Early career In 1981, Sinitta appeared in the film
Shock Treatment as Frankie, credited as Sinitta Renet. Sinitta continued her career by appearing in several
West End productions, notably the first production of the
Andrew Lloyd Webber musical
Cats. She also later appeared in
Little Shop of Horrors. In 1983, she appeared in the video for
Forrest's version of
The Hues Corporation's "
Rock the Boat".
1986–1988: Sinitta! and "So Macho" In 1986, Sinitta released the single "
So Macho", which debuted at 59 on the
UK charts; the single remained rather low in the charts but, later that year, reached number 16, climbing to number 5 the following week. The subsequent week, "So Macho" reached number 2 in the UK, scoring its highest position on the charts and also giving Sinitta her first Top 3 charting single. "So Macho" spent the following six weeks in the Top 20 in the UK. Alongside this success in the UK, "So Macho" also reached the Top 20 in Sweden, Australia and Austria. "So Macho" subsequently became the highest-charting of Sinitta's career to date. Sinitta's second single "
Feels Like the First Time" was less commercially successful, charting at number 45. In 1987, Sinitta released the lead single from her upcoming debut album, after seeking the help of producers
Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW). The product of that collaboration, "
Toy Boy", was based on a tabloid headline about Sinitta's love life, and featured a rap written by the singer. The single remained in the Top 20 for eight weeks. The track also reached number 3 in Switzerland, reaching the Top 20 in
Ireland, Belgium, Sweden, Finland and Germany. Sinitta then released the second single from the album, "
GTO"; the single reached number 15 on the UK chart. "GTO" also became Sinitta's first hit in Spain, reaching number 3. The track reached number 11 in Switzerland, number 9 in Norway and number 13 in Ireland. The success of the track came despite the singer initially expressing her dissatisfaction with the subject matter of the song when first presented with the idea by record label boss,
Simon Cowell. Fearing that the title would mean nothing to her core audience of
gay men and younger record buyers, Sinitta had unsuccessfully begged producers Stock Aitken Waterman to retitle the track before recording. This album also reached number 69 in Australia. In 1988, Sinitta released "
Cross My Broken Heart", taken from
Sinitta!, which reached number 6 in the UK and number 7 in Ireland. The track charted at number 12 in Spain, becoming her second Top 20 single in Spain. Sinitta then released "
I Don't Believe In Miracles", which reached number 22 in the UK.
1989–1990: Wicked and "Right Back Where We Started From" In 1989, Sinitta moved away from working directly with producers Stock Aitken Waterman amid creative differences and the producers' changing priorities following the rise of their in-house superstar
Kylie Minogue. However, Sinitta did continue to work with Pete Hammond,
Phil Harding and Ian Curnow with
PWL, in co-operation with German producer Ralf-René Maué who was responsible for such hits of the
Hamburg-based
eurodisco duo
London Boys as "
Harlem Desire", "
Requiem" and "
London Nights". The second album was confirmed as
Wicked. The lead single of the album was a cover of
Maxine Nightingale's "
Right Back Where We Started From", which debuted at number 19 in the UK and rose to number 6. The track subsequently charted at number 4 for two weeks and remained in the Top 40 for another four weeks. It also charted across the rest of Europe, including reaching number 7 in Finland and the top 40 in Denmark, Spain and Germany. "Right Back Where We Started From" also charted successfully in Oceania, reaching number 7 in Australia and number 2 in New Zealand, thus becoming her highest-charting single in both countries. The track also reached the year-end charts in three countries, including number 45 in Australia, number 38 in New Zealand and number 49 in the UK. As a follow-up single, Sinitta released "
Love on a Mountain Top", which charted at number 20 in the UK and number 81 in Australia. The final single of the album, however, was the least successful out of the three, failing to chart. In 1990, Sinitta released the single "
Hitchin' a Ride", which performed moderately, charting at number 20 in the UK, whilst "
Love and Affection" peaked at number 62.
