excerpt from concert 5.9.2009 opening for Macy Gray
Born in Peekskill, New York.
Tonya is known mainly as the singer of Monkey Business, or the woman who played Haille Selasie in the film I served the King of England.
Tonya arrived in Prague in 1995 and began her singing career with the Lubos Andrst Blues Band. Soon after, she become the front man for the band Liquid Harmony, one of the Czech Republic’s pioneer’s of electronic and dance music. After one ep one lp and one award from the Czech music academy Liquid Harmony came to an end.
In 2000, Tonya joined the band Monkey Business where she still sings today. You can also hear Tonya as a guest with Stepan Smetacek’s New Orchestra of Dreams or The Stylists which is a retro/electronic/disco project that she has with Moimir Papelescu. They released an album this year called Passion is a Fashion.
Tonya has worked with Fred Wesley, Hiram Bullock, Dennis Chambers, David Williams and many other talented musicians. With Liquid Harmony and Monkey Business, Tonya has been nominated 11 times for the Czech Academy of Music’s Cesky Andel and won four times. She can be seen in the Czech films Iguo-Igua, Close to Heaven and I Served the King of England. In her fourteen years in Prague she has recorded eight albums, two of which were released this year and is currently working on a solo album scheduled to be released at the end of this year.