M People (stylised as ''^M''People) is an English

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded da ...

band that formed in 1990 and achieved success throughout most of the 1990s. The name M People is taken from the first letter of the first name of band member Mike Pickering, who formed the group. In December 2016, ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' magazine ranked them as the 83rd most successful dance act of all time. M People have sold over 11 million records worldwide

Career

Formation

Pickering had been a member of

Factory Records Factory Records was a Manchester-based British independent record label founded in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus. The label featured several important acts on its roster, including Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, the Duru ...

dance act

Quando Quango Quando Quango were a British electronic music group, formed by The Haçienda DJ and Factory Records A&R man Mike Pickering, Hillegonda Rietveld and Reinier Rietveld. Their unique sound influenced the underground dance music scenes in New Yor ...

, but became more noted as one of the original DJs at The Haçienda. Paul Heard was a member of acid jazz band Ace of Clubs, and Shovell had previously been in the collective

Natural Life Natural Life were an English band of the early 1990s that are best described as a 'bohemian rock collective', their music is a combination of rock influences and dancefloor beats. They emerged from London's Balearic dance movement and were q ...

. The original plan had been to have a roster of different singers for different songs but having been spotted by Pickering and Heard, Heather Small became the distinctive vocalist of the group. She had been in the English soul band Hot House, which had released a number of critically acclaimed records without scoring any major success.

''Northern Soul'' and breakthrough

Their first release came in the form of "

Colour My Life "Colour My Life" is a song by British band M People, released as the second single from their first album, '' Northern Soul'' (1991). It was written by band members Mike Pickering and Paul Heard. The single was originally released in May 1991 a ...

", a limited white label pressing which got them some recognition, but it was the first official single " How Can I Love You More?" that gave them their first Top 30 hit and a following in and around the Manchester club scene, where Pickering was still DJing. Their first album '' Northern Soul'' provided other singles, including a full release of "

", " Someday" and " Excited", followed by a re-release and repackaging of the album.

''Elegant Slumming'' and success

1993 started with the re-released and

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

ed single from 1991's " How Can I Love You More?" which was released at the end of January and provided the band with their first Top 10 single, peaking at number 8. While this single was in the

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent ...

the band were working on new material for the second album to be released that autumn; a preliminary single, " One Night in Heaven" was released in the summer and peaked at number 6. It provided them with a dance/pop success that set up a bigger worldwide hit with the second single, " Moving On Up". The album '' Elegant Slumming'' went into the Top 5 on release and peaked at No. 2, remaining on the chart until the following summer and later winning the band a

Mercury Music Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...

. A further two Top 10 singles followed: " Don't Look Any Further" (a

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of copy ...

of the Dennis Edwards song, the video for which was shot in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

) in December, and "Renaissance" which was used as the theme tune to the

BBC 2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream ...

show, ''

The Living Soap ''The Living Soap'' was a BBC North fly on the wall documentary series broadcast in 1993, which set out to show the everyday lives of six students sharing a house in Manchester. The six chosen students gave up their privacy for one year in return ...

'', sending the single to number 5 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

''Bizarre Fruit II'' and awards

In 1994 and 1995, M People won the BRIT Award for Best British Dance Act, the latter as a result of the release of '' Bizarre Fruit''. The first single from that album was " Sight for Sore Eyes" which climbed to number 6, helping the album to enter the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

and peak at No. 4 and stay in the Top 10 for four months into the following year. The second single from the album was " Open Your Heart", which became their seventh consecutive Top Ten hit in two years and at the ''

Brit Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

'' '95 they collaborated with

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-earth ...

on his track "

If You Love Somebody Set Them Free "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" is the first single released from Sting's solo debut album ''The Dream of the Blue Turtles''. It is also the opening track of the album, and is featured on '' Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984–1994'' ...

". Their third single " Search for the Hero" was later used in the TV advertising campaign for the

Peugeot 406 The Peugeot 406 is a large family car that was produced by French automaker Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, wi ...

. The song got to number 9 in the

. In 1995, the band embarked on their first world tour entitled the Come Again Tour and two more singles were lifted from a re-issued album: '' Bizarre Fruit II'' which charted and peaked one place higher at number 3; these singles were a remixed " Love Rendezvous" and " Itchycoo Park". The former was the least successful single from the album charting at number 32, and the latter was a cover of The Small Faces 1967 single, which charted at number 11, although the choice of the latter song to cover drew negative comments from the media. In the United States, their biggest success was on the

Hot Dance Music/Club Play Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

chart, where they achieved five Top 5 singles, four of which hit number one. After touring and promotion of ''Bizarre Fruit II'' for 18 months the band took a break in 1996. The album, having been released in November 1995, did not leave the chart until April 1997, becoming one of the biggest selling albums of the decade. They made some outdoor live UK performances called the ''Summer M Parties'' in June 1996, at Crystal Palace,

Alton Towers Alton Towers Resort ( ) (often referred to as Alton Towers) is a theme park and resort complex in Staffordshire, England, near the village of Alton. The park is operated by Merlin Entertainments Group and incorporates a theme park, water pa ...

plus a televised performance on BBC 1 on 29 June 1996 from

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wembl ...

