Transister was a British-American

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band formed in late 1995 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Despite only having released one album to moderate sales, their work has been featured on a number of film soundtracks. The band was fronted by Keely Hawkes, the sister of English musician

Chesney Hawkes Chesney Lee Hawkes (born 22 September 1971) is an English singer and occasional actor. He started his career at the age of 19 when he appeared in the film '' Buddy's Song'', which featured his best-known single " The One and Only", which topped ...

and daughter of Len 'Chip' Hawkes, a member of the English beat group

the Tremeloes The Tremeloes (formerly Brian Poole and The Tremeloes) are an English beat group founded in 1958 in Dagenham, England. They initially found success in the British Invasion era with lead singer Brian Poole, scoring a UK chart-topper in 1963 with ...

History

Transister's formation was the culmination of various collaborations between songwriter Eric Pressly, former Danny Wilson frontman Gary Clark, and vocalist Keely Hawkes. Hawkes first made use of Pressly's songwriting on her 1993 solo debut for

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

, while Pressly and Clark first worked together in the band King L, releasing the album ''Great Day for Gravity'' in 1995. The three were encouraged by the results of their early songwriting attempts, and decided to release a six-song EP on their record label. Transister began to attract major label attention after

KCRW KCRW (89.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is an NPR member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programming ...

DJ Christopher Douridas played a few of the self-recorded tracks on ''

Morning Becomes Eclectic ''Morning Becomes Eclectic'' (MBE) is an American three-hour adult album alternative radio program first aired in 1977 and broadcast live every weekday from KCRW in Santa Monica, California. The show's name is a play on the Eugene O'Neill t ...

'' in early 1996.

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

released Transister's self-titled debut in the US in 1997; UK and international distribution was handled by

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

. Tracks from the album were featured on a number of film soundtracks, including '' Nightwatch'' (1997), '' Wild Things'' (1998), '' Jawbreaker'' (1999), ''

Never Been Kissed ''Never Been Kissed'' is a 1999 American romantic comedy film directed by Raja Gosnell, and starring Drew Barrymore, Jessica Alba, David Arquette, Michael Vartan, Leelee Sobieski, Jeremy Jordan, Molly Shannon, Garry Marshall, and John C. ...

'' (1999), ''

Charlie's Angels ''Charlie's Angels'' is an American crime drama television series created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts for ABC. It originally aired from September 22, 1976, to June 24, 1981, airing for five seasons consisting of 115 episodes. It was produ ...

'' (2000) and ''

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'' (2000). Although members of the band have since gone on to other projects, Hawkes and Pressly maintained a relationship and were married on January 8, 2005. Their song "Look Who's Perfect Now" entered the UK Singles Chart, where it peaked at No. 56 in March 1998. "Look Who's Perfect Now" also charted in Australia, where it peaked at No. 76 in June 1998. A second single, "Dizzy Moon" peaked at No. 90 in the UK in July 1998.

Discography

Album

*''Transister'' (Interscope, 1997 / Virgin Records, 1998)

Singles

References

External links

* {{Authority control Alternative rock groups from California British musical trios American musical trios Interscope Records artists Virgin Records artists Musical groups established in 1995 Musical groups disestablished in 1997