Melissa Tkautz

Melissa Natalie Tkautz (born 24 January 1974) is an Australian actress, singer, model, and presenter. She played the role of Nikki Spencer on the popular Australian TV soap opera E Street, from September 1990 to May 1993. During the early 1990s she had a solo music career, performing mononymously as Melissa, and had top 20 hits on the ARIA Singles Chart with "Read My Lips" (Number One, June 1991), "Sexy (Is the Word)" (No. 3, September) and "Skin to Skin" (No. 16, April 1992). "Read My Lips" also became a Number One hit in Sweden. Her debut album, Fresh, was released in June 1992 and peaked at No. 15 on the ARIA Albums Chart.

After her stint on E Street, Tkautz has appeared on Paradise Beach (1993–94), Pacific Drive (1996–98), All Saints (2001–02, 2004), Swift and Shift Couriers (2008, 2011) and Housos (2011). Her modelling career has included early child modelling, then as a teen in various pop entertainment magazines and from 1996 on fashion and men's magazines. On 4 December 2005, she issued her second solo album, Lost & Found, which provide a single, her cover version of "The Glamorous Life", which appeared in the top 40. In August 2011 she issued a compilation album, The Hits & More. In February 2009, Tkautz married finance businessman Kwesi Nicholas, her partner of five years; outside her performance career, she uses her married name, Melissa Nicholas.

Television career Tkautz was born in Sydney in 1974. According to Tkautz "I had very strict parents ... I wasn't allowed to do anything". Her father, Stefan Tkautz, is from Austria and her mother's family are Maltese. As a young child she studied drama, dance and singing; she began modelling and appearing in commercials. By the age of 17, she had appeared in over 160 television and print commercials.

In September 1990, at the age of 16 years, Tkautz was cast in the role of Nikki Spencer on the popular Australian soap opera, E Street. She described her role, "Nikki is everything I don't want to be ... She smokes and she's really the sort of girl most parents would be horrified to have their daughters associating with". At the TV Week-sponsored Logie Awards she was nominated for Most Popular New Talent in 1992. By November 1992 Tkautz had returned to E Street. Tkautz described her character "he's a bit of a psycho, a real bitch ... She is nothing like Nicki in E Street. This one's a real troublemaker". She described how "I did a lot of research on the role and a lot of charity work with HIV [patients], especially young kids who had contracted the disease". When Pacific Drive was cancelled in 1998, Tkautz joined the cast of Medivac (1998) as Nurse Evie Morrison. Tkautz later appeared in the series, All Saints (2001–02, 2004).

From 1996, Tkautz modelled for fashion and men's magazines Black+White, Australian Playboy, Ralph and FHM. and followed with a stint at the Australian Fashion Week, that year. In May 2012, Tkautz was interviewed by Sonia Kruger and David Campbell on Mornings and described her career after E Street in the segment, "Where Are They Now?".

On 22 July 2016, it was announced Tkautz would be one of seven women appearing on the first season of The Real Housewives of Sydney.

Music career Tkautz was signed to Westside Records, a label created by E Streets producers, and recorded her debut single, "Read My Lips". The track was written by Tony King and Roy Nicolson, and was produced by Leon Berger. The song was parodied by Gina Riley on the comedy TV series, Fast Forward, as "Pout Your Lips". The single's B-side is "Say Goodbye" and was written by Berger, Alston Koch and Doug Henderson. Since 1991, Tkautz has re-recorded "Read My Lips" twice: the first version as the "Read My Lips (Electro Pushers Remix)", which was to be included as a bonus track on her proposed third album, Glamorous Life; and the second version as the "Read My Lips (Neon Stereo Remix)", which was performed live by Tkautz on Channel 7's The Morning Show.

