Corinne Drewery (born 21 September 1959) is an English singer-songwriter and fashion designer, best known for being the lead vocalist of the band Swing Out Sister.

Early life

Drewery was born in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

. She later moved to the

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

village of Authorpe and went to South Reston Primary School, then Monks' Dyke High School and King Edward VI Grammar School in nearby

Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town * Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia ** Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * Cou ...

, then Lincoln College. She grew up on the classic pop standards, as her father played in a band which was regular support to big

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

s like

Tom Jones Tom Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tom Jones (singer) (born 1940), Welsh singer *Tom Jones (writer) (1928–2023), American librettist and lyricist *''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', a novel by Henry Fielding published in 1 ...

and

Sandie Shaw Sandra Ann Goodrich (born 26 February 1947), known by her stage name Sandie Shaw, is a retired English pop singer. One of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s, she had three UK number one singles with "(There's) Always Some ...

. She was strongly influenced by

Northern soul Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged in Northern England and the Midlands in the early 1970s. It developed from the British Mod (subculture), mod scene, based on a particular style of African American music, Black American ...

, visiting performances at the Winter Gardens in

Cleethorpes Cleethorpes () is a seaside town on the estuary of the Humber in North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England with a population of 29,678 in 2021. It has been permanently occupied since the 6th century, with fishing as its original industry ...

, and referred to Northern soul tracks during an extensive interview on BBC Radio Nottingham. Her mother, Elaine Drewery, a former singer, is the founder of Hedgehog Care in Authorpe. Her brother Anton was also a singer and musician whose debut studio album, ''With a Little Help'', was released posthumously in August 2022, six months after his untimely death.

Music

In 1976, after leaving school, Drewery moved to London to study fashion at the

Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design Central Saint Martins is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art university in London, England. The college offers full-time courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and a variety of short ...

(1 June 2010
Swing it like you mean it!: Lead singer of Swing Out Sister Corinne Drewery shares her musical journey of over two decades
''

Bangkok Post The ''Bangkok Post'' is an English-language daily newspaper published in Bangkok, Thailand. It is published in broadsheet and digital formats. The first issue was sold on 1 August 1946. It had four pages and cost one baht, a considerable amount ...

'', retrieved 28 October 2010 and eventually became a fashion designer. But she also sang for short periods with bands such as Working Week. She first met Andy Connell and

Martin Jackson Martin Jackson (born 30 August 1955 in Manchester, England) is a British drummer who has played with several bands from Manchester, although his most successful roles were with Magazine in 1978 with the release of the influential ''Real Life'' ...

in 1984 and together they formed Swing Out Sister. In 1986–87 the group achieved success on both sides of the Atlantic with " Breakout", the band's

signature song A signature (; from , "to sign") is a depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. Signatures are often, but not always, handwritten or styliz ...

. Drewery is not only the band's lyricist, but its composer together with her musical partner, Connell. In 1986, she provided additional vocals on the track "Bootsy" by Connell's former band A Certain Ratio. The song was released exclusively as a single in Australia and featured on their fifth studio album ''

Force In physics, a force is an influence that can cause an Physical object, object to change its velocity unless counterbalanced by other forces. In mechanics, force makes ideas like 'pushing' or 'pulling' mathematically precise. Because the Magnitu ...

''. In 2022, Drewery sang with Ryan Bland of Ache on the 24-7 Spyz track "Angels & Demons."

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Drewery, Corinne 1959 births Living people Alumni of Central Saint Martins English contraltos English women pop singers English women songwriters Musicians from Lincolnshire Musicians from Nottingham People educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth People from East Lindsey District Sophisti-pop musicians Swing Out Sister members 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers