Frazier Chorus were an English pop

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

from

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

, England. They were known for their unconventional instrumentation, including synthesizers, trumpets, flutes and clarinets, as well as frontman Tim Freeman's "soft, heavily accented ... talk-singing" and sarcastically witty lyrics.

History

Frazier Chorus was formed in

, England, by Tim Freeman (the brother of actors

Martin Freeman Martin John Christopher Freeman (born 8 September 1971) is an English actor. Among other accolades, he has won two Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Freeman's most ...

and Jamie Freeman, on vocals and keyboards), Michéle Allardyce (percussion), Kate Holmes (flute) and Chris Taplin (clarinet, programming). Original names for the band included both Fishing For Clouds and Plop!, but the band eventually settled on Frazier Chorus, a phrase they'd seen on a jacket for the Frazier College football team's cheerleaders in the United States. The band first signed to British indie record label

4AD 4AD is a British record label owned by Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name Axis Records by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records. The name was changed to 4AD after the release of th ...

and released the single "Sloppy Heart" in 1987. Shortly afterwards, they moved to

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), ...

and achieved chart success with a string of melodic pop songs taken from their 1989 debut album, '' Sue''. Allardyce was eventually dismissed from the band. Their second album, '' Ray'', followed in 1991, and its singles were remixed by a number of top remixers, including

Paul Oakenfold Paul Mark Oakenfold (; born 30 August 1963), formerly known mononymously as Oakenfold, is an English record producer, remixer and trance DJ. He has provided over 100 remixes for over 100 artists including U2, Moby, Madonna, Britney Spears, Ma ...

, Chad Jackson and

Youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood (Maturity (psychological), maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as bei ...

. Following the album's release, the band was let go from Virgin after the label was purchased by EMI and began purging a number of its artists; subsequently, Holmes and Taplin fired Freeman before ultimately disbanding entirely. Holmes later moved into

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

via the bands Sirenes,

Technique Technique or techniques may refer to: Music * The Techniques, a Jamaican rocksteady vocal group of the 1960s * Technique (band), a British female synth pop band in the 1990s * ''Technique'' (album), by New Order, 1989 * ''Techniques'' (album), by ...

, and Client. Freeman took several years off and re-emerged in the mid-1990s, resurrecting the band name with permission from Holmes and Taplin. In 1995, Freeman released a mini-album as Frazier Chorus, '' Wide Awake'', which did not reach the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

. He later released '' Monkey Spunk'', a collection of five demos recorded prior to the sessions for ''Wide Awake'', available exclusively via the band's website. After leaving the band, Holmes became a member of the synthpop band

, before joining Dubstar's Sarah Blackwood in the electronic band CLIEͶT in the 2000s.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Compilations

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 4AD artists British dream pop musical groups English synth-pop groups English new wave musical groups Musical groups from Brighton and Hove Musical groups established in 1986 Musical groups disestablished in 1996