Born of a Tongan mother and Australian father, Vika and Linda grew up in Victoria but maintained close links to the Tongan community. As children they were always around music and enjoyed singing with the family and also at the Tongan church they attended. They learned singing and harmonies from their mother, but they both have had musical training - Vika actually had singing lessons for a couple of years as well as learning to play the piano and read music.
From an early age Vika wanted to be a professional singer whereas Linda wanted to be either a painter or a micro biologist. They received support from their family to do whatever they wanted, but knowing how competitive the music industry was, their parents wanted them to have something to fall back on if this didn't work out (Vika is a legal secretary, so she must have been listening).
They both enjoyed singing and when in 1984 Vika was offered a job as a backing singer with a Melbourne band called Fear of Flying, she jumped at the chance. She stayed with them for two years before moving onto another band called Sophisticated Boom Boom.
At this time Linda decided that she wasn't enjoying what she was doing, so she decided to leave University and give music a try. She knew that she could harmonize well with Vika, but she wasn't sure whether she was a good enough singer in her own right, but she joined Vika in that band in 1987. During that time Vika also took the opportunity to gig with other bands including John Justin and Thunderwings and The Blue Tomatoes.
After that they formed their own band called The Honeymooners. Around this time Linda met Justin (who was the percussionist in Bachelors From Prague), and they married in 1993. Also around that same time, Vika met John (who was the drummer with the James Reyne band), and they married in 1997.
Their big musical break came in 1988 when Joe Camilleri took the girls into The Black Sorrows as backing singers - this is when the girls profile was raised. Vika was prominent on a couple of their big singles and their reputation grew. During their time with the Black Sorrows, they also performed on other people's songs - people such as Hunters and Collectors, John Farnham and Archie Roach. Whilst working on the Archie Roach CD, they met and started working with Paul Kelly.
After 6 years with the Black Sorrows they felt it was time to take the next logical step, which was to be lead singers in their own band. They had enough material and wanted the opportunity to perform it. So in 1994 they left the Black Sorrows and took their music to audiences at places like The Esplanade and the Cherry Tree - at this time they were playing covers of Country songs and started to introduce their own songs into the sets. The reaction to their music was very positive and with that came confidence in what they were doing and they started refining the material for their first CD.
Six months after having left the Black Sorrows, they brought out that first CD which they called Vika and Linda as they tried to develop their own identities rather than be known as 'the girls from the Black Sorrows'. The CD was produced by Paul Kelly and was greeted very well - it became gold quickly and then as word spread it became platinum and was nominated for an Australian Music Award.
It is hard to categorize the CD as it contains so many different genres of music - it is just the music that they were doing at that time. All the songs were originals - Paul Kelly had offered them 12 tracks of which they recorded 5 - and three of the tracks were written specifically for them - When Will You Fall For Me (Mark Seymour), House Of Love (Wayne Burt) and These Hands (Eris O'Brien). For a limited time, there was a bonus disk that came with the CD. It contained some gospel songs that had gone down well at their live shows and it showed another side of the girls that you wouldn't get from the Vika and Linda CD alone.
In 1995 they went touring around Europe with their band, and during their month in England, they spent a week at Peter Gabriel's recording studio (near Bath) and recorded a CD called The Mouth Of The River. The CD is an excellent mix of different styles and sounds and reflects the music that they were performing at their gigs - a few of tracks are recorded live which is hard to believe until you hear the crowd applauding - such is standard of their singing. They had been invited to England to take part in the World of Recording Week, which was part of a WOMAD event (World Of Music Art and Dance).
They then started work on their next CD, which they were going to co-produce with Diesel and Jeremy Allom. This CD was mostly material that they had written along with collaborators such as Paul Kelly, Tim Finn, Michael Barker (their drummer), and Diesel. The recording of the CD took place in Melbourne, Sydney and Tonga. The title of this new CD was to be either Princess Tabu or Between Two Shores - both tracks on the CD - and Princess Tabu won. Along with the CD is a bonus live CD (recorded at the Continental) which contains songs from the Vika and Linda, Mouth of the River and Princess Tabu CDs. It was a nice way to give the public acoustic versions of some of their most popular songs.
Between Princess Tabu and their next CD was a two year gap - a time that the girls took for gigging, writing new material, and each of them also gave birth to daughters - Vika's daughter is called Mafi and Linda's is Tapana.
In 1999 came the release of Two Wings - a CD of spiritual songs. This CD was produced by Paul Kelly and Renee Geyer and is a testament to the effort they had put into their vocal work - they both say that their voices have changed since giving birth and Renee encouraged and pushed them to bring the most out of their voices. The CD is powerful and contains songs penned by such people as Bob Marley, Paul Kelly, Archie Roach and Tim Rogers.
In 2000, they brought out another CD, which is almost a 'best of' collection, and it contains all live tracks recorded at the Continental. They co-produced the CD with their long time friend and guitarist, Jeff Burstin.
In 2001, Vika and Linda were released by Mushroom Records despite still having two CD's left on their contract. The basic reason for their release was that Mushroom couldn't fit the girls into a category that they market. The split happened at a great time for the girls as they have developed and grown up as artists under the protection of the Mushroom organisation, and they were ready to branch out on their own. They are happy to take control of their careers and to be responsible for the direction they choose to move in. They now have the load of promoting themselves and the distribution of their music, though Mushroom still hold their back catalogue.
In 2002 they bought out the CD entitled 'Love is mighty close' which is more of a country/blues CD. There are 12 tracks all written by Australian artists such as Paul Kelly, Chris Wilson, Cyndi Boste, Rob Snarski and Dan Brodie.
Since that CD, the girls concentrating more on their gospel roots as that is what their public keep asking them for. They altered the band replacing Jeff with Dion Hirini and then performed a three month residency at the Cornish Arms where they played and recorded many gospel tunes. The result of those gigs was the CD entitled 'Tell the Angels' which was released in 2004.
Since that time, they had a break from music when Linda gave birth to her second daughter, Emmikiki and have now started gigging again allowing for Linda to spend more time as a mother. they have also opened their own shop in North Fitzroy called Hoochie Coochie. They are also currently writing songs for a new CD, so keep your eyes and ears open for that.
www.vikaandlinda.com
