Sarah Jane Morris

Music:

Member Since: 2/5/2006
Band Website: sarahjanemorris.com
Band Members: Current band comprises: Henry Thomas (bass), Martyn Barker (drums, percussion), Neill MacColl (guitars), Kevin Armstrong (guitars), David Coulter (musical saw, mandolin, percussion)
Influences: Captain Beefheart, Sly Stone, Nina Simone, Tom Waits, Isley Brothers
Sounds Like:

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SARAH JANE MORRIS CHRONOLOGY2005 This year has had me involved in some fabulous projects that stretched me as a singer. I played many concerts in Italy with the Annie Whitehead-led project ‘Soup Songs’, which involved some of Englands best jazz musicians playing the music of Robert Wyatt. The line-up was (and is): Cristina Donna (the fabulous, quirky Italian singer), Jennifer Maidman and myself on lead vocals (Jennifer is also the guitarist), Annie on trombone, Mark Lockhart on saxes, Harry Beckett (a legend in his own lifetime) on trumpet, Dudley Philips on double and electric bass, Steve Lodder on piano and keyboards, and Liam Genocky on drums and personality (this guy is amazing!). Hopefully we will do more concerts in 2006 and this is definitely one to track down, as it is one of my favourite musical experiences. The songs are uniquely quirky, English, political and written by one of our best songwriters. The arrangements by Annie Whitehead are sublime! In April Neill MacColl, Steve Lodder and I teamed up with an amazing opera singer (with a true baritone voice) called Omar and, along with Katherine Tickell on Northumbrian pipes and the Northern Symphonia, we performed the new opera ‘Jamie Allen’, written by and composed by John Harle. We rehearsed in London and performed the opera at The Sage in Gateshead, Newcastle. This was the first time I had returned to the area since performing with The Communards in 1986 and, needless to say, so much has changed! This was one of the hardest challenges of my musical career so far and we do hope to tour with this opera in 2006. In November we recorded the opera and a DVD has been made of the performances at the Sage, which should get released next year. The Summer had us travelling in Italy and Sicily with the addition of Dave O’Higgins on saxes and Blair Macichan on keyboards and vocals, and we filmed the concert at Villa Cellimontana in Rome, which will get a DVD release in January 2006 (along with our more intimate concert at Alexandra Platz in Rome). Irma paid for a cameraman to come to London and interview me at home and in Brixton at The Ritzy (my local arts cinema with several singer-songwriter friends), and it captures a more real side of my life. Thanks to my friend Malcolm, aka Nick the Nightfly (one of the best DJs in Italy working for Radio Montecarlo), I have been guesting with him and his Big Band around Italy and Sicily. I look forward to many more concerts with him next year. In February Marc Ribot flew to London and recorded several tracks with me for our next project (a follow-up to the album ‘August’). In November I flew to New York to finish the recording and add the wonderful dulcet tones of Eric Mingus and the cello of Bonfire Madigan on a track. Rod Morris (my brother) is working on the photos for this project, so there is another tie up with ‘August’. If you remember, the artwork booklet was his wonderful black and white photos of London and New York. Todd in San Francisco will be tying all that together again and be in charge of assembling the artwork. In November I was booked for the first time to duet with the wonderful American guitarist Tony Smith at Pizza Express Dean Street. I will be recording a track for his up-and-coming album. In December many concerts in Italy were arranged including a grotto in Salerno (which sounds very interesting). We go back to Brighton (which we love) the wonderful OneTen club in Birmingham (run by my friend Joel Wata) and Norfolk for the lovely Reg Simmons, who is busy educating Norfolk to his musical taste. He is doing pretty well so far. We finish the year in Milan (Blue Note) and London (Ronnie Scott’s), both of these places have become second homes to us in recent years_______________________________________________________ ____________________2004 In February we played The Purcel Rooms to launch the UK release of ‘Live at Montreal’. The concert involved Calum and Neill MacColl, Henry Thomas, Martyn Barker (one of the main co-writers of the past few CDs) and my husband, David Coulter, on musical saw. The concert was