, Manchester for ''The Crowd are on the Pitch: The Euro '96 Extravanganza'', where they performed along with bands Dodgy,

Madness Madness or The Madness may refer to: Emotion and mental health * Anger, an intense emotional response to a perceived provocation, hurt or threat * Insanity, a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns * ...

and fellow Mancunians

Simply Red Simply Red are a British soul and pop band formed in Manchester in 1985. The lead vocalist of the band is singer and songwriter Mick Hucknall, who, by the time the band initially disbanded in 2010, was the only original member left. Since t ...

and comedians

Nick Hancock Nicholas John Hancock (born 25 October 1962) is an English actor and television presenter. He hosted the sports quiz ''They Think It's All Over'' for 10 years. He also formerly presented ''Room 101'' (1994–1999) on TV, as well as its earlier ...

and Jo Brand to a crowd of 60,000 at party celebrating the

Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

football championships.

Return and ''Fresco''

In March 1997, lead singer Heather Small gave birth to her son. With the closure by BMG of the

deConstruction The term deconstruction refers to approaches to understanding the relationship between text and meaning. It was introduced by the philosopher Jacques Derrida, who defined it as a turn away from Platonism's ideas of "true" forms and essen ...

label in 1996, the band founded their own

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the pr ...

, M People Records, to release the forthcoming album. In September they released the lead single " Just for You", which peaked at number 8 on the chart and two weeks later, their album ''

Fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plast ...

'', was released and went in the

at number two, going on to sell 1.1 million copies and certified platinum. The band achieved their third multi-platinum selling album and this time appeared on Jools Holland's

show, performing album tracks "Never Mind Love", " Angel St" and Small also performed, solo, the million-selling charity single that she appeared on, " Perfect Day". ''Fresco'' also bore the single, "

Fantasy Island ''Fantasy Island'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by Gene Levitt. It aired on ABC from 1977 to 1984. The series starred Ricardo Montalbán as the mysterious Mr. Roarke and Hervé Villechaize as his assistant, Tatto ...

" (number 33) and went on a fifteen-date UK Tour supporting the album to rave reviews. The final single lifted off the album was " Angel St" which got to number 8 and earned them their tenth Top 10 chart hit in March 1998, making the band one of the most consistent hit-makers of the 1990s on both sales and airplay.

''The Best of M People''

During the middle of 1998, the band prepared for their fifth album, a compilation entitled '' The Best of M People'' which also contained three new tracks: " Testify", " Dreaming" and a cover of the Doobie Brothers classic: " What a Fool Believes". The album went on to sell 1.75 million, peaked at number 2 and was certified 3× platinum. Of the three new tracks, "Testify" and "Dreaming" were released as singles. "Testify" got to number 12 in October 1998 and "Dreaming" got to number 13 in February 1999, their eighteenth and final single to date. After the release of ''The Best of M People'', the band took an extended hiatus. Heather Small recorded a successful solo album: ''

Proud Proud may refer to: Music * ''Proud'' (Heather Small album), the debut album by Heather Small ** "Proud" (Heather Small song), a song by Heather Small that was the official song for the London 2012 Olympic bid * ''Proud'' (compilation album), ...

'' and it seemed that the band had split. However, a re-packaged greatest hits album entitled '' Ultimate Collection'' and released in 2005 led the band to embark on a short promotional tour of the UK. Small continued to pursue a solo career releasing her second solo album '' Close to a Miracle'' in 2006. M People toured once again in 2007 as part of the

Forestry Commission The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England. The Forestry Commission was previously also resp ...

's 2007 Forest Tours at Delamere Forest, Cheshire;

Dalby Forest Dalby Forest is a forest located on the southern slopes of the North York Moors National Park in North Yorkshire, England. It is maintained by Forestry England. Dalby Forest, along with Langdale Forest and Cropton Forest, forms part of the N ...

North Yorkshire Moors The North York Moors is an upland area in north-eastern Yorkshire, England. It contains one of the largest expanses of heather moorland in the United Kingdom. The area was designated as a National Park in 1952, through the National Parks and A ...