1992–1997: "Shame Shame Shame" and "Naughty Naughty" In July 1992, "
Shame Shame Shame" debuted at number 31 in the UK, and later peaked at number 28. The following April, Sinitta released the 4 track EP
The Supreme, containing covers of 4 songs originally by
The Supremes which charted at number 49 in the UK. In 1995, Sinitta released a cover album called
Naughty Naughty, which was also her only album to be released in Asia. She appeared on the cast recording album for
What a Feeling, a live recording taken from the Apollo Playhouse Theatre,
Edinburgh, in May 1997, and replaced
Irene Cara to tour with
Sonia (a fellow former SAW artist) and
Luke Goss (formerly of
Bros) in the rock and pop musicals concert,
What a Feeling the same year. In 1997, Sinitta recorded vocals for a cover of the
Limmie & Family Cookin' hit "You Can Do Magic" with
Mike Stock and
Matt Aitken, believing it to be her comeback single. The record was fronted by reporter
Debbie Currie, who pretended to sing to Sinitta's vocal. Sinitta only discovered this when the show was aired, leaving her feeling used and betrayed. In 2005, Sinitta helped Cowell once more during the
second series, this time choosing the final four groups Addictiv Ladies, 4Tune,
The Conway Sisters and
Journey South. In 2006, she returned in the
third series and helped Cowell select his final four acts including Ashley McKenzie, Nikitta Angus,
Ray Quinn and
Leona Lewis, who became the second winner chosen by them, with Lewis becoming one of the most successful acts from the show. In 2009, Sinitta returned to the show again during the
sixth series for the Judges' Houses stage, and then helped Cowell select Jamie Archer, Danyl Johnson and
Olly Murs. In 2007, Sinitta became a judge on the
ITV show
Grease Is the Word. The following year, Sinitta joined the cast of the daytime ITV show
Loose Women as a presenter. In 2010, Sinitta returned to The X Factor for
series 7 and helped Cowell again by choosing F.Y.D,
Belle Amie and
One Direction who have since become the biggest act to have come out of the
X Factor. In 2011, however, Sinitta assisted
Louis Walsh for the first time, rather than Cowell, when she returned in
series 8, selecting Jonjo Kerr, Sami Brookes, Johnny Robinson and
Kitty Brucknell. In November that year, Sinitta was confirmed to be taking part in
the eleventh series of ''
I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!'' as one of the contestants and she entered the jungle on Day 3. In 2013, Sinitta helped Walsh on
series 10 of
The X Factor to select Sam Callahan,
Luke Friend and
Nicholas McDonald, who eventually finished second. That same year, she appeared in the music video for a cover of
a-ha's 1984 hit "
Take On Me" on
Children in Need. In December, she appeared on
Celebrity Come Dine with Me, alongside
Danniella Westbrook,
Louie Spence and
Hugo Taylor. The following year, Sinitta was announced as joining the cast of the
first series of the
Channel 4 reality TV show
The Jump. Sinitta was eliminated fourth overall, placing seventh. Sinitta returned to her music career in 2014, with her comeback single being a cover of her mother Miquel Brown's song "
So Many Men, So Little Time". She later performed the single at
Pride in London. Sinitta returned to
The X Factor on
series 11 to assist Simon Cowell again that year, when she helped to choose Jay James, second place finalist
Fleur East and eventual winner
Ben Haenow. In 2009, Sinitta became one of the main presenters on
The Xtra Factor, on which she interviewed the contestants' friends and family. In 2011, she returned to the show during the live show stages as one of the presenters who visited the finalists' home towns. Her segment on the show became regular, and carried on into 2012 and subsequently 2013 and 2014. In 2016, she was announced as the producer and one of the lead presenters of the
Xtra Factor; she stated that she had "revamped" the whole show. Sinitta appeared in the hit reality TV show ''
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway as a recurring character in 2016. Alongside this, Sinitta became a series regular on the chat show Up Late with Rylan, and also made appearances on Celebrity Masterchef'' as a contestant, although she was eliminated in Week 1. Sinitta's first Christmas track, "I Won't Be Lonely This Christmas", was released on 3 December 2021. Sinitta took part in the 11th series of
Celebs Go Dating but opted to leave the show in episode 14 after failing to find love. The final episode in the series took place in
Cyprus, where Sinitta appeared for a surprise performance. Throughout 2024 Sinitta took part in a live stage show tour of
The Masked Singer, performing and touring around
Butlin's holiday resorts. In 2026, she was one of the 'All Stars' contestants in series 2 of ''
I'm a Celebrity... South Africa'', first aired on
ITV on Easter Monday 6 April 2026. == Personal life ==