"Colour My Life" is a song by British band

M People M People (stylised as ''M''People) is an English dance music band that formed in 1990 and achieved success throughout most of the 1990s. The name M People is taken from the first letter of the first name of band member Mike Pickering, who form ...

, released as the second single from their first album, '' Northern Soul'' (1991). It was written by band members

Mike Pickering Mike Pickering (born 21 February 1954) is an English musician and DJ. Career Pickering was a DJ at The Haçienda's Nude and Hot nights, and later Shine. He worked for Factory Records, where he signed Happy Mondays, To Hell with Burgundy and ...

and Paul Heard. The single was originally released in May 1991 and was given a full release on 24 February 1992. It peaked at number thirty five on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and number 13 on the

UK Dance Singles Chart The UK Dance Singles Chart and the UK Dance Albums Chart are music charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company from sales of songs in the dance music genre (e.g. house, trance, drum and bass, garage, synthpop) in record s ...

Background

As one of the album's premiere cuts, "Colour My Life" had already had built up a quite a following and gained critical praise in clubs as a much-played dance song when previewed as a White Label the year previously and most dance floors had picked up and rotated this version throughout 1991 providing great exposure. The first single that

wrote for specifically for lead vocalist, 25-year-old

Heather Small Heather Margarita Small (born 20 January 1965) is a British soul singer and former lead vocalist of the band M People. Her subsequent debut solo studio album, ''Proud'', was released in 2000. Career 1987–1998: Hot House and M People Small ...

and the first M People track she ever recorded.

Chart performance

The single became their second moderate chart hit, but did not fare as well as predecessor

How Can I Love You More? "How Can I Love You More" is a song by British band M People, released as the first single from their debut album, '' Northern Soul'' (1991). The song was written by band members Mike Pickering and Paul Heard, and produced by M People. It was f ...

which scraped into the Top 30 at 29. In the week of release the single sold 7,400 copies to land at number 37, but club support saw the single maintain sales and climb in its second week to peak at number 35 selling a further 8,000 copies.

Critical reception

Jose F. Promis from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

described the song as "funky".

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...

from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' wrote, "

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

club DJ

crafts a delicious blend of raw

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

and silky

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

. Floating piano lines and an unidentified muselike female vocal add an ethereal vibe." Irish ''

Evening Herald ''The Herald'' is a nationwide mid-market tabloid newspaper headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, and published by Independent News & Media who are a subsidiary of Mediahuis. It is published Monday–Saturday. The newspaper was known as the ''Ev ...

'' noted the "woozy refrain" of the song. Fred Shuster from ''

Los Angeles Daily News The ''Los Angeles Daily News'' is the second-largest-circulating paid daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Southern California News Group, a branch of Colorado-based Digital First Media. The offices of the ''Dai ...

'' named "Colour My Life" the "highlight" of the album, and "an update of the

Chic Chic (; ), meaning "stylish" or "smart", is an element of fashion. It was originally a French word. Pronounced Chick. Etymology ''Chic'' is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s. Early references in English dictiona ...

disco formula of male-female vocals, piano, bubbling bass and strings." Paul Mathur from ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' viewed it as the weakest track of the album, "swishing aimlessly". Pan-European magazine ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...

'' commented, "Although from

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, this is a long way from the "

madchester Madchester was a musical and cultural scene that developed in the English city of Manchester in the late 1980s, closely associated with the indie dance scene. Indie-dance (sometimes referred to as indie-rave) saw artists merging indie music w ...

" beat. This quartet, featuring Hot House lead vocalist

, mixes '70s "northern soul" with a mellow

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

style. Hypnotizing, but still melodic." On the album review, they declared the song as "the best

Philly soul Philadelphia soul, sometimes called Philly soul, the Philadelphia sound, Phillysound, or The Sound of Philadelphia TSOP, is a genre of late 1960s–1970s soul music characterized by funk influences and lush instrumental arrangements, often featu ...

pastiche in ages." Andy Beevers from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' complimented it as a "classy

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

song". Simon Dudfield from ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' wrote, "Welcome return by Hacienda DJ Mike Pickering. Soulful strings and a deep, warm, swinging feel underpinned by some piano and funky, choppy guitars. Heather Small (ex-Hot House) supplies the groovacious vocals. Laidback and unflustered, a record perfectly in harmony with itself." James Hamilton from the '' RM'' Dance Update called it a "sinuously sultry Heather Small moaned Mike Pickering creation". Adam Higginbotham from '' Select'' also named "Colour My Life" the best track on the '' Northern Soul'' album.

Remixes

There are several different mixes of the single, but the main version is simply known as "Colour My Life". Other versions are remixes of the single produced by M People, these being "Colour My Life (Part One)", "Colour My Life (Part Two)" and "Colour My Life (Original Mix)". The "Original Mix" appears in an edited format on the 1991 CD release as the "M People Edit" and in full on the 1991 release of ''Northern Soul'', but not on this single.

Music video

The studio-set

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the song features Heather Small singing and dancing in a striking lime green jacket centre stage with the band playing along in the background. Paul Heard is playing bass guitar and Mike Pickering on the keyboards, not their normal instruments to play and also a drummer percussionist and two lively backing singers co-ordinating dance moves with their arms.

Artwork

The artwork of the single combines the lines used in the limited release to become four colourful "flowers" that consist of differently coloured red, blue, green and purple circles which is very much in-keeping with the big red flower illustration that is on the parent's album's artwork.

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colour My Life 1991 songs 1992 singles Deconstruction Records singles M People songs RCA Records singles Songs written by Mike Pickering Songs written by Paul Heard