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Alisha's Attic

 
Artist: Alisha's Attic
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See Alisha's Attic Lyrics
  • Genres: Rock
  • Representative Albums: "The House We Built", "Collection

Biography

Sisters Karen and Shellie Poole grew up in England's Essex County loving music. With aspirations to join the world of pop, the sisters began writing quirky, playful music and dubbed themselves Alisha's Attic, a reference to a fictional character they had imagined that was one-part Karen, one-part Shellie. A homemade demo of their Prince-meets-Kate Bush music was sent to the Mercury label and soon their dreams were becoming reality. Sessions with various producers were abandoned, but the talented duo marched on, writing and programming the foundation of their debut on their own. Dave Stewart was brought in as producer and with the finishing touches finished, Alisha Rules the World debuted the band in 1996. Promotional tours, opening for INXS, a slot on the Lilith Fair tour in America, and the successful "I Am, I Feel" single brought the sisters 600,000 in sales in the U.K. and an instant loyal fan base in the U.S. Released in 1998, their sophomore effort, Illumina, was more mature and supported by the faithful but failed to make much a dent in the charts minus the kickoff single, "The Incidentals," which reached a U.K. high of 13. The House We Built from 2001 saw the sisters getting deeper and more introspective with their writing. While it was a well-regarded release with critics and fans, Alisha's Attic soon fell victim to a large purge of Mercury's roster. The sisters decided to dissolve the band and carry on with solo careers. Karen went on to be a songwriter, writing hits for Kylie Minogue, Sugarbabes, and the Shapeshifters. Shellie changed the spelling of her name to Shelly to mark change and carried on as a solo act. She married Ally McErlaine from the Scottish band Texas in 2001 and released the album Hard Time for the Dreamer in 2005. Also in 2005 was a brief, live reunion of Alisha's Attic when Karen joined Shelly for two songs during a gig in Shepherd's Bush Green. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide
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Alisha's Attic

Shelly (left) and Karen (right)
Background information
Origin London, England
Genres Pop
Years active 1996 - 2001
Labels MCA Music, Inc./Mercury
Associated acts Shelly McErlaine
Website http://www.alishasatticofficial.com
Former members
Shelly McErlaine
Karen Poole

Alisha's Attic were an English duo of the 1990s and early 2000s. The two members were Shelly McErlaine (née Poole) and Karen Poole, sisters born in East London (Barking and Chadwell Heath, respectively),[1] England.[2] Their father is Brian Poole of Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, a 1960s musical group.[3]The "Alisha" referred to in the group's name is a fictional character created by Shelly and Karen, based on an imaginary childhood friend whom Shelly communicated with as a child. “Attic” comes from the attic studio belonging to a composer friend, Terry Martin, where they originally recorded demos.[4]

Contents

History

Discounting the sisters' teenage material (recorded as "Keren & Chelle"), Karen and Shelly's recording career began with the single "I Am, I Feel", a hit in the UK, and this was quickly followed by their debut album "Alisha Rules the World" in November 1996.[3] They were nominated for a 1997 Brit Award[5] for Best Newcomer, losing out to Kula Shaker.

They went on to release two more albums; Illumina, which gave the singles 'The Incidentals', 'Wish I was You' and 'Barbarella', and the critically acclaimed album The House We Built, a mostly live album recorded with Bill Botrell in Mendocino, USA. The two singles from this album were 'Pretender Got my Heart' and 'Push it all Aside'. Both of these singles featured award-winning videos made by Sophie Muller. The group released one more Japanese album - 'Japanese Dream' - before the girls went their separate ways in 2003. Splitting with Mercury Records but staying with their publishers they both continue to be successful pop writers for other artists. (see discogs)

A solo album entitled Hard time for The Dreamer was released by Shelly in 2005[6]; It was top 10 in the UK and French i tunes charts in 2005 for 9 weeks .She also wrote and appears on Michael Gray's "Borderline".

"Pretender Got My Heart" appeared on the "Bridget Jones Diary" soundtrack.