a sell out and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It was good to be back at the South Bank! During the course of the year Neill MacColl and I took part in a series of concerts with John Harle arranging the music of Harry Cox, the Norfolk folk singer. We toured in Italy, played at Bremen Festival in Germany and played at the Union Chapel in Islington, closing the year with a sold out concert at Ronnie Scott’s. The concert featured many special guests from my musical past, including John Glyn and Richard Avison from The Republic, Matt Fox and Glen Gordon from The Happy End, Terry Edwards from Test Department, Annie Whitehead (from the days when I sang in her band), Richard Coles from the Communards, Roy Dodds, Kwaku Dzidzornu, Dave O Higgins, Matt Backer, Kevin Armstrong, Neill MacColl, Henry Thomas, Martyn Barker, David Coulter and the wonderful Molly Parkin, who acted as emcee. It was a night I will always remember, with two of my best friends, Kathryn and Julie, flying from New York for it and several fans coming from Italy. The next day we went to do three nights at The Blue Note in Milan and I returned there with Otis to sing for the New Year with Nick The Nightfly and his Big Band._______________________________________________________ ____________________2003 This year saw the release of ‘Love and Pain’ and massive touring in Italy, Canada, Montreux Jazz, to Gemany and Paris and even to New York. The highlight of the touring was the two nights at the wonderful Montreal Jazz Festival, where we recorded our 2nd night for a future release. The touring party for Canada and the US were Calum and Neill MacColl and Henry Thomas. Late July, Kevin Armstrong and I performed at the Vancouver Folk Festival alongside the wonderful Billy Bragg, Ani Difranco and Michael Franti. What a glorious festival and we do hope to return there someday. In the Summer I moved back to London after 8 years in the countryside and it was good to be back where it was all happening! Later in the year there were more concerts in Italy and preparation for the release of our next CD. ____________________________________________________________ _______________2002 The first day of the year sees Sarah-Jane performing a long awaited concert with Marc Ribot, Henry Thomas, Greg Leppard, Scott Firth and her husband, David Coulter at The Umbria Winter Jazz Festival in Orvieto, Italy. The concert was a big success and was recorded for posterity. At the end of January Sarah-Jane, along with guitarists Matt Backer and Scott Firth, headed back to Italy for a week of promotional concerts for the Italian release of the ‘August’ album. February was spent in Tuscany with Calum MacColl and Martyn Barker, at the studio of Lorenzo Tomasini, mixing the new album ‘Love and Pain’. Special thanks to Lorenzo’s mother for her wonderful cooking! March was spent enjoying spring, her birthday and recovering from a heavy Christmas and New Year schedule! April and May saw Sarah-Jane and Band performing concerts around the UK. At the end of June Sarah-Jane, along with Kevin Armstrong (guitar), Martyn Barker (drums) and Henry Thomas (bass), performed her first concert in Berlin for many years. The ‘August’ album has done well in Germany and there has been much positive press, for more German press – www.jazzdimensions.de A thank you to Frank Klaffs for all his help and PR work! In July, Sarah-Jane, Henry and Greg flew to Montreal to perform a concert with Marc Ribot at the prestigious Montreal Jazz Festival. A good time was had by all and hopefully there will be a return visit soon. What an amazing festival and what a beautiful city! Later in July Sarah-Jane along with Greg, Henry, Matt and Alastair, performed for the first time at the Istanbul Jazz Festival. Once again they received fabulous hospitality, good sound (great house engineer) and hope to return in 2003. The rest of July was spent (with the full band line up) touring Italy, Sicily and Sardinia. What a terrible life! The weather was great, the food was good, the wine was flowing and the audiences were fabulous! One of the highlights was performing in Palermo, at the Teatro Massimo’ summer location, around a beautiful lake. August saw Sarah-Jane spending time with her family and friends in Italy and Paris. Having acted as her own manager and agent for the last two years, Sarah-Jane has managed to re-establish herself and has decided to claim a life back by handing over management to Pete Jenner at Sincere Management and the