When Tamzene first hit Dingwall High Street to busk with her acoustic guitar, she was not thinking about fame or fortune.
Instead, the 14-year-old was nervously checking her mum was still “window shopping” nearby.
“She wasn’t allowed to go into any shops,” the Cromarty singer-songwriter admitted still remembering the nerves.
“She had to window shop so I could see her. That’s how I got over my first hurdle busking and probably the first few in Inverness as well.”
After one session, Tamzene swapped Dingwall for Inverness High Street due to the bigger population and better bus links and continued busking for years.
Since then, she has supported the likes of Sir Tom Jones, Katie Melua, and Adele and has appeared at festivals like Belladrum and TRNSMT.
But in many ways, it first started at the old piano in her family living room with a candid ballad.
A raw and “pure” moment which propelled Tamzene into the spotlight and one she is excited to get back to exploring after a turbulent few years.
Tamzene’s childhood in Cromarty filled with rhythm and music
Born in Wick but brought up in Cromarty not far from Sutor Creek – a favourite spot of Tamzene’s – her childhood was filled with music, love and encouragement.
One of three, between her mum and step-dad, she was immersed in a world of rhythm and music.
Her step-dad Campbell was a sax player and ran a few swing and salsa bands while Tamzene’s mum Jermaine, who now lives in Jamaica, was a former double-bass player with a love for salsa and homemade CDs.
Adding Tamzene’s penchant for listening to Scottish folk music, soul, jazz, Alicia Keys and Nora Jones and her obsession with singing, music became a constant in her life.
While it was a very happy childhood, with her mum being half Jamaican and half English, Tamzene said as a family they did stick out.
Sometimes receiving a “bit of flak” at school, she added: “I think there’s an element of loneliness that I didn’t even realize I’d experienced until much later until I’d really stepped more into my identity as someone who is of mixed heritage.
“As quite an introspective person, I internalized a lot of the ways in which I felt different.
“I think that’s also a big reason I found music and songwriting so helpful. I found a lot of freedom in explaining my perspective on things through songs.”
In her early teens, she earned a music scholarship to Gordonstoun School in Moray.
Dreamily remembering the music corridor stuffed with pianos, Tamzene poured herself into her music.
Tamzene’s highs and lows
After graduating from Leeds College of Music, Tamzene returned home to the Highlands during Covid and decided to record a demo in her living room.
Put together with the help of a friend and her stepdad with his old VHS camera, she released Accidentally Told You on Spotify and after gaining traction, caught the attention of EMI in 2022.
Signing her second record deal – her first being with Belladrum in 2017 – Tamzene said: “It was lovely to be noticed and signed for something that was so pure and that’s why at the time I felt like it was the right decision and I still do.
“It was a really big moment of validation for me.”
Over the next few years, Tamzene got to travel for summer festivals like Budapest’s Sziget Festival, opened for and toured with some of her favourite artists including James Bay, Jack Garrett and Katie Melua and had “an out-of-body experience” after seeing her name next to Adele’s for the British Summertime Festival in Hyde Park.
However, despite the highs, things reached a point where changes at the label, feeling plagued by self-doubt and losing her step-dad to cancer led to a very challenging time for the 26-year-old.
Not long back from visiting her old piano teacher in Nairn and walking the Fyrish monument in memory of Campbell, Tamzene said: “He was honestly always there and ready to help.
“He was always a massive cheerleader and I would have been very, very lost and definitely not where I am without him.”
Finding a home in her music again
Taking a bit of time and using music to help process things, through the indie label Young Poet, Tamzene said she is getting the chance to explore ideas with much more freedom.
Now finding her community and peace through friends and family, visiting home, making music and performing on stage with respected artists, she added: “Moments like those feel like I’m very much in the right place and it’s all kind of adding up to make sense in a world and a life that sometimes really doesn’t make much sense at all.”
She is excited to be performing at Glastonbury later this month in Billy Bragg’s Radical Round Up and later releasing her new album In Any Weather in August.
Tamzene added: “It feels like the first time I’ve really had space to make decisions in my own time, in my own way.
“It’s the first time I’ve had people around me I really trust and know they’ve got my back.
“It’s where I’m at now, but there’s so much more to come and I’m really excited this is the new springboard creatively.
“Hopefully it can be a little record that people can go to in all moods and in all emotional places to feel different things, which is where I’ve been for the last two or three years.”
Tamzene’s new EP In Any Weather EP is out on August 16 and she will be performing at the Tooth and Claw in Inverness on September 26.
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