Scarlet was a UK based vocal duo from Hull, East Yorkshire, England. They consisted of Cheryl Parker (vocalist, guitarist) and Jo Youle (pianist, keyboardist, vocalist). The group originally had a third member, Joanna Fox, but she left before the band had any major success.
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Parker, Youle and Fox met in high school and started playing together locally around Hull. In 1992, the trio signed to independent label Haven Records and released two singles that year: "Picadilly In The Rain (I'll Be There)" and "Shine On Me Now", neither of which charted.
They later moved to London and signed to WEA Records, and started recording their debut album. The first single "I Really Like The Idea" was released in late 1994, but it failed to chart. For reasons unknown, Fox left the band after the release of this single, and Parker and Youle carried on as a duo.
The duo's next single was released in January 1995, "Independent Love Song" became their biggest hit, peaking at #12 in the UK. This success earned the duo a guest spot on the BBC's A Song for Europe 1995 contest. This was followed by their debut album Naked, which was released in February 1995, and peaked at #53. Although Joanna Fox was no longer part of the group, she received a backing vocalist credit on the album.
The group's next UK single "I Wanna Be Free (To Be With Him)" became a minor hit (UK #21), whilst the next single release "Love Hangover" flopped (UK #54).
In 1996, Scarlet issued a new single "Bad Girl", but this also stalled at #54. Their second album Chemistry missed the UK Albums Chart completely, and it was after this relative failure that their record label WEA dropped the band and they went their separate ways.
"Independent Love Song" can be found on the soundtrack to the movie Bed of Roses.