agency work to Nigel Morton at Moneypenny. Sarah-Jane goes back a long way with Pete, to the Red Wedge days of 1986. Pete has successfully managed Billy Bragg for the last twenty years and more recently Eddie Reader, the wonderful Scottish singer/songwriter, whom Sarah-Jane had previously been in a band with in the early eighties called ‘Fu Fu and Light Soup’. Check out the video clip of Sarah-Jane performing with Eddie Reader and Ian Shaw (on backing vocals) along with the Jools Holland Big Band. In September Sarah-Jane returned with the full band to the Hell Blues Festival in Norway. Everyone hopes they are invited back next year. Let’s hope they get to play other Scandinavian dates in 2003. September also saw the release of an album to coincide with the airing of the TV series The Ship on BBC2. Sarah-Jane, along with Andy Sheppard and David Coulter, featured heavily on the soundtrack, written by John Harle, a long time collaborator of Sarah-Jane’s. This year Sarah-Jane decided to take a break from her usual week run at Ronnie Scott’s in December. Instead she has been appearing on Sunday nights throughout the year at the club at a much more sociable hour!! Yes they actually come off stage at 11pm as oppose to 3am in the morning! The end of September saw Sarah-Jane and the full band return for one of these successful evenings with special guests Paul Taylor (on trombone) and Terry Edwards (on trumpet). Sarah-Jane finally fulfilled a dream performing there with her own brass section! The same line-up will return to Ronnie’s on Sunday the 15th December – a night not to be missed! October sees Sarah-Jane, Calum and Martyn return to Voom Studios to finalise the mixes for the ‘Love and Pain’ album, which is due for worldwide release in spring 2003. In November, Sarah-Jane and Matt go to the Shetland Islands for the very first time for a weekend of concerts. December looks like a busy month for Sarah-Jane and the band, with return concerts at various UK venues including a two night run at the Komedia in Brighton.___________________________________________________ ________________________2001 This was a year spent closing chapters and opening new ones. Halfway through the year, Sarah-Jane decided to part company with her manager Ross Fitzsimons and to go it alone! This led to the birth of Fallen Angel, which was to become her management, agency, production and record company. In August, Sarah-Jane spent three and a half days in Laylow Studios on the Portobello Road with Marc Ribot and her long term engineer/producer Rod Beale, making the album ‘August’. It was a dream come true for Sarah-Jane, who has been a fan of the guitar playing of Marc Ribot for many a year. Sarah-Jane would like to add a huge thanks to Frank Clifford for his part in making this possible! The two spent about an hour delving through Sarah-Jane’s carrier bag containing half the CD’s from her private collection. The album was no rehearsal, first take, as it should be!_________________________________________________________ __________________2000 January and February took Sarah-Jane and band to the Jazz Café (London) Devon (The Plough Arts Centre), Dorset (Bridport Arts Centre) and Bracknell (Southill Park). Mid-February Sarah-Jane made her annual trip to New York to record with Mike Thorne, on his follow-up album to ‘Sprawl’. This time Sarah-Jane and Mike shared the song writing and three songs were written and recorded at Mike’s studio Stereo Society. During this trip new friendships were cemented with the wonderful Kathryn Williams and Julie Hegeler! (N.B. from Sarah-Jane: ‘Thank-you both for everything!’). April and May were busy months promoting the release of ‘I Am A Woman’, the best of compilation album with concerts at The Stables in Wavenden. The Library Theatre in Solihull, The Komedia in Brighton, The Ocean in London, The Phoenix Arts Centre Leicester, The Clocktower in Croydon, Band on the Wall in Manchester, The Lemon Tree Aberdeen, The McRobert Arts Centre in Stirling, Berwick Arts Centre, Windsor Arts Centre and The RSC’s Summer House in Stratford-upon-Avon. In June, Sarah-Jane and her husband, David Coulter, travelled to the Chapel Studio’s near Grimsby, to guest on Thea Gilmore’s second album. Later in June Sarah-Jane flew to San Francisco to meet, for the first time, her cousins Armistead Maupin (the author of ‘Tales of The City’, check out Armistead’s latest book ‘The Night Listener’) and his sister Jane. This was a wonderful experience and made sense of so