Tamia was born to a Black mother and an Irish-Canadian father, whom she has never met. She began singing in church at the age of six. By the age of ten, she signed up for vocal lessons, then a young lyric soprano. She gained secular experience singing pop songs such as Whitney Houston's "You Give Good Love". Through puberty, her voice matured into a spinto mezzo-soprano, a rangy three octaves, capable of both dark contralto depths and angelic soprano highs. Tamia only aspired to be a vocal coach, when a chance trip brought her to Los Angeles where she caught the attention of Brenda Richie and Quincy Jones at a 1994 awards show.
In 1995 at the age of nineteen, Tamia recorded vocals for a Quincy Jones' song "You Put A Move On My Heart" from his Q's Jook Joint album. Jones released the song as a single in 1996, and it was nominated for a Grammy Award. Later that year, Tamia participated in another collaboration, Missing You, a single from the Set It Off soundtrack which also featured R&B/Pop sensation Brandy and female veterans Chaka Khan and Gladys Knight. The song was also nominated for a Grammy Award.
Tamia released her self-titled debut album, Tamia, in 1998. The album featured four singles: the Jermaine Dupri-produced "Imagination", the original top ten R&B single produced by Tim & Bob "So Into You", the radio-only single "Falling For You" which samples The Emotions 'You've Got The Best Of My Love' and the Daryl Simmons-produced "Still Loving You".
In 2000, Tamia released her sophomore album, A Nu Day. The album featured her biggest hit to date, "Stranger In My House,", which introduced Tamia to a new audience due to its popular dance remix.
In 2003, Tamia was suppose to release her third album, Still. Plans scrapped for that and her new album would be titled More. The original release date was pushed back due to Tamia being diagnosed with M.S. that same year. The Album would be released in 2004 and would feature a few new songs. In 2004, More was released. The album spawned the singles "Officially Missing You" and "Questions". Both performed as successfully on urban radio as her previous singles, but neither was able to cross over to mainstream radio.
Most recently, the chorus from Tamia's "So Into You" from her debut release was sampled and used by rapper Fabolous in his 2003 hit single, "Into You". With the success of the single and Tamia's appearance in the music video, Tamia's mainstream popuarity grew.
