Scarlet (British band)

This article is about the British duo. For the metalcore band, see Scarlet (American band).
Scarlet
Origin Kingston upon Hull, England
Genres Pop rock, indie pop, soft rock
Years active 1992–1996
Labels WEA
Past members Cheryl Parker
Jo Youle
Joanna Fox
Edward Clark

Scarlet was a UK based vocal duo from Hull, East Riding of 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.

Career

Parker, Youle and Fox met in high school and started playing together locally around Hull as 'Cheap Day Return', along with bass player Ed Clark in the late 1980s. Trimming down to a trio, the three girls moved to London in 1991 and signed a publishing deal with Chrysalis Music some months later. In 1992, they signed to independent record label Haven Records and released two singles that year: "Piccadilly In The Rain (I'll Be There)" and "Shine On Me Now", neither of which charted.

In 1993, they signed to WEA, and started recording their debut album. The first single "I Really Like The Idea" was released in 1994, but it failed to chart. For reasons unknown (although rumours persist that it was on the advice of former bass-player Ed Clark), Fox left the band after the release of this single, and Parker and Youle carried on as a duo.

The duo's next single, "Independent Love Song", was released in late 1994 and became their biggest hit, peaking at number 12 in the UK in January 1995.[1] 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 number 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 number 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.

Discography

Albums[2]

Singles[2]

References

  1. ↑ "SCARLET | Artist". Official Charts. Retrieved 2013-08-28.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 484. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.

External links