much. Sarah-Jane says a big thank-you to Nick, David, Todd and Jorge for their wonderful friendship and hospitality whilst in San Francisco. July and August took Sarah-Jane and band to Italy for the wonderful outdoor festivals they are so good at organising. September was a strange month! Remember September the 11th, who could forget! Sarah-Jane, Matt Backer and Scott Firth played their first New York concerts at The ‘Bottom Line’ followed by ‘The Tonic Club’. The concerts were wonderful and the return planes were caught getting all safely home on the evening of September 11th. Hell Blues Festival in Norway was the next stop, a first for the band. The concert was a sell out and Sarah-Jane and the band were re-booked for the following year! October saw a return to the Komedia in Brighton and the Ocean in London and a concert in St.Albans, The Dream Factory Warwick and Burton-on-Trent. November and December were busy with Sarah-Jane’s usual sell-out week at Ronnie Scott’s and various radio sessions in order to promote the UK release of ‘August’, the first album to be released on ‘Fallen Angel Records’. The press was very favourable which helped open doors to a new audience. The year finished in the beautiful town of Orvieto, Italy at the Umbria Winter Jazz Festival, performing seven sell out concerts leading into the new year._______________________________________________________ ____________________1999 Sarah-Jane joins forces with a new management team called Kaleidoscope Music, who help to get a UK release for the new album. This is to be her first proper UK release since the banning of Me And Mrs Jones in 1989. Sarah Jane travels to New York with her son to attend the release party for the Sprawl album. She continues to tour England and Europe promoting the 'Fallen Angel' album. In the UK, Radio 2 and 4 get behind the album and a new profile is beginning. A successful concert at the Royal Shakespeare's Other Place Theatre is close to home for Sarah Jane, who started her career at Stratford's local drama college 21 years before. Sarah Jane is asked to sing all vocals for a BBC film called Summer In The Suburbs, music written by the award winning John Harle. The film is transmitted in early 2000. The year closes with a week at Ronnie Scott's and the Jazz Café with rave reviews by 'The Guardian' and the 'Evening Standard'.__________________________________________________ _________________________ 1998 In February Sarah Jane returns to New York to put the final vocal touches to the album Sprawl. She also meets up with Marc Ribot, who has guested on Fallen Angel. Marc is one of Sarah Jane's favourite guitarists and there are plans to make another album with him in the future. A brief knee operation in June sees Sarah Jane wheelchair-bound for a tour of Italy. Fallen Angel is released in Europe and Japan in October, followed by TV appearances and a European tour. The first single is Ever Gonna Make It._________________________________________________________ __________________1997 Sarah Jane signs a worldwide deal with Italian label Irma Records. Italian rock group Stadio ask Sarah to guest on the album Dammi 5 Minuti for EMI. The song is called The Same. She travels to New York to record with Mike Thorne for his latest album project involving Lene Lovitch and New York band Betty. Sarah Jane records two unreleased songs written by Marianne Faithfull and two other covers. These recordings are eventually released on Mike Thorne's website Stereo Society on an album called Sprawl in 1999. This is a great web site with a large section on Sarah Jane Morris and is definitely worth a browse. Sarah Jane begins the process of co-producing her fourth solo album. Tragically her father dies from cancer on the first day of recording, throwing Sarah into a state of near madness for the whole of the recording period. As a result, a concept album is made of a journey through madness and out the other side. The album, called Fallen Angel is dedicated to her father, who played an enormously-influential role in her life. The music is recorded with her faithful posse of musicians and Rod Beale in his Portobello Road recording studio. The mix is done whilst the band perform a week of concerts at Ronnie Scott's. Bereavement counselling follows.