Tia Blake

Christiana Elizabeth "Tia" Wallman (April 13, 1952 – June 17, 2015), better known by her stage name Tia Blake, was an American singer-songwriter and writer. She was known for her 1971 debut album, Folk Songs & Ballads: Tia Blake and Her Folk-Group. Originally released only in France and selling very few copies, it was reissued in 2011 and has been described as a rediscovered lost album. The album gained cult status during the 1990s and 2000s, with comparisons being drawn to musicians such as Nick Drake and Nico.

Wallman was born in Columbus, Georgia, in 1952, and grew up in North Carolina. In 1960, during a custody dispute, Wallman and her siblings were kidnapped by her CIA-employed father, who was later arrested and fled the country. She later moved to Paris, where she formed "Her Folk Group" and recorded her debut album. Wallman performed once at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier with her group, in support of the album, and later recorded a set of demos and rehearsals. She subsequently relocated to Montreal where she recorded a selection of songs for CBC Radio, which were ultimately rejected, and provided backing vocals for a song by Daniel Lavoie.

Wallman later pursued a career as a freelance writer and editor, after graduating from Smith College in 1989. She shared her experiences through pieces published under the name Tia Wallman, including a memoir about searching for her father in Saigon during the Vietnam War in Granta. She co-wrote, with her mother, a comedy piece that was performed at the 2007 New York Fringe Festival. Wallman died at the age of 63 from breast cancer in 2015.

Biography
Christiana Elizabeth Wallman was born in Columbus, Georgia, on April 13, 1952, and grew up in North Carolina; she had six siblings. Her father, Jack, worked for the CIA. In 1960 her parents separated and in the middle of custody battle, her father kidnapped Wallman and her siblings for seven months. When they were found, her father was arrested and subsequently fled the country.

In 1970 she graduated high school and then worked for Farrar, Straus and Giroux in New York City for six months, before moving to Paris. There she met and fell in love with Benito Merlino, a Sicilian folksinger, record store owner and record producer. She learned to play the guitar and spent most of her time at a record shop in the Latin Quarter, Disco'Thé, where she occasionally sang. While at the shop, she met two young guitarists, who were ardent followers of folk music and frequent visitors to the shop. They started playing alongside her, thus establishing "Her Folk Group".

Upon hearing and being enchanted by Wallman's singing voice, Merlino introduced her to his contacts in the record industry. She was acquainted with Michel Bachelet and Jean-Paul Smets, respectively the owner and artists and repertoire manager of Société française de production (SFP), a small French record label, who invited her to record her debut album, at Pierre Barouh's Studios Saravah. In an afternoon, she recorded an album of public domain folk songs and ballads under the name Tia Blake, with her group supporting her. It was released in France, in 1971, as Folk Songs & Ballads: Tia Blake and Her Folk-Group, with very few copies produced. A month after the album's release, to promote it, Wallman and her group performed at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier. In 1973 she recorded a selection of demos and rehearsals backed by a guitarist named Jack.

In September 1976, in Montreal, where Wallman was then living, she responded to a call from CBC Radio for local artists' songs, recording at CBC's studio a demo tape of three originals, including one for her father and another for an old boyfriend. The CBC producer found nothing usable upon playback, returning the tape to her. Wallman later provided backing vocals for the song "Boule Qui Roule" on Daniel Lavoie's 1979 Nirvana Bleu album.

Wallman graduated from Smith College in 1989, winning the Elizabeth Drew Writing Prize. Living in North Carolina, she became a freelance writer and editor. She published, as Tia Wallman, two pieces in Granta, the first of which was a memoir about a trip to Saigon with her sister, during the Vietnam War, to find her father who worked for the CIA, and the second appeared posthumously. In 2006, a comedy piece she co-wrote with her mother, Joan Blake, was staged at the 2007 New York Fringe Festival, lasting for 10 minutes.

In 2011, her debut album was reissued on CD by Water Music, together with her Paris demos and CBC Montreal recordings. Having been described as a rediscovered lost album, it started to circulate as a cult record in the 1990s and 2000s. Wallman has been compared to Nick Drake, Nico, Sibylle Baier, Bridget St. John, and Vashti Bunyan.

Wallman died at the age of 63 from breast cancer in Pinehurst, North Carolina, on June 17, 2015. She was buried next to her two brothers, Chris and Peter, in North Hatley, Quebec, Canada. The Tia Blake Collection is held at Wilson Library in North Carolina, comprising audio recordings, images, documents, and written works by Wallman.

Discography

 * Folk Songs and Ballads: Tia Blake and Her Folk-group (LP), SFP, Paris, 1971.
 * Reissued by Water Music, California, in 2011, together with Paris demos (1973) and CBC Montreal recordings (1976)
 * Reissued and remastered by Ici Bientôt, Paris, in 2022
 * Tia Blake, Paris and Montreal Demos 1973-1976 (EP), Yep Roc Records, 2018.

Publications

 * We Went to Saigon, Granta, 14 July 2006
 * Forbidden Games, Granta, 9 March 2017