- My Life Story
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My Life Story are a British indie pop group who peaked in the mid to late 1990s, when they were regarded as part of the Britpop movement. Fronted by singer/songwriter Jake Shillingford, the group was formed in London around 1991, and inherited their name from an earlier group in which Shillingford had appeared. A cross between a pop group and a chamber orchestra, the band's sound was heavily oriented toward orchestral instruments.
Contents
History
At the time of their debut single, "Girl A, Girl B, Boy C" (1993) produced by Giles Martin son of George, the group had a regular line-up of twelve members. Though the membership fluctuated continually, it rarely dipped into single figures until 1999, when their third album credited just four regular members, though most of the former line-up were still used as session musicians.
My Life Story enjoyed the most success at the time of their second album, which spawned five singles that entered the lower half of the UK Singles Chart,[1] but finally disbanded after a series of farewell concerts in December 2000.
On 26 May 2006 the band reformed with the full line-up of thirteen members to play to a sell-out crowd at the Mean Fiddler on Charing Cross Road in London, in support of their forthcoming Best Of album. The gig got a review rating of 10/10 from Planet Sound. A second reunion show took place at the Astoria in London on 8 December 2006. Further reunions have taken place every two years on 13 December 2007 at the Shepherds Bush Empire and Koko on 26th November 2009 where the band performed their debut album Mornington Crescent for the first time in its entirety.
My Life Story announced that they are to reunite once more to perform their send album The Golden Mile at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire on Saturday 3rd March 2012 to celebrate fifteen years since the albums release.
Their recording of the song "Mr Boyd" (originally recorded by Roger Hodgson's Argosy in 1969) was featured during the closing credits of the film, Stiff Upper Lips.
"12 Reasons Why I Love Her" was used in an advert for The Sarah Silverman Program on Comedy Central in the UK.
Other projects
The spirit of the band lived on in Shillingford's next project, ExileInside, which drew its influences from 1980s electronica, replacing the lush orchestral sounds of My Life Story with a quirky retro synth based sound.[citation needed] Former band members Aaron Cahill and Mal Campbell appear in the line-up, and the material is engineered by George Shilling. Shilling also produced many My Life Story tracks, including most of the Golden Mile album.
Shillingford also released an acoustic solo album in 2009 called "Written Large", which featured 2 new tracks, plus acoustic versions of My Life Story and ExileInside songs.
More recently, Shillingford has taken on the moniker of Choppersaurus, and been involved in writing tracks such as "You Are Not Alone" by dance outfit Mason.
Shillingford has also presented an electronica music show on the Essex based community radio station Phoenix FM.
Dan Turner the band's keyboard player went on to form the band MacArthur with singer/songwriter producer Dom Chapman (aka CHAPMAN) after the group split in 2000. He landed a recording contract with Artist Network and recorded the Northern Soul influenced album MacArthur working with musicians such as Gary "Mudbone" Cooper {Funkadelic} and Chris Sharrock {The La's, World Party, Robbie Williams, Oasis}. As the band were about to release their first single the record company went bankrupt. The music has now been taken on by Fairwood Music.
Discography
Albums
- Mornington Crescent (Mother Tongue Records - 1994) UK # 115
- The Golden Mile (Parlophone - 1997) UK # 36
- Mornington Crescent (Parlophone - 1998)
- Joined Up Talking (it Records 2000) UK # 126
- Sex & Violins (The Best of My Life Story) (Exilophone Records 2006)
- Megaphone Theology (B-Sides and Rarities) (Exilophone Records 2006)
Singles
- "Home Sweet Zoo" (1986)
- "Girl A, Girl B, Boy C" (1993)
- "Funny Ha Ha" (1994)
- "You Don't Sparkle (In My Eyes)" (1995)UK #155
- "The Mornington Crescent Companion EP" (1995)
- "12 Reasons Why I Love Her" (1996) UK # 32
- "Sparkle" (1996) UK #34
- "The King Of Kissingdom" (1997) UK #35
- "Strumpet" (1997) UK #27
- "Duchess" (1997) UK #39
- "If You Can't Live Without Me Then Why Aren't You Dead Yet?" (1998) - Download-only single in Windows Media format (later available as an MP3)
- "It's A Girl Thing" (1999) UK #37
- "Empire Line" (1999) UK #58
- "Walk/Don't Walk" (2000) UK #48
Notes
- "Sparkle" was a re-arranged and re-recorded version of "You Don't Sparkle (In My Eyes)".
- My Life Story produced promotional CDs for a single version of "You Can't Uneat The Apple" but "Duchess" was released in its place.
Collaborations
- Yesterday Has Gone with P.J. Proby and Marc Almond (as the My Life Story Orchestra)
See also
References
- ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 385. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ "Chart Log UK". http://www.zobbel.de/cluk/CLUK_M.HTM. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
External links
Categories:- English pop music groups
- Britpop groups
- Musical groups from London
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