;

Thetford Forest Thetford Forest is the largest lowland pine forest in Britain and is located in a region straddling the north of Suffolk and the south of Norfolk in England. It covers over in the form of a Site of Special Scientific Interest. History Thetf ...

, Suffolk and Westonbirt Arboretum, Wiltshire to support The Forestry Commission's social and environmental programmes. Small said: "We have played in many different locations but never in forests so we’re really looking forward to doing these gigs". In addition to these gigs M People performed at the Hampton Court Festival in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

, London on 12 June 2007, and the

Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ...

Real Ale and Jazz festival on 4 July 2007. Elsewhere, they played a concert in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

on 7 September 2007. The band also played some

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

dates in 2008 before Small starred as a contestant in that year's

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

's ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 j ...

'' in the UK. In 2012, as part of a series of Summer Concerts in Kew Gardens from 3–8 July, M People were one of five acts performing live on each day of the five days. The other acts included

Status Quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, political, religious or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the current state of social structure and/or values. ...

Will Young William Robert Young (born 20 January 1979) is a British singer-songwriter and actor who came to prominence after winning the 2002 inaugural series of the ITV talent contest '' Pop Idol'', making him the first winner of the worldwide '' Idol ...

, James Morrison and the Gipsy Kings. M People performed a 60-minute set on Wednesday 4 July supported by Chic featuring

Nile Rodgers Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, record producer and composer. The co-founder of Chic, Rodgers has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 500 million albums and 75 million ...

2013 Greatest Hits Tour

In April 2013, it was announced that the band would undertake an extensive fourteen date Greatest Hits Tour in October to mark 20 years since the release of the

-winning album '' Elegant Slumming''. This was the band's first UK Tour since 2005's Ultimate Collection Tour, although Pickering did not take part.

2020 box set

In 2019, it was announced that a box set of the M People catalogue was scheduled to be released. The box set, titled ''Renaissance'', was released in March 2020 and included all five of the group's albums, as well as a large selection of bonus remixes and two DVDs that presented the group's music videos and live performances from the Come Again tour. Also included was a book with notes from the band, rare photos and a handwritten copy of the lyrics to "Search for the Hero".

Band members

* Heather Small (born 20 January 1965, London) – vocals (1990–present) * Mike Pickering (born 24 February 1958,

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

) – keyboards, programming (1990–present) *Paul Heard (born 5 October 1960, London) – keyboards, programming (1990–present) *Shovell (born Andrew Lovell, 11 February 1969, South East London) – percussion (1992–present)

Discography

Studio albums *'' Northern Soul'' (1991) *'' Elegant Slumming'' (1993) *'' Bizarre Fruit'' (1994) *'' Bizarre Fruit II'' (1995) *''

'' (1997) Compilations and other albums *'' The Best of M People'' (1998) *'' Testify'' (1999) *'' Ultimate Collection'' (2005) *'' Ultimate Collection: The Remixes'' (2005) *'' One Night in Heaven: The Best of M People'' (2007)

Awards

Brit Awards

The

are the

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with ...

's annual pop music awards. , - , rowspan="3" , 1994 , rowspan="6" , M People , British Dance Act , , - , British Producer , , - , rowspan="2" , British Group , , - , rowspan="2" , 1995 , , - , rowspan="2" , British Dance Act , , - , 1996 ,

Ivor Novello Awards

The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Cardiff born entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They are presented annually in London by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) and were first introduced in 1955. , - , 1994 , " Moving On Up" , Best Contemporary Song ,

Mercury Prize

The

Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the ...

is an annual music prize awarded for the best album from the United Kingdom and Ireland. , - , 1994 , ''Elegant Slumming'' , Mercury Prize ,

NME Awards

The ''NME'' Awards are annual music awards show founded by the music magazine '' NME''. , - , 1996 , M People , Best Dance Act ,

Silver Clef Awards

The

Silver Clef Award The O2 Silver Clef Awards is an annual UK music awards lunch which has been running since 1976. History The Silver Clef fundraising committee was founded in 1976 by musicians and managers from across the British music industry, who wanted to hono ...

are an annual UK music awards lunch which has been running since 1976. M People has received one award. , - , 1999 , M People , Silver Clef Award ,

References

External links

* M People at Allmusicbr>M People's Elegant SofaWayback Machine archived version
retrieved 23 January 2010.)
M People full official chart history at Official Charts CompanyDiscography & History
* {{Authority control English dance music groups British soul musical groups Brit Award winners Musical groups from Manchester English house music groups Musical groups established in 1990 1990 establishments in England