Tkautz' second single from her debut album, "Sexy (Is the Word)", was issued in September 1991 and peaked at No. 3. It was written by Berger, King and Nicholson and produced by Berger, Koch and Henderson. In June that year, having left E Street, Tkautz released her debut album, Fresh, which peaked at No. 15 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Tkautz promoted the album by a national tour, a further single, "Is It...?", was issued in July 1993 and reached the top 40, but a proposed second album was shelved and Tkautz refocused on her acting career. which peaked at No. 31 on the ARIA Singles Chart. Her second album, Lost & Found, was issued on 4 December that year. Also that year, she re-recorded "Sexy (Is the Word)", which was included as a bonus track on Lost & Found. Tkautz travelled to Sweden in early 2006 to work with 2N and while there she recorded her next single, "Easily Affected", and "Not Enough".

In January 2012, Australian comedian Sam Kekovich released a music video as an ad for Australian lamb meat, which was a rendition of Aqua's hit "Barbie Girl"; it featured vocals by Tkautz and an appearance by hip-hop dance and pop music group, Justice Crew. Meat and Livestock Australia's marketing manager, Andrew Cox, declared "t's the most successful lamb campaign ever in terms of lamb sales ... people were able to share our 'Barbie Girl' song on Facebook and Twitter". In August that year Tkautz issued a compilation album, The Hits & More, and followed with a tour promoting its appearance.

Tkautz released the single "The Key" in May 2017.

Personal life In 1999, her father, Stefan, died of cancer; she co-wrote the track "Goodbye Daddy" (with Paul Wiltshire) from Lost & Found in his honour. Baker had also appeared in the music video for her debut single, "Read My Lips". In February 2009, Tkautz married finance businessman Kwesi Nicholas, her partner of five years. She uses her married name, Melissa Nicholas, outside her professional career. Together they have two children.

Filmography Film Title Year Role Type 1999 Game Room Lisa Summerfield Feature film 2017 Boar Sasha Feature film 2021 The Possessed Shania Feature film

Television Title Year Role Type 1988 Richmond Hill Guest role: Nicki TV series, 1 episode 1990 Home and Away Guest role: Sue TV series, 1 episode 1990-91 E Street Regular role: Nikki Spencer TV series, 158 episodes 1991 Police Rescue Guest role: Helen Catteau TV series, 1 episode 1991 The Girl from Tomorrow Recurring role: Maria TV series, 3 episodes 1992 The Girl from Tomorrow II: Tomorrow's End Recurring role: Maria TV series 1993-94 Paradise Beach Recurring role: Vanessa Campbell TV series 1995 Echo Point Recurring role: Jules TV series, 17 episodes 1995-98 Pacific Drive Regular role: Bethany Daniels TV series 1996 Medivac Regular role: Evie Morrison TV series, 13 episodes 2001 All Saints Recurring role: Andrea Smart TV series, 6 episodes 2003 Pizza Guest role: Chantelle SBS TV series, 1 episode 2004 All Saints Guest role TV series, 1 episode 2004 110% Tony Squires Guest TV series, 1 episode 2007 Where Are They Now? Herself (with E Street cast – Bruce Samazan, Marcus Graham, Melissa Bell, Alyssa Jane Cook, Brooke 'Mikey' Anderson & Vince Martin TV series, 1 episode 2008-2011 Swift and Shift Couriers Regular role: Melissa Schembry TV series, 18 episodes 2011 Housos Regular role: Cheree TV series, 9 episodes 2017 The Real Housewives of Sydney Regular role: Herself TV series, 12 episodes 2022 SAS Australia Contestant TV series, 14 episodes

Discography Albums + List of albums, with selected chart positions. Title Album details Peak chart positions AUS Fresh Released: 15 June 1992 Label: Mercury Records, Phonogram Records (5123812) Formats: LP, CS, CD 15 Lost & Found Released: 4 December 2005 Label: JRB Music, Big Records (BIGCD036) Formats: CD — The Hits & More Released: 10 August 2012 Label: Melissa Tkautz Formats: Music download — "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Singles

Awards and recognition Year Award-giving Body Award Result1992 ARIA Award Highest Selling Single ("Read My Lips") Best New Talent ("Read My Lips") 1991 Logie Award Best New Talent (E Street)