Alisha's Attic

Alisha's Attic

Shelly (left) and Karen (right)
Background information
Origin London, England
Genres Pop
Years active 1996–2001
Labels Universal, Mercury
Associated acts Shelly McErlaine
Website http://www.alishasatticofficial.com (offline)
Past members Shelly McErlaine
Karen Poole

Alisha's Attic were an English duo group of the 1990s and early 2000s. The two members were sisters Shelly McErlaine (née Poole) and Karen Poole, born in Barking and Chadwell Heath respectively.[1][2] Their father is Brian Poole of 1960s group Brian Poole and the Tremeloes.[3] The "Alisha" referred to in the group's name is a fictional character created by Shelly and Karen, based on an imaginary childhood friend of Shelly's. "Attic" is a reference to the attic studio belonging to a composer friend, Terry Martin, where they originally recorded demos.[4]

History

Discounting the sisters' teenage material (recorded as "Keren & Chelle"), Karen and Shelly's recording career began with the single "I Am, I Feel", a chart hit in the UK, and this was quickly followed by their debut album Alisha Rules the World in November 1996.[3] They were nominated for a 1997 Brit Award[5] for Best Newcomer, losing out to Kula Shaker.They were also nominated that year for an Ivor Novello for the best lyrical and melodic composition. In July 1997 the band played on the first Lilith Fair tour.[6]

They went on to release two more albums; Illumina, which produced the singles "The Incidentals", "Wish I Were You" and "Barbarella", and the critically acclaimed album The House We Built, a mostly live album recorded with Bill Bottrell in Mendocino, USA.[7] The two singles from this album were "Pretender Got my Heart" and "Push it all Aside". Both of these singles featured award-winning videos made by Sophie Muller. The group released one more album, in Japan - Japanese Dream - before they went their separate ways in 2003. Splitting with Mercury Records but staying with their publishers, they both continued to be successful pop writers for other artists.

A solo album entitled Hard time for The Dreamer was released by Shelly in 2005;[8] She also wrote and appears on Michael Gray's "Borderline".

Discography

Albums

  1. "Strangers"
  2. "Taken Back"
  3. "Don't Let Love Bring You Down"
  4. "The Last Letter"
  5. "Too Far Forgotten"
  6. "Real Love"
  7. "When U Coming Home?"
  8. "Impossible Dreamer"
  9. "Flaws"
  10. "Free"
  11. "Stay Will U Stay"
  12. "She's A Heroine"

Singles

Other songs

References

  1. ↑ "Alisha's Attic – news, lyrics, pictures, reviews, biography, videos, best songs, discography, concerts, gossip, pictures and tour dates". Nme.com. 1998-09-26. Retrieved 2012-04-30.
  2. ↑ Kwaku (1996-06-29). "Mercury betting the house on Alisha's attic". Billboard 108 (26, p58). ISSN 0006-2510.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Sexton, Paul; Horak, Terri (1997-03-15). "Mercury set to open up U.K.'s Alisha's Attic in U.S". Billboard 109 (11): p15. ISSN 0006-2510.
  4. ↑ Wilson, Dave (2005). Rock Formations. Cidermill Books. p. 104. ISBN 0-9748483-5-2.
  5. ↑ Hudson, Heidi (April 1997). "Alisha's Attic". Lesbian News 22 (9): p37. ISSN 0739-1803.
  6. ↑ Courant.com: Alisha Rules The World: 24 July 1997
  7. ↑ Tony Barrell (2001-02-25). "A Town Called Alisha". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2014-09-27.
  8. ↑ Verrico, Lisa (2005-09-02). "New from Shelley Poole". Section: Features, Pop CDs, (Times, The (United Kingdom)). p. 11.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 9.9 9.10 9.11 Brown, Tony; Neil Warwick; Jon Kutner (2004). The Complete Book Of The British Charts: Singles and Albums. London: Omnibus Press. p. 57. ISBN 1-84449-058-0.
  10. ↑ Jeffries, David. "Alisha's Attic > Biography". Archived from the original on 2008-07-01. Retrieved 2008-07-01.

External links