Elegant Sofa II Biography
The history of M People starts 1991 in Manchester, the city in northern England that has produced bands like Simply Red and New Order. Mike Pickering, a DJ at the legendary nightclub Hacienda and a former member of Quango Quango, wanted to do a studioproject. He found Paul Heard, who had been a member of Orange Juice, Working Week etc. Mike and Paul worked in the studio and composed a few songs. But they didn't have any singer. That's when Heather Small, a vocalist in Hot House, entered the scene and M People was formed.

The first single from M People, Color My life, was released in 1991 (and rereleased in 1992) and was a success at the charts. Their first album Northern Soul got its name from the style of their music, a mixture with ingredients from dance and soul. Northern Soul was acclaimed as one of the best dance records in 1992. It was rereleased with a different tracklisting after the second release of their second single, How Can I Love You More?.

The follow-up album, Elegant Slumming (1993), contained hits like Moving On Up, One Night In Heaven and Dennis Edwards' classic Don't Look Any Further. Now was also the time for M People to be introduced in the USA. There Elegant Slumming got a different tracklisting than in the UK, their hits from Northern Soul was added for the american audience. Shovel, a former percussionist in Natural Life, became a permanent member of the band after been playing the drums in M People for a while.

Bizarre Fruit, their latest album, had been on the UK-chart for over one year in November 1995. The album featured hits like Sight For Sore Eyes, Open Your Heart and Search For The Hero.
Bizarre Fruit was rereleased as a limited edition double CD called Bizarre Fruit II. The extra CD contained live and remixed versions of some of their songs. The main CD had a new track, a cover of Small Faces' Itchycoo Park, which also was released as a single.

M People are currently in the studio recording new material for a new album scheduled to be released the summer of 1997.
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