Representative Songs: "Anymore," "Home," "Ready or Not"
Biography
The frontwoman for beloved British club-pop trio Saint Etienne, diva Sarah Cracknell was born April 12, 1967 in Chelmsford, Essex; raised primarily in the Windsor area, as a youth she attended convent school, and later briefly studied drama. After a stint with the little-known Prime Time, in the spring of 1991 Cracknell was recruited to sing on the third Saint Etienne single "Nothing Can Stop Us"; her cool allure fit perfectly with the group's sophisticated indie-dance approach, and after contributing heavily to their 1991 debut LP Fox Base Alpha she was made an official member of the lineup. After completing two more Saint Etienne albums, 1993's So Tough and 1994's Tiger Bay, in the summer of 1996 Cracknell issued her debut solo single "Anymore"; an LP, Lipslide, followed in the spring. And in the midst of recording and releasing Saint Etienne's fifth album Sound of Water in summer 2000, Cracknell balanced out another solo effort entitled Kelly's Locker, which appeared in September. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
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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, 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, although it was not a big seller (Cracknell has in interviews placed some of the blame for this on lack of proper promotion by Gut). The UK version of the album is now out of print.
Lipslide finally surfaced in the U.S. three years later, when Instinct Records released it in February 2000. With completely different cover art, the original album's tracklisting was also modified: five tracks were removed and four new songs plus a remix were added. Months later, Instinct released the Kelly's LockerEP, 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's first choice for the vocals of his number-one hit "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)" 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.
Sarah has recorded a duet "I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten" (formerly by Dusty Springfield) with Marc Almond for his album Stardom Road, released June 2007.
In December 2007, BBC radio began playing "The Journey Continues" by Mark Brown featuring Sarah Cracknell. The song consists of extensive samples from a composition by Elena Kats-Chernin entitled Eliza's Aria, 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 on February 2008 on Positiva. The song peaked at #11 in the UK after being released.
Cracknell collaborated with French pop star Etienne Daho several times. She co-wrote and sang back-up vocals on "Les passagers" from his 1996 album Eden, and also co-wrote "Le premier jour" which was released as a single from his greatest hits compilation Singles. With Saint Etienne, they collaborated together 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".
Marc AlmondStardom Road I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten
Akasha The Last Weekend
Mark Brown feat. Sarah Cracknell - The Journey Continues (2008) UK#11. Features a sample of Elena Kats-Chernin's vocals from the aria of the ballet Wild Swans, for which Kats-Chernin composed the music. Featured on her 2006 album, also called Wild Swans, it was popularised by a Lloyds TSB advertising campaign.
