Everything but the Girl
The duo of Tracey Thorn (b. 26 September 1962, Hertfordshire, England) and Ben Watt (b. 6 December 1962, England), first came together when they were students at Hull University, their name coming from a local furniture shop. Thorn was also a member of the Marine Girls who issued two albums. They performed together in 1982 and released a gentle and simply produced version of Cole Porter's Night And Day. Thorn made a solo acoustic mini-album in 1982, A DISTANT SHORE, which was a strong seller in the UK independent charts, and Watt released the critically acclaimed NORTH MARINE DRIVE the following year. They subsequently left Cherry Red Records and signed to the major-distributed Blanco y Negro label. In 1984 they made the national chart with Each And Everyone, which preceded their superb EDEN. This jazz-flavoured pop collection hallmarked the duo's understated but beautific compositional skills, displaying a great leap from the comparative naivete of their previous offerings. Their biggest single breakthrough, meanwhile, came with a version of Danny Whitten's I Don't Want To Talk About It, which reached the UK Top 3 in 1988. Their subsequent albums have revealed a much more gradual growth in songwriting, though many contend they have never surpassed that debut. THE LANGUAGE OF LIFE, a collection more firmly fixated with jazz stylings, found further critical acclaim, and stands as their best effort post-EDEN. One track, The Road, featured Stan Getz on saxophone. However, a more pop-orientated follow-up, WORLD-WIDE, was released to mediocre reviews in 1991. AMPLIFIED HEART repaired the damage somewhat, with contributions from Danny Thompson, Dave Mattacks, Richard Thompson and arranger Harry Robinson.