____________________________________________________ _______________________1996 Sarah Jane appears with The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in Prague, Vienna and the UK, singing a cycle of Kurt Weill. Another solo European tour follows along with three weeks at Ronnie Scott's in London and a week at the clubs Birmingham home. Sarah Jane is asked to guest on a track called Visions of You for Sony Records in Greece. The dance track goes to No 1. The rest of the year is taken up with writing material for her next album.______________________________________________________ _____________________1995 Otis Jack Coulter is born on the 3rd of February 1995, and all is well. Blue Valentine is released and becomes the label's biggest selling album. It features five of her own compositions and songs written by Sting, Sade and Tom Waits. Paul Weller has also written the song Leaves Around The Door for the album. Sarah Jane presents a five-part series for Radio 3 about Jazz. She appears at a concert with Chrissie Hynde and Sinead O'Connor called What Women Want, co-organised by her husband and Lynne Franks. Sarah Jane tours Europe taking Otis with her, and then moves the family to the country.____________________________________________________ _______________________1994 This year sees Sarah Jane managing her own career and trying to work the UK Market for the first time in years. Several concerts at the Jazz Café and a sell-out week at London's Ronnie Scott's help put her back on the map in the capital. Whilst performing at Ronnie's, she is asked by the club's record label 'Jazz House' if they can record an evening for a live album. Sarah Jane says yes and the Thursday evening is recorded. Blue Valentine, her third solo album is the result. Sarah Jane is heavily pregnant at the time of recording which may account for the laid-back approach to the album. Sarah Jane appears at The Everyman Theatre in Liverpool in Blues In The Night. Whilst pregnant, Sarah Jane is asked to star in and write the music for a short film for Channel 4 about a woman who is, but doesn't want to be, pregnant. The film Expecting is screened in 1995, and she is able to see it with her son a few months after his birth.______________________________________________________ _____________________ 1993 Sarah Jane has two No. 1 hits from the Heaven album in Greece and goes out to do many TV appearances and several concerts (one of which causes her to break her ankle and two toes!). Sarah Jane does a concert on an Athens beach to 10,000 people and tours Italy playing at a series of beautiful amphitheatres. Sarah Jane appears on an album for Virgin by Italian keyboard player and producer Gianni Nocenzi and Ryuichi Sakamoto called Soft Songs.______________________________________________________ _____________________ 1992 On March 8th, 'Giorno della Donna' (International Women's Day), Sarah Jane performs in Rome with Astrud Gilberto and Cassandra Wilson at an event called Swing Ladies. Other artists include Monserrat Caballé, Chaka Khan, Rickie Lee Jones and Joan Armatrading. The second album, Heaven, is recorded for Virgin Records and is distributed throughout Europe with the exception of the UK due to the timing of the EMI take over. Sarah Jane co-writes eight of the ten tracks. A Barry White cover, Never Gonna Give You Up, is released as a single and is a chart-topper in Italy, Spain, Greece and Japan. Two songs from the album find their way onto the soundtrack of the TV thriller series Cracker after the director comes to a Jazz Café concert at the time of editing and hears the songs Right Track and Heaven, which both have appropriate lyrics for the story's theme. In August 1992 Sarah Jane marries long term boyfriend David Coulter of Pogues fame._______________________________________________________ ____________________1991 While appearing as Lucy Lockett in The Beggars' Opera at The Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester (which earns her a Best Supporting actress nomination for The Standard Awards) she is asked to co-write and perform a song for the Sanremo Festival with Riccardo Cocciante. She writes the lyrics with writer Cheryl Moskowitz and the song comes first with I'm Missing You, which goes to No. 2 in the Italian charts and No. 1 in Greece. Steve Martland (the English classical composer), recording a BBC documentary on his personal view of Thatcher's Britain, asks Sarah Jane to sing all the songs. This leads to Sarah Jane singing on an EP for Factory Records called Glad Day. Sarah Jane tours with The Steve Martland Band to Amsterdam, Vienna and the UK, culminating in a three-night stint at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London. Sarah Jane