Records, earned her praise, including a nomination for Breakthrough Artist by the ARIA Music Award. The attention led to a contract with Virgin Records, which released Everybody Got Their Something in May 2001. Preceded by the single “Like a Feather” — the funky number was used in a Tommy Hilfiger television campaign — Everybody Got Their Something received a major promotional blitz culminating in Costa’s spot as an opening act for Britney Spears in 2022. Despite this push, Costa didn’t deliver her sophomore set, Can’tneverdidnothin’, until 2005. Produced by Costa and Stanley and featuring cameos by Questlove, Lenny Kravitz, and Jon Brion, Can’tneverdidnothin’ was the last album Costa released on Virgin. She moved to Stax/Go Funk for 2008′s Pebble to a Pearl, which gave her a dance hit with its first single, “Stuck to You.” Costa shifted directions in 2011, releasing an electro-pop-influenced EP called Pro Whoa! She stayed quiet over the next six years, choosing to concentrate on raising her children, then re-emerged in the summer of 2017 with Nikka & Strings, a collection of classic pop covers arranged for string quartet. After another extended hiatus, Costa returned in 2024 with Dirty Disco, a celebration of carnal dance music. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine