Sarah Cracknell (born 12 April 1967) is an English singer-songwriter and lead singer of the
electronic music
Electronic music is a Music genre, genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or electronics, circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromech ...
band
Saint Etienne.
Career
Cracknell's career started with the Windsor-based indie band The Worried Parachutes in 1982.
Following the demise of the band she released a solo single, ''Love Is All You Need'', in 1987. With friend Mick Bund, she then formed a new band, Prime Time, who released a handful of singles.
She appeared on 1990 dance track ''Fingertips'' by Lovecut DB.

Saint Etienne was originally to be an
indie dance act featuring various vocalists. After
Moira Lambert sang on their initial 1990 single "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" and Donna Savage was heard on the follow-up single "Kiss and Make Up", Cracknell lent her vocals to "Nothing Can Stop Us" and ended up doing the rest of the singing on their debut album ''
Foxbase Alpha''. Cracknell has been Saint Etienne's permanent vocalist since then.
Preceded by the single "Anymore" in 1996, Cracknell released a solo album, ''
Lipslide
''Lipslide'' is the debut solo album from Saint Etienne lead singer Sarah Cracknell. The album was co-produced by Cracknell and a variety of producers and released in the UK by Gut Records in 1997. Upon its release ''Lipslide'' earned favor ...
'', in May 1997. Originally released in the UK only by
Gut Records, the album featured dance, indie and pop tunes and received good reviews from critics, but was not a big seller (Cracknell has in interviews placed some of the blame on lack of proper promotion by Gut).
''Lipslide'' finally surfaced in the U.S. three years later, when
Instinct Records
Instinct Records is a New York City electronic-music record label that first gained prominence in 1989. It is best known for releasing much of Moby's early work. Moby produced a number of tracks under various monikers so that in the early days, ...
released it in February 2000. With completely different cover art, the original album's track listing was also modified: five tracks were removed and four new songs plus a
remix were added. Months later, Instinct released the ''Kelly's Locker''
EP, which contained the five tracks originally removed from the UK version of ''Lipslide'', along with two previously unreleased songs and a new remix.
Cracknell was
Spiller
Cristiano Spiller (born 3 April 1975) is an Italian electronic music DJ and record producer. He is best known for his 2000 single "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)", featuring Sophie Ellis-Bextor. The song reached number-one in the UK, Australia, I ...
's first choice for the vocals of his number-one hit "
Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)
"Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)" is a song by Italian electronic music producer Spiller with lead vocals performed by British singer-songwriter Sophie Ellis-Bextor. Various versions of the single were later featured on the German reissue and som ...
" in 2000, but never got to record the song. She has recorded tracks with various artists such as
David Holmes ("Anymore", "Gone"),
Xploding Plastix ("Sunset Spirals"), Cheapglue ("You've Just Won Me Over") and
Paul Van Dyk ("The Riddle (Tell Me Why)," although billed as a collaboration between Van Dyk and St. Etienne but with Cracknell on vocals).
She recorded a duet of
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), known professionally as Dusty Springfield, was an English singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano sound, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, pop and dra ...
's 1968 song "
I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten" with
Marc Almond
Peter Mark Sinclair "Marc" Almond, (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer. Almond first began performing and recording in the synthpop/ new wave duo Soft Cell where he became known for his distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. H ...
for his album ''
Stardom Road'', released in June 2007.
In December 2007, BBC radio began playing "The Journey Continues" by Mark Brown featuring Cracknell. The song consists of extensive samples from a composition by
Elena Kats-Chernin entitled
Eliza's Aria
Eliza Aria is an operatic vocalise from the ballet ''Wild Swans (ballet), Wild Swans'', composed by Elena Kats-Chernin. The piece was first recorded by soprano Jane Sheldon and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and released on the ABC Classics lab ...
, well known to UK TV viewers as the music from the computer-animated 'For the Journey' commercials for Lloyds TSB bank. The single was released in February 2008 on Positiva. The song peaked at #11 in the UK after being released.
Cracknell has collaborated with French pop star
Etienne Daho on several occasions. She co-wrote and sang back-up vocals on "Les passagers" from his 1996 album ''
Eden
Eden may refer to:
* Garden of Eden, the "garden of God" described in the Book of Genesis
Places and jurisdictions
Canada
* Eden, Ontario
* Eden High School
Middle East
* Eden, Lebanon, a city and former bishopric
* Camp Eden, Iraq
O ...
'', and also co-wrote "Le premier jour" which was released as a single from his greatest hits compilation ''Singles''. With Saint Etienne, they collaborated on the ''
Reserection EP''. Saint Etienne's single "He's on the Phone" (which featured both Cracknell and Daho) was actually an English-language adaptation of Daho's French language 1984 single "Weekend à Rome".
On 21 August 2014,
Cherry Red Records announced that it had signed Cracknell to a worldwide deal under which she would release a new solo album. The album, entitled ''Red Kite'', was recorded in December 2014 and released on 15 June 2015. A series of live shows by Cracknell in support the album were planned for the weeks following its release.
Personal life
Cracknell married
Martin Kelly (joint managing director of
Heavenly Recordings and Heavenly Films) in
Kensington and Chelsea,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
on 5 December 2004. They have two children, born in
Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buck ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
in 2001 and 2004.
Cracknell is the daughter of
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...
's first assistant director Derek Cracknell.
Discography
The
discography
Discography is the study and cataloging of published sound recordings, often by specified artists or within identified music genres. The exact information included varies depending on the type and scope of the discography, but a discography entry ...
consists of two studio albums, two compilations, six solo singles and four singles as a featured artist.
Albums
Studio albums
Compilation albums
Singles
As lead singer
As featured artist
Guest appearances
References
External links
Sarah Cracknell Discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cracknell, Sarah
1967 births
Living people
Alternative rock singers
Alternative dance musicians
British alternative rock musicians
British indie pop musicians
English dance musicians
English electronic musicians
English house musicians
English women singer-songwriters
Musicians from Essex
Gut Records artists
Synth-pop singers
English women pop singers
English women in electronic music
Instinct Records artists