appears with Andy Bell, Lene Lovitch and Herbert Grönemeyer on Peter Hammill's gothic opera album, The Fall Of The House Of Usher, playing the part of the chorus. Peter is best known for his work with the cult 70s rock band, Van Der Graaf Generator. Guest vocals follow for Sarah on albums by Matt Bianco and Suzuki (a famous Japanese Koto player). Sarah Jane is approached by Antonia Bird to write the theme song for her BBC TV series The Men's Room. The song I Am A Woman, co-written with Andy Roberts, later appears on her second solo album. The Men's Room is transmitted in the autumn and repeated in 1993._______________________________________________________ ____________________ 1990 Sarah Jane leaves Jive Records and parts company with her management. She is asked to collaborate with Steve White once more, for another Illicit Grooves album. They co-write the title track A Certain Kind Of Freedom in a day. Sarah appears at the Sanremo festival in Italy in a songwriting collaboration with the Italian artist Riccardo Fogli. Sarah Jane teams up with German singer-songwriter Franz Benton to duet the song Carry On for German release. Europop fans can hear an extract from the song on the excellent Franz Benton Homepage. Later this year Sarah Jane performs at the Venice Opera House for the Italian prime minister.___________________________________________________ ________________________1989 The debut album Sarah Jane Morris is released in March, receiving great critical acclaim and eventually selling 100,000 copies. The second single Me And Mrs Jones is banned by the BBC, later attaining cult status. Success in Europe beckons with a tour supporting Simply Red. Sarah is voted Best Female Vocalist by Italy's Rockstar magazine and she later receives the keys to the city of Verona for her performance at the Verona Arena. Steve White, who Sarah had met while he was drumming for Paul Weller on the Red Wedge Tour, asks her to appear on his album Freedom Samba for Polydor. The featured track is Do It The Hard Way. The two later collaborate on a track called Mother Of The Future for the album Acid Jazz and Other Illicit Grooves Vol. 2 (Acid Jazz Records). Sarah appears at an anti-Poll Tax benefit at the end of this year._______________________________________________________ ____________________1988 The TV series Thin Air is broadcast and is repeated on BBC1 the following year. Sarah Jane signs a solo record deal with Jive Records. She co-writes her first song Cry with Alistair Gavin who goes on to produce a number of tracks on her first album. Alistair still sometimes plays keyboards in Sarah's band. An EP is released, followed by the first single with Jive._______________________________________________________ ____________________1987 Sarah Jane is asked by a friend, Richenel, to guest on the Dutch singer's album for Sony Records. The album is called A Year Has Many Days. Sarah Jane gives an acclaimed performance in the play The Sleep, directed by Pete Brooks for the Glasgow MayFest, the Riverside Studios in London and the Polverigi Festival in Italy. Antonia Bird sees the play and invites Sarah Jane to play the role of Samantha Graham in her first TV thriller series for the BBC.________________________________________________________ ___________________ 1986 In January Sarah Jane appears with The Communards on The Red Wedge Tour for the Labour Party. Other acts on the tour are Billy Bragg, Madness and the Style Council, featuring Paul Weller, who later writes the song Leaves Around The Door for Sarah Jane. Sarah Jane is also picked up by Madness's management Stirling Artists. Later that year Sarah Jane sings with Test Department on their album A Good Night Out. The band teams up with Labour politician Tony Benn to perform the history of the Labour Party as a rap at London's ICA at a freedom of speech concert along with Salman Rushdie reading his Satanic Verses. In February Sarah Jane tours India and Europe with the Annie Whitehead Band who are signed to Virgin Records. They play dates opposite Max Roach, Jan Garbarek and Stefan Grappelli. In September the Communards revival of the 70s Gamble and Huff hit Don't Leave Me This Way tops the charts around the World and is number 1 in the UK for 5 weeks. The single becomes the best-selling single of the year. The album The Communards reaches number 7 in the UK album charts. A nationwide and European tour follows which leads to a tour of the USA at Christmas. Click on the picture for full size image, plus the