The song "Intense" appeared in the motion picture Starship Troopers.

Discography

Albums

  • Alisha Rules the World (November 1996, UK #14)[7]
  • Japanese Dream (1997, Japan-only release)
  • Illumina (October 1998, UK #15)[7]
  • The House We Built (July 23, 2001, produced by Bill Bottrell, recorded at Bill Bottrell's studio in Mendocino, California, UK #55)[7]
    1. "Sex Is On Everyone's Tongue"
    2. "Can't Say Sorry"
    3. "Push It All Aside" (single)
    4. "Pilot"
    5. "The House That We Built"
    6. "Pretender Got My Heart" (single)
    7. "That Other Girl"
    8. "Perfectly Happy"
    9. "She Ain't Missing You"
    10. "If You Want Me Back"
    11. "Devil You Call Love"
    12. "Dreaming"
  • The Attic Vaults 1 (August 2001, produced by Alisha's Attic)

After separating from Mercury Records, Karen and Shelly produced and released an album of tracks that had been held back from their previous albums. It is now collectable.

  1. "Strangers"
  2. "Taken Back"
  3. "Don't Let Love Bring You Down"
  4. "The Last Letter"
  5. "Too Far Forgotten"
  6. "Real Love"
  7. "When U Coming Home?"
  8. "Impossible Dreamer"
  9. "Flaws"
  10. "Free"
  11. "Stay Will U Stay"
  12. "She's A Heroine"

Singles

  • 1996 "I am, I Feel" UK #14[3][7]
  • 1996 "Alisha Rules the World" UK #12[7]
  • 1997 "Indestructible" UK #12[7]
  • 1997 "Air We Breathe" UK #12[7]
  • 1998 "The Incidentals" UK #13[8][7]
  • 1999 "Wish I Were You" UK #29[7]
  • 2000 "Barbarella" UK #34[7]
  • 2001 "Push It All Aside" UK #24[7]
  • 2001 "Pretender Got My Heart" UK #43[7]

Other songs

References

  1. ^ http://www.nme.com/artists/alishas-attic
  2. ^ Kwaku (1996-06-29). "Mercury betting the house on Alisha's attic". Billboard 108 (26, p58). ISSN 00062510. 
  3. ^ a b c Sexton, Paul; Horak, Terri (1997-03-15). "Mercury set to open up U.K.'s Alisha's Attic in U.S". Billboard 109 (11): p15. ISSN 00062510. 
  4. ^ Wilson, Dave (2005). Rock Formations. Cidermill Books. p. 104. ISBN 0-9748483-5-2. http://books.google.com/books?id=tOpB23GGxAIC&pg=PA104&dq=%22alisha%27s+attic%22&lr=&num=20&as_brr=3&ei=SJBpSM24HaXOjgHSkoGpBw&sig=ACfU3U2yZ2aQRHNrfN3S2A0HcqTaj34CQg. 
  5. ^ Hudson, Heidi (April 1997). "Alisha's Attic". Lesbian News 22 (9): p37. ISSN 07391803. 
  6. ^ Verrico, Lisa (2005-09-02). "New from Shelley Poole". Section: Features, Pop CDs, (Times, The (United Kingdom)): pp. pg. 11. 
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Brown, Tony; Neil Warwick; Jon Kutner (2004). The Complete Book Of The British Charts: Singles and Albums. London: Omnibus Press. p. 57. ISBN 1-84449-058-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=ib4MyAIpe3MC&pg=PA57&vq=%22alisha's+attic%22&dq=%22alisha's+attic%22&lr=&num=20&as_brr=3&source=gbs_search_s&sig=ACfU3U0E2jn5lAWBhdiNn68C6ulQXW-iPw. 
  8. ^ Jeffries, David. "Alisha's Attic > Biography". Archived from the original on 2008-07-01. http://www.webcitation.org/5YybBI2qt. Retrieved 2008-07-01. 

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 
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Artist. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
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