Elizabeth Fraser
Background information
Birth name	Elizabeth Davidson Fraser
Born	August 29, 1963 Scotland UK
Genre(s)	Rock, Ambient, Indie
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Years active	1982–present
Associated acts	Cocteau Twins This Mortal Coil
Website	www.elizabethfraser.com

Elizabeth Davidson Fraser (born August 29, 1963 in Grangemouth, Falkirk) is a Scottish singer, best known for her vocal work as the Cocteau Twins' lead singer. Her vocal stylings and abstract, indecipherable lyrics have generated much debate over the years, but she has often been circumspect on the matter when asked about it.

Contents 1 Fraser and Cocteau Twins 2 Post-Cocteau partnerships 3 Solo career 4 Website 5 Family 6 Discography (1994 - 2006) 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

Fraser and Cocteau Twins

Fraser was the vocalist and lyricist in Cocteau Twins. The group was founded in 1981 in her hometown by Robin Guthrie and his friend Will Heggie. At the time, she was only 17 years old, and had never thought of herself as a singer. Guthrie and Heggie noticed her dancing at a club one night, and asked her to join their band. After an on-off phase, the band recorded some tracks which were sent as demos to John Peel and Ivo Watts-Russell of 4AD which led to their being signed by the London-based label. Fraser and Guthrie formed an intimate relationship, the couple having a daughter, Lucy Belle, in 1989. Ultimately, this was not to last. Guthrie liberally used drugs and alcohol through the years, and Fraser suffered a nervous breakdown during the recording of Four-Calendar Café, losing some of her vocal range as a result, and following the long string of turbulence the couple broke up in 1992, still opting to continue a musical relationship right until 1998, when Cocteau Twins were finally disbanded. She also had an intense personal relationship with Jeff Buckley, and the effects of which resulted in recording a duet with him. She speaks candidly about her relationship in the BBC documentary, Jeff Buckley: Everybody Here Wants You.

Cocteau Twins were due to perform for the North American Coachella Festival on 30 April 2005. However, a statement issued 16 March 2005 by the band's management said: "It is with regret that Cocteau Twins announce they will not be performing at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival as had been planned. Due to personal reasons, member Elizabeth Fraser has decided that she is unable to participate in the reunion, and apologies for any inconvenience this has caused. No future plans for any reunion are currently being made. Our sincere thanks and apologies to all the fans and media who wrote to us expressing your enthusiasm and support.”

During the years of working as part of Cocteau Twins, Fraser also collaborated with numerous artists, providing one-off vocals for acts such as Felt, Dif Juz (Extractions LP), Orbital (Omen EP), the Future Sound of London (Lifeforms EP), the Wolfgang Press, Ian McCulloch and others.

Post-Cocteau partnerships

After the breakup of Cocteau Twins in 1998, Elizabeth Fraser continued to collaborate with a range of performers, including The Future Sound of London, Craig Armstrong, Massive Attack (including live performances at the O2 Wireless Festival in Hyde Park, London on June 23, 2006 and at the Austin City Limits Music Festival on September 16, 2006), and Peter Gabriel's millennium project OVO.

She has subsequently contributed to the soundtracks of several films, such as, In Dreams, Cruel Intentions, The Winter Guest and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (also uncredited in the soundtrack of the Extended Edition DVD), and has occasionally appeared as a guest artist on other musicians' projects.

In 2005, she also participated in Yann Tiersen's album Les Retrouvailles. She sings in two pieces: "Kala" and "Mary".

Solo career

Aside from the work with other artists, Fraser's solo career has been quiet. In the year 2000, a white label recording called Underwater was released in a limited edition of 200. She contributed a cover version of "At Last I'm Free" (originally by 70s band Chic, covered by Robert Wyatt) on the 2003 album "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before", a celebration of 25 year of Rough Trade Records. In 2004, Fraser was invited to participate in a unique audio exhibit, "Shhh...", at London's Victoria and Albert Museum for which she produced a piece called "Expectant Mood", which has not been made commercially available. Fraser has reportedly signed to Blanco y Negro Records, but little is known about the progress of an officially released solo album. In December 2006 New Music Express magazine reported that Liz's solo album is due for release in the Spring of 2007. The album will contain eight tracks, one of which is to be a cover version. No titles have been made public at this time.

Website

Elizabethfraser.com was initially created April 22, 2000 by fan and webmaster, Leesa Beales. After running the website for seven years she was contacted by Elizabeth Fraser. The message conveyed was that Elizabeth was ready to take over ownership of the website and make it her official presence on the internet. On March 22, 2007 Elizabeth's management company officially took over ownership and maintenance of elizabethfraser.com. The site is currently being redesigned and will hopefully soon offer more details regarding her much anticipated solo album. The splash page has recently been updated to offer a mailing list that users can sign up to in order to receive updates about progress on the website and album release.

Family

Elizabeth lives with her partner, musician Damon Reece (from the band Lupine Howl) in Bristol, England. She has two daughters, Lucy and Lily. Lucy Belle Guthrie is the daughter of Robin Guthrie, and she resided with her father in France until August 2006 when she then moved in with her mother in Bristol to pursue her education at a local school.

Discography (1994 - 2006)

ARTIST	TITLE	TRACK(S)	DATE	LABEL	Catalogue
Massive Attack	Collected	Black Melt	2006	Melankolic
Yann Tiersen	Les Retrouvailles	Mary, Kala	June 14, 2005	EMI	B000852GIQ
Elizabeth Fraser	Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before	At Last I'm Free	October 7, 2003	Rough Trade
	The Lord of The Rings The Two Towers (film)	Isengard Unleashed	December 10, 2002	Warner Brothers
	The Lord of The Rings The Fellowship of the Ring (film)	Lothlorien	November 20, 2001	Warner Brothers
Peter Gabriel	Ovo	Downside Up, Make Tomorrow	August 8, 2000	EMI
Elizabeth Fraser	Underwater	Underwater	2000	White Label (200 copies)
	In Dreams (film)	Dream Baby	January 12, 1999	EMI
Simon Raymonde	Blame Someone Else	Blame Someone Else	1998	Bella Union	Bella CD1
Massive Attack	Mezzanine	Teardrop, Black Milk, Group Four	1998	Melankolic
	The Winter Guest (film)	Take Me With You	January 13, 1998	Universal
Craig Armstrong	The Space Between Us	This Love	February 24, 1998	Melankolic
The Future Sound of London	Lifeforms [Remixes] EP	Lifeforms	July 29, 1994	Astralwerks

See also

• Teardrop (Massive Attack song)
• Lifeforms (Future Sound of London song)

References

1. cocteau twins | history | chapter 1: 1982 at www.cocteautwins.com
2. cocteau twins | history | chapter 16: 1993 at www.cocteautwins.com
3. cocteau twins | media | print | Alternative Press - January 1996 at www.cocteautwins.com
4. Solo album Cocteau Twins frontwoman Elizabeth Fraser out this spring

External links

• ElizabethFraser.com, Official website
• ElizabethFraser.co.uk, First launched fan website
• Cocteau Twins, Official website of Cocteau Twins
• CocteauTwins.org, Official fan website
• CocteauTwins.co.uk, UK website