song lyrics, as seen in 'No.1' magazine, August 30th 1986. Sarah Jane uses the turn of the new year as the perfect time to exit from the limelight. She is asked by PR Lynne Franks to sing and model for the first catwalk show by Katherine Hamnett and later opens the designer's first shop in the Fulham Road in London._____________________________________________________ ______________________ 1985 Sarah Jane and Matt Fox co-write a song called Coal Not Dole with Kay Sutcliffe, a Kent miner's wife, which becomes the anthem throughout the miners' strike of this year. The Happy End play over 150 benefit concerts for the miners.Later this year, Sarah Jane suggests to friend Richard Coles and his musical partner, Jimmy Somerville, who she met at a miners' benefit in Brixton, that they perform Billy Holliday's Lover Man at a 'Gay's The Word' fundraising concert at the Fridge in Brixton. The response is enormous. The trio are watched by London Records in the audience and Sarah Jane is asked to fly to New York to record two duets with Jimmy on the first Communards album. Enter Mike Thorne, successful young producer with a string of hits behind him. This musical meeting leads to a long friendship and musical partnership with Mike. ____________________________________________________________ _______________1984 Sarah Jane joins the Happy End, a twenty-one-piece big band formed in 1983 by Matt Fox. The band specialised in the music of Kurt Weill and Hans Eisler. Sarah Jane remains the band's singer until 1989. The band releases two albums, There's Nothing Quite Like Money for Circus Records (an offshoot of Oval Records) and Resolution for Cooking Vinyl. Over the course of the next few years the band plays all over the country in venues as diverse as The Queen Elizabeth Hall and The Glastonbury Festival. Click the picture for the full size image, plus the write-up from THE FACE 1984._______________________________________________________ ____________________ 1983 The Republic did many tours of the UK and Switzerland where they had their biggest following. Life went on. Sarah Jane helped her then boyfriend to decorate a new building at Piccadilly Circus called The Trocadero. Their job was to make the ground floor look like an Italian and a French village using decorative painting. This job led to the interior decoration of the famous French restaurant 'Maxims’._________________________________________________ __________________________1982 Supporting herself by making and selling clothes in Camden Lock, Sarah Jane joins Afro-Caribbean-Latin band, The Republic, as their lead singer. With enormous publicity from the music press including cover stories with NME and City Limits and a documentary for Granada TV, they are hailed as the band most likely to make it. The band is deemed too political for radio play, with the honourable exception of Capital Radio. The Republic were signed to Charlie Gillet's Oval Records and released an EP entitled Three Songs From The Republic and two singles entitled One Chance and My Spies. Success did not follow and the band split up in 1984._______________________________________________________ ____________________1981 Sarah Jane teams up with Mitch Binns to perform a three-hander musical Hollywood Dreams, based on Kathleen and Kenneth Anger's controversial book Hollywood Babylon at the Edinburgh Festival. The musical wins an Edinburgh First and transfers to London's Latchmere Theatre. The two singers are spotted singing in a Chalk Farm wine bar by Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart and are asked to sing backing vocals on their first single Into The Garden. In return Dave Stewart helps record the songs from the musical in his studio in a church in Chalk Farm._______________________________________________________ ____________________ 1980 After studying drama in her teens and quitting the Central School of Speech and Drama half way through a three-year degree course, Sarah Jane teams up with a pianist-actor also in search of an Equity card. They do the rounds of the northern clubs and restaurants. After seeing advertisements in The Stage and Melody Maker seeking a 'singer for an Italian blues band', Sarah Jane auditions successfully and departs for Florence. The band is called Panama later to become Wop Avenue. After a number of months recording and doing concerts around Italy, Sarah Jane is homesick and returns to London.
Record Label: Fallen Angel Records (UK) + Irma Dischi (Italia)
Type of Label: Indie