Totally 80s tour: Martika’s Prince connection

SHE’S one of several blasts from the past bringing back the ’80s to Brisbane. And she has shared her special relationship with the artist known as Prince.

Martika is one of several big 80s artists kicking off the Totally 80s tour in Brisbane tonight.

IT’S the kind of welcome gift you never forget.

Singer Martika had arrived at Prince’s home Paisley Park with her mum to meet the great singer. He handed her the lyrics to the song Martika’s Kitchen.

“I wrote these for you as a ‘welcome to Paisley Park’ gift,” he told her.

“I thought, this is so amazing,” recalls Martika. “He wrote me a theme song.”

The song became the title track to her second album, which reached No. 9 on the Australian charts.

Prince wrote three other songs for the album, including Australian No. 1 Love … Thy Will Be Done, which was based on a prayer written by Martika.

“His mum happened to be there too so that was really cool,” she recalls. “He was in rehearsals with his tour for the New Power Generation. So we got to see them rehearse for a little bit.

“It was an honour for him to contribute to my repertoire. It was really mind blowing because I was a real Prince fan growing up.”

By the time she met Prince, Martika already had one hit album under her belt, the self-titled Martika, which had spawned the hit single Toy Soldiers. Martika’s Kitchen didn’t fare so well in the US, reaching only No. 111 on the Billboard charts, but she continued to have success in the UK, Europe and Australia, and it’s here that she is currently as part of the Totally 80s tour.

The tour, which kicks off in Brisbane tonight, sees her take to the stage with a line-up that includes Berlin, Limahl, Paul Lekakis, Katrina Leskanich (of Katrina and the Waves), Men Without Hats, Stacey Q, Wa Wa Nee and Real Life.

Martika has been ‘inseparable’ from husband of 15 years Michael Mozart.

Martika, who started out on children’s show Kids Incorporated, was last in Australia in 1991. It was not long after her second album, however, that she bowed out of the industry.

“It’s a pretty intense lifestyle and I don’t really think I liked the pressure of it,” she says. “I think I just took a very young and rebellious approach to all that, and I just ran away.”

Instead she pursued a relatively ordinary life, taking on the role of domestic goddess. Martika’s kitchen today she describes as having nice wooden cabinets with lots of plants, art and stuffed animals around.

Her biggest success, she says, is her marriage. She and musician Michael Mozart have been married for 15 years. The pair recorded together under the name Oppera. They are rarely apart and he will be travelling to Australia with her.

“We just fell madly in love and we’ve been inseparable ever since. We have a very old school marriage like my parents and my grandparents. We’ve never ever slept a night apart.

“We’ve just put our marriage totally front and centre in our lives and everything else is secondary to that so that’s made it possible to nurture and protect our relationship. It’s the greatest treasure of my entire life.”

Now she’s thrilled to be back in the country that embraced her — and she’s hoping to embrace a koala or two.

“I always get nervous in the build up but once I’m on stage I love it,” she says. “I’m always praying that I’m healthy and my voice is strong and I can bring a lot of good vitality and energy to the stage. I was just taught that you always give 100 per cent.”

Totally 80s tour: Eatons Hills Hotel, Brisbane, July 12; Jupiter’s Hotel & Casino, Gold Coast, July 14 Enmore Theatre, Sydney, July 16; Royal Theatre, Canberra, July 17; Astor Theatre, Mount Lawley, July 20; Thebarton Theatre, July 21; Ravesby Workers Club, July 27; Newcastle Civic Theatre, July 28; Evan Theatre Panthers, July 29