Tara Kamala Slone (born September 7, 1973) is a Canadian rock vocalist, actress and television personality. Early life and education Slone was born in Montreal, Quebec, and raised in Wolfville and Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her stepfather Dr. Tomacz Pietrzykowski was the Dean of the School of Computer Science at Acadia University. She began pursuing classical voice training at the age of 12 with the goal of becoming an opera singer. Her first job was at a Second Cup in Halifax when she was in high school as a barista for a few months before working at Sam the Record Man. She connected with music lovers and indie musicians, which she credits as influencing her taste in music. At the age of 18, she attended first Dalhousie University and then Concordia University to pursue a degree in music. While at Concordia, she switched her aspirations to acting and rock music, and subsequently moved to Toronto, Ontario. Acting career In the mid-1990s, Slone played Columbia in the theatre version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in front of sold-out crowds when it stopped at the Grand Theatre in Kingston, Ontario. In 2016, Slone appeared on stage at the Stratford Festival in the play The Hypochondriac. In 1998, Slone landed a recurring role in La Femme Nikita. She appeared in three episodes. In 2008, she appeared in an episode of the second season of The Border, titled "Prescriptive Measures", as an American pop star who dies early on in the episode, which sparks the main plot of the episode. Music career In 1996, Slone became the lead singer of Joydrop after discovering a wanted ad for a singer in the magazine Now. By 1997, Joydrop had a record deal and released two albums. The band had chart hits in Canada with the singles "Beautiful" and "Sometimes Wanna Die," (which also reached #20 on the American Billboard Alternative chart) and was nominated for a Juno Award. Since the breakup of Joydrop, Slone worked on a solo album with Jordon Zadorozny. Her latest album, Just Look Pretty and Sing, was released on March 6, 2007, but was completed before appearing on the reality show Rock Star INXS in 2005. Singles released include "My Little Secret", "We Were Stars" and "The Perfect Girl." Joydrop reunited on April 2, 2017, edition of Hometown Hockey in Guelph, Ontario with Slone performing "Beautiful". Slone competed on Rock Star INXS