M People
M People
Background information
Origin	Manchester, England
Genre(s)	House music Pop
Years active	1990 - present
Label(s)	deConstruction 1990-1997 M People Records 1997-1998
Members
Heather Small Mike Pickering Paul Heard Shovell

M People were a British house music act from Manchester which formed in 1990. They consisted of Mike Pickering, Heather Small and Paul Heard and Shovell. Pickering was a member of Factory Records dance act Quando Quango but became more noted as one of the original DJs at The Hacienda. Heard was a member of Acid Jazz band Ace of Clubs, while Shovell had previously been in the collective Natural Life. Heather Small was in the British Soul band Hot House who had released a number of critically acclaimed records without scoring any major success.

In 1994 and 1995 they won the BRIT Award for Best British Dance Act. In 1994, they won the Mercury Music Prize for the album Elegant Slumming. The victory sparked controversy as they beat Britpop band Blur, who were deemed by critics to be more 'worthy' than a mere dance band. With ten Top Ten UK singles, the band was one of the most consistent hit-makers of the 1990s, and the album Bizarre Fruit stayed in the UK charts for more than two years and became one of the biggest selling albums of the decade.

In the United States, their biggest success was on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, where they achieved 5 Top 5 singles, 4 of which hit number one.

With the closure by BMG of the deConstruction dance record label in the late 1990s, M People gained their own record label called M People Records to release their 1997 album Fresco.

After the release of The Best of M People in 1998, the band took a long break. Heather Small recorded a solo album and it seemed that the band had split, although a repackaged greatest hits album was released in 2005 and the band also embarked on a short tour of the UK. Small continued to pursue a solo career, as her song Proud was the soundtrack to the successful London 2012 Olympic bid.

M People have announced that they will be touring once again this year. First to be announced were 4 forest gigs for the summer. They played at Delamere Forest Cheshire, Dalby Forest North York Moors, Thetford Forest Suffolk, and Westonbirt National Arboretum as part of The Forestry Commission’s 2007 Forest Tours. The shows will be supporting The Forestry Commission’s valuable social and environmental programmes. Heather Small from M People says: "We have played in many different locations but never in forests so we’re really looking forward to doing these gigs". In addition to these gigs M People also performed at the Hampton Court Festival in Surrey, London on the 12th June and the Chichester Real Ale and Jazz festival.

Following their recent tour rumours are circulating about the band planning to write new material.

A concert in Warsaw Poland is set for this September by the band. And more tour dates are to be announced. There is the utmost confushion among fans as to the future of the band.

Discography

Albums

Singles

See also

• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

External links

• Heather Small Myspace page
• Heather Small Fansite
• M People's Elegant Sofa
• Fansite