The Grid

For other uses of the title The Grid, see Grid (disambiguation).

The Grid are an English electronic dance group, consisting of Richard Norris and David Ball (formerly of Soft Cell), with guest contributions from other musicians. They are best known for the hits "Swamp Thing", "Crystal Clear", "Texas Cowboys", "Rollercoaster", "Floatation", "Cybernetic" (with Robert Fripp and Phil Manzanera) and "Crystal Clear".

Band members

• Richard Norris (born 23 June 1965, London) - keyboards
• David Ball (born 3 May 1959, Blackpool, Lancashire) - keyboards

Biography

The Grid formed in 1988 and had their first success with debut single, "Floatation", released on East West Records in 1990. They went on to release a string of singles and four albums, and toured the UK, Europe, Asia and Australia. The group's 1994 album Evolver reached number fourteen in the UK Albums Chart.^[1] The lead single from this album, "Swamp Thing", featuring elaborate banjo lines (played by Roger Dinsdale) over house beats, was a commercial success in the UK, Europe and Australia, reaching number three in the UK and Australia and selling a total of one million copies.

In 1996, Norris and Ball agreed to a hiatus period in order pursue individual music interests. Norris formed the Droyds, which went on to remix tracks by musicians including Armand Van Helden and Siobhan Fahey, and wrote the official biography of Paul Oakenfold (published in 2007): Ball reformed Soft Cell with Marc Almond and also wrote music scores for films^{[citation needed]}.

The duo reunited in 2005, initially playing two gigs under the name GDM with female singer Misty Woods, before writing and recording new material as the Grid. A single, "Put Your Hands Together", was released in 2007 and an album, Doppelgänger, followed in 2008. Both were released on the Some Bizzare label. The album featured vocals by the British musician, Chris Braide.

Discography

Albums

• Electric Head (1990)
• 456 (1992)
• Evolver (1994)
• Music for Dancing (1995)
• Doppelgänger (2008 Some Bizzare Records)

Singles

• "On the Grid" (1989) (promo only)
• "Intergalactica" (1989) (promo only)
• "Floatation" (1990)
• "A Beat Called Love" (1990)
• "Origins of Dance" (1990) (Dr. Timothy Leary meets the Grid)
• "Boom!" (1991)
• "Figure of 8" (1992)
• "Heartbeat" (1992)
• "Crystal Clear" (1993)
• "Texas Cowboys" (1993)
• "Swamp Thing" (1993)
• "Rollercoaster" (1994)
• "Texas Cowboys" (1994 re-issue)
• "Diablo" (1995)
• "Slammer" / "Slinker" (2006) (promo only)
• "Put Your Hands Together" (2007)

References

External links

• Grid Central - An Unofficial Page for The Grid
• The Grid on allmusic.com
• The Grid MySpace page