Corinne Drewery (born 21 September 1959) is an English singer-songwriter and fashion designer, best known for being the lead vocalist of the band

Swing Out Sister Swing Out Sister are a British pop group best known worldwide for the 1986 song " Breakout". Other hits include "Surrender", " Twilight World", " Waiting Game", and a remake of the Eugene Record soul composition "Am I the Same Girl?" Histor ...

Early life

Drewery was born and grew up in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

. She later moved to the

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

village of Authorpe and went to South Reston Primary School, then Monks' Dyke High School and King Edward VI Grammar School in nearby

Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town * Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia **Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * Cou ...

, then Lincoln College. She grew up on the classic pop standards, since her father played in a band which was regular support to big

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

s like Tom Jones and

Sandie Shaw Sandie may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Sandie Clair (born 1988), French professional racing cyclist * Sandie Fitzgibbon, Irish former camogie player * Sandie Jones (1950/1951–2019), Irish singer * Sandie Lindsay, 1st Baron Lindsay of Birker (1879 ...

. She was strongly influenced by Northern soul, visiting performances at the Winter Gardens in

Cleethorpes Cleethorpes () is a seaside town on the estuary of the Humber in North East Lincolnshire, England with a population of 38,372 in 2020. It has been permanently occupied since the 6th century, with fishing as its original industry, then develo ...

, and referred to Northern soul tracks during an extensive interview on BBC Radio Nottingham. Her mother Elaine Drewery, also a former singer, is the founder of

Hedgehog Care Hedgehog Care is a British animal welfare rescue, dedicated to the rescue and treatment of hedgehogs. It was founded in 1980 by Elaine Drewery, who continues to operate it. It started from small beginnings with her taking home injured hedgehogs ...

in Authorpe. Her brother Anton was also a singer and musician. His debut studio album ''With a Little Help'' was released posthumously in August 2022, six months after his untimely death.

Music

Drewery moved to London after leaving school in 1976 to study fashion at the

Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design Central Saint Martins is a public tertiary art school in London, England. It is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. It offers full-time courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and a variety of shor ...

(1 June 2010
Swing it like you mean it!: Lead singer of Swing Out Sister Corinne Drewery shares her musical journey of over two decades
''

Bangkok Post The ''Bangkok Post'' is an English-language daily newspaper published in Bangkok, Thailand. It is published in broadsheet and digital formats. The first issue was sold on 1 August 1946. It had four pages and cost one baht, a considerable amount ...

'', retrieved 28 October 2010 and eventually became a fashion designer. But she also sang for short periods with bands such as Working Week. She first met

Andy Connell Andrew John Connell (born 26 July 1961) is an English musician and composer. Along with Corinne Drewery, he is part of the duo that makes up Swing Out Sister. Born in Manchester, England, Connell played in the Manchester post-punk band The Im ...

and

Martin Jackson Martin Jackson (born 30 August 1955 in Manchester, England) is a British drummer who has played with several bands from Manchester, although his most successful roles were with Magazine in 1978 with the release of the influential ''Real Life'' ...

in 1984 and together they formed

. In 1986–87 the group achieved chart success on both sides of the Atlantic with " Breakout". This became the band's

signature song A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...

and was by far their most successful hit. Apart from singing the lead vocals in the band, Drewery is the band's lyricist, and participates in the composing of the songs with her musical partner Connell. In 1986, she provided additional vocals on the track "Bootsy" by Connell's former band

A Certain Ratio A Certain Ratio (abbreviated as ACR) are an English post-punk band formed in 1977 in Flixton, Greater Manchester by Peter Terrell (guitar, electronics) and Simon Topping (vocals, trumpet), with additional members Jez Kerr (bass, vocals), Martin ...

; the song was released exclusively as a single in Australia and featured on their fifth studio album ''

Force In physics, a force is an influence that can change the motion of an object. A force can cause an object with mass to change its velocity (e.g. moving from a state of rest), i.e., to accelerate. Force can also be described intuitively as a p ...

''. In 2022, she provided guest co-lead vocals with Ryan Bland of Ache, for the 24-7 Spyz track "Angels & Demons."

References

External links

Official Swing Out Sister website
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Drewery, Corinne 1959 births Living people Swing Out Sister members English women pop singers English contraltos English songwriters Musicians from Nottinghamshire People from Nottingham People educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers Musicians from Lincolnshire Sophisti-pop musicians