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

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

band that formed in 1990 and achieved success throughout most of the 1990s. The name M People is derived 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 advertis ...

'' magazine ranked them as the 83rd most successful dance act of all time. As of 2021, 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 (band), New Order, A Certain Ra ...

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 York ...

, but became better known as one of the original DJs at

The Haçienda The Haçienda was a nightclub and music venue in Manchester, England, which became famous during the Madchester years of the 1980s and early 1990s. It was run by the record label Factory Records. The club opened in 1982, eventually fosteri ...

. Paul Heard was a member of

acid jazz Acid jazz (also known as club jazz, psychedelic jazz, or groove jazz) is a music genre that combines elements of funk, soul music, soul, and hip hop music, hip hop, as well as jazz and disco. Acid jazz originated in clubs in London during the 1 ...

band Ace of Clubs, and Shovell had previously been in the collective Natural Life. 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 Heather Marguerita Small (born 20 January 1965) is an English soul music, soul singer and lead vocalist of the band M People. Her subsequent debut solo studio album, ''Proud (Heather Small album), Proud'', was released in 2000. Her second and ...

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 achieving any major success.

''Northern Soul'' and breakthrough

Their first release came in the form of " Colour My Life", a limited

white label White label may refer to: * White-label product, a permitted replication and rebranding of a product * White label record, records with plain white labels attached. * White Label Music, an independent record label based in the United Kingdom * ''Wh ...

pressing that gained 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 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 ...

'', provided other singles, including a full release of "Colour My Life", "

Someday Someday or Some Day may refer to: Film and television * ''Someday'' (1935 film), a British film directed by Michael Powell * ''Someday'' (2011 film), a Japanese film directed by Junji Sakamoto * ''Someday'' (2021 film), an Indian Hindi-lang ...

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

''Elegant Slumming'' and success

1993 began with the re-released and

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, 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, poem, or photograph ca ...

ed single from 1991’s " How Can I Love You More?", which was issued at the end of January and gave the band 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 graphics, 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 repres ...

, 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 paved the way for a bigger worldwide hit with the second single, " Moving On Up". The album ''

Elegant Slumming ''Elegant Slumming'' is the second album by the British dance band M People. It was released on 4 October 1993 charting and peaking at number 2 on the UK Album Chart and spent 87 weeks in the Top 75. It re-entered the chart three times in Octo ...

'' entered 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 award, music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the Music of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom or Music of Ireland, Ireland. It was cre ...

. A further two Top 10 singles followed: "

Don't Look Any Further "Don't Look Any Further" is a song by American singer Dennis Edwards featuring American singer-songwriter Siedah Garrett, released in April 1984 by Motown from the singer's Don't Look Any Further (album), debut album by the same name (1984). Th ...

" (a cover of the

Dennis Edwards Dennis Edwards Jr. (February 3, 1943 – February 1, 2018) was an American soul and R&B singer who was best known as the frontman in The Temptations for Motown Records. Edwards joined the Temptations in 1968, replacing David Ruffin and sang w ...

song, the video for which was shot in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

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

theme tune Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

to the

BBC 2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and d ...

show, '' The Living Soap'', sending the single to number 5 in the UK Singles Chart.

''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 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 ...

, peak at No. 4, and remain 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'' '95 they collaborated with

Sting Stimulator of interferon genes (STING), also known as transmembrane protein 173 (TMEM173) and MPYS/MITA/ERIS is a regulator protein that in humans is encoded by the STING1 gene. STING plays an important role in innate immunity. STING induces typ ...

on his track "

If You Love Somebody Set Them Free "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" is the first single by English musician Sting from his solo debut album, ''The Dream of the Blue Turtles'' (1985). It is also the opening track of the album, and is featured on '' Fields of Gold: The Best of ...

". Their third single, " Search for the Hero", was later used in the TV advertising campaign for the Peugeot 406. The song reached 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 "Itchycoo Park" is a song by English rock band Small Faces, written by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane. Largely written by Lane, it was among a number of pop songs of the era to make use of flanging, an effect involving, at that time, electro-mec ...

". The former was the least successful single from the album, charting at number 32, and the latter was a cover of

The Small Faces Small Faces were an English rock band from London, founded in 1965. The group originally consisted of Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones and Jimmy Winston, with Ian McLagan replacing Winston as the band's keyboardist in 1966. The ba ...

' 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 The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

chart, where they achieved five Top 5 singles, four of which reached 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 Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

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

, plus a televised performance on

BBC 1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

on 29 June 1996 from

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

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

Dodgy Dodgy are an English rock band formed in Hounslow in 1990. The band rose to prominence during the Britpop era of the 1990s. They are best known for their hits "Staying Out for the Summer", "If You're Thinking of Me", and " Good Enough". "Go ...

, Madness and fellow Mancunians

Simply Red Simply Red are an English soul music, soul and pop band formed in Manchester in 1985. Band leader, singer and songwriter Mick Hucknall was the only original member left by the time Simply Red initially disbanded in 2010. They have released thir ...

