Marine Girls were a music group from Hatfield ,Hertfordshire.The group was formed in 1980 by two sixth form school friends: Tracey Thorn and Gina Hartman. Originally,Tracey played guitar and Gina was vocalist and percussionist. They were later joined by Jane Fox on bass and her younger sister Alice on joint vocals and percussion. The group sang minimalist songs about the sea, love and everything else.Contemporaries of acts such as Young Marble Giants and The Raincoats,the group applied the DIY ethic of the time to record a self-produced and self-released cassette A Day By The Sea.They went on to record an album Beach Party,initially released on Pat Berminghams In Phaze label then later released by Dan Tracey of Television Personalities label Whamm!.In the summer of 1981 Gina Hartman left the band to persue other musical projects :Doof,Sindy Arthur (with Mark Flunder) and being involved with In Phaze group Portion Control .That same year,the band came to the attention of Mike Alway at Cherry Red records,and began to attract wider notice with more London gigs,including appearances at the Moonlight Club and the basement in Covent Garden.In October of 1981,Tracey Thorn moved to Hull to attend university,but the group stayed together,and soon signed to indie label Cherry Red.In early 1982 they released a single,On My Mind,which was made Single of the Week in the NME,and this was followed by a Melody Maker front cover interview.The Marine Girls continued to play more gigs,supporting Orange Juice at the Lyceum,playing at Kingston Poly with the Monochrome Set,and with the Gist at ULU.Meanwhile,they also recorded a second album,Lazy Ways,which was produced by Stuart Moxham,formerly of the Young Marble Giants.During this period,Tracey also released a solo album,A Distant Shore,and formed the group Everything But The Girl with fellow Hull student Ben Watt.As EBTG,their first single included a re-recording of the Marine Girls song On My Mind.The Marine Girls split up in 1983.Tracey continued to record with Ben Watt as Everything But The Girl,until 2000.She is currently a solo recording artist www.myspace.co.uk/traceythorn Jane and Alice Fox went on to record for Cherry Red as Grab Grab The Haddock,and are currently both living in Brighton and working as artists. Gina Hartman www.myspace.co.uk/sweetplumsugargirl works as an Art Technician.
