Pooka was the former songwriting duo of UK guitarists/vocalists Sharon Lewis and Natasha Jones. They took their name from

Púca The púca ( Irish for ''spirit/ghost''; plural púcaí), puca (Old English for ''goblin''), also pwca, pookah, phouka, and puck, is a creature of Celtic, English, and Channel Islands folklore. Considered to be bringers both of good and bad f ...

, a mythical Irish goblin with an uneven temper.

Career

Pooka were formed early in 1992 at Nottingham Polytechnic. After only a few months of forming the band Lewis and Jones decided to try their luck in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to find a record company to work with. They did this by visiting record companies in person, guitars in hand, and performing their songs live to various

talent scouts Artists and repertoire (or A&R for short) is the division of a record label or music publishing company that is responsible for scouting, financing, and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists and songwriters. It also acts as a l ...

. This eventually led to their gaining a 5 album

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

with

WEA The Wea were a Miami–Illinois-speaking Native American tribe originally located in western Indiana. Historically, they were described as being either closely related to the Miami tribe or a sub-tribe of Miami. Today, the descendants of th ...

. Pooka's eponymous debut album (produced by John Coxon) was released in 1993 on WEA ( Elektra in the USA). Tours with

Everything But The Girl Everything but the Girl are an English musical duo formed in Kingston upon Hull in 1982, consisting of lead singer, songwriter, composer and occasional guitarist Tracey Thorn and guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, composer, producer and sing ...

Tindersticks Tindersticks are an English alternative rock band formed in Nottingham in 1991. They released six albums before singer Stuart A. Staples embarked on a solo career. The band reunited briefly in 2006 and more permanently the following year. The ...

Kristin Hersh Martha Kristin Hersh (born August 7, 1966) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter known for her solo work and with her rock bands Throwing Muses and 50 Foot Wave, 50FootWave. She has released eleven solo albums. Her guitar work and comp ...

Al Stewart Alastair Ian Stewart (born 5 September 1945) is a British singer-songwriter and folk-rock musician who rose to prominence as part of the British folk revival in the 1960s and 1970s. He developed a unique style of combining folk-rock songs wi ...

and The Levellers followed and, between recording their own material, Pooka co-wrote tracks with

Ultramarine Ultramarine is a deep blue pigment which was originally made by grinding lapis lazuli into a powder. Its lengthy grinding and washing process makes the natural pigment quite valuable—roughly ten times more expensive than the stone it comes fr ...

found upon their 1995 release ''Bel Air'', and a track for Orbital, "Otono", released on their 1999 album '' The Middle of Nowhere''. Pooka's second album, ''Spinning'', was released in September 1997 on Trade 2, a subsidiary of

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

and managed by ex- Rough Trade founder

Geoff Travis Geoff Travis (born 2 February 1952) is the founder of both Rough Trade Records and the Rough Trade chain of record shops. A former drama teacher and owner of a punk record shop, Travis founded the Rough Trade label in 1976. Biography Travis wa ...

. Garnering praise and support while on tour throughout Europe in the next two years, Pooka released a five-song EP, ''Monday Mourning,'' in 1999 on the Frenc
Telescopic Records
label. In 2001, Lewis and Jones independently released ''Fools Give Birth To Angels'', a self-produced, classically written and arranged collection of new songs, replete with string sections and a hand bell choir. Only 1,000 copies of the CD were produced. Soon thereafter, their ten-year musical partnership came to an abrupt end, but not before the Rough Trade release of their fourth album ''Shift.'' Both Jones and Lewis continue to play live, and have since each released two solo albums.

Discography

References

External links

Sharon Lewis's homepageNatasha Lea Jones's homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pooka (band) English folk musical groups Musical groups from Manchester English musical duos Folk music duos Female musical duos Warner Music Group artists Elektra Records artists Island Records artists Rough Trade Records artists