, 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 Josephine Grace Brand (born 23 July 1957) is an English actress, comedian, presenter and writer. Starting her entertainment career with a move from psychiatric nursing to the alternative comedy stand-up scene and early performances on '' Satur ...

, to a crowd of 60,000 at a 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

gave birth to her son. With the closure of the

deConstruction In philosophy, deconstruction is a loosely-defined set of approaches to understand the relationship between text and meaning. The concept of deconstruction was introduced by the philosopher Jacques Derrida, who described it as a turn away from ...

label by BMG in 1996, the band founded their own

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

, M People Records, to release their 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 ( 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 plaster, the painting become ...

'', was released and entered the

at number 2, going on to sell 1.1 million copies and being 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 featured 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, Tattoo. ...

" (number 33) and the band went on a fifteen-date UK tour supporting the album, receiving rave reviews. The final single lifted from the album was " Angel St", which reached 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 in terms of both sales and airplay.

''The Best of M People''

In the middle of 1998, the band prepared for their fifth album, a

compilation Compilation may refer to: *In computer programming, the translation of source code into object code by a compiler **Compilation error **Compilation unit *Product bundling, a marketing strategy used to sell multiple products, such as video game co ...

entitled '' The Best of M People'', which also contained three new tracks: " Testify", " Dreaming" and a cover of the

Doobie Brothers The Doobie Brothers are an American rock music, rock band formed in San Jose, California in 1970. Known for their flexibility in performing across numerous genres and their Vocal harmony, vocal harmonies, the band has been active for over five d ...

classic "

What a Fool Believes "What a Fool Believes" is a song written by Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins. The best-known version was recorded by The Doobie Brothers (with McDonald singing lead vocals) for their 1978 album '' Minute by Minute''. Debuting at number 73 o ...

". The album went on to sell 1.75 million copies, peaked at number 2, and was certified 3× platinum. Of the three new tracks, "Testify" and "Dreaming" were released as singles. "Testify" reached number 12 in October 1998, and "Dreaming" reached number 13 in February 1999, marking 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: An Urban-Pacific Stree ...

'', and it seemed that the band had split. However, a re-packaged greatest hits album entitled '' Ultimate Collection'' was released in 2005, leading 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 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 respons ...

's 2007 Forest Tours at

Delamere Forest Delamere Forest is a large Woodland, wood in the village of Delamere, Cheshire, Delamere in Cheshire, England. The woodland, which is managed by Forestry England, covers an area of making it the largest area of woodland in the county. It contai ...

, 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 No ...

, North Yorkshire Moors;

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 A S ...

, Suffolk; and

Westonbirt Arboretum Westonbirt, The National Arboretum is an arboretum in Gloucestershire, England, about southwest of the town of Tetbury. Managed by Forestry England, it is perhaps the most important and widely known arboretum in the United Kingdom. Planted in ...

, 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 counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, London, on 12 June 2007, and the

Chichester Chichester ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher ...

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

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, on 7 September 2007. The band also played some

festival A festival is an event 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, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

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 channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

's ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (commonly referred to as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly Ballroom dance, ballroom and Latin dance, Latin dance. Each couple is ...

'' in the UK. In 2012, as part of a series of Summer Concerts in

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1759, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

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, economic, legal, environmental, political, religious, scientific or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the curren ...

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

, James Morrison and the

Gipsy Kings Gipsy Kings (originally Los Reyes) are a musical group founded in 1979 in Arles, France. The band, whose members have Catalans, Catalan heritage, play a blend of Catalan rumba, flamenco, Salsa music, salsa, and Pop music, pop. They perform mos ...

. M People performed a 60-minute set on Wednesday 4 July, supported by

Chic Chic (; ), meaning "stylish" or "smart", is an element of fashion. It was originally a French word. Etymology '' Chic'' is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s. Early references in English dictionaries classified ...

featuring

Nile Rodgers Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. The co-founder of Chic, he has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 750 million albums and 1 ...

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 ''

''. 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".

Members

(born 20 January 1965, London) – vocals (1990–present) *

Mike Pickering Mike Pickering is an English musician, DJ, songwriter, A&R Executive from Manchester, UK. Career Pickering was a DJ at The Haçienda's Nude and Hot nights, and later Shine. He worked for Factory Records, where he signed Happy Mondays, To Hell ...

(born 24 February 1958,

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

) – 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) Session saxophonist Snake Davis provided saxophone for the band on songs such as "Moving on Up" and "Search for the Hero".

Discography

Studio albums * ''

'' (1991) * ''

'' (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 Brit Awards are the

British Phonographic Industry BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) Limited, trading as British Phonographic Industry (BPI), is the British recorded music industry's trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards; is home to the Mercury Prize; co-owns the Official Charts C ...

'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 The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Welsh entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and Musical composition, composing. They have been presented annually in London by the The Ivors Academy, Ivors Academy, formerly called the Britis ...

, 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 award, music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the Music of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom or Music of Ireland, Ireland. It was cre ...

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 ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

''. , - , 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