Distant Cousins were an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

band 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 ...

. They are grouped within 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 ...

scene, though the music was a blend of soul and pop. The group consisted of Doreen Edwards (vocals), Neil Fitzpatrick (ex- Smirks, guitar/sax), and "Snuff" (ex- Motivation, drums/percussion). Edwards and Fitzpatrick wrote most of the band's songs. Simon Milner (vocals/piano) and Ian "Mog" Morris (bass), both also from The Smirks, performed as auxiliary members of the group in the studio. Milner also wrote one song on each of the group's two albums, as well as a non-LP B-side. They were originally signed to independent label Ghetto Records for whom they recorded their first album. A re-recording of one of the album tracks "You Used To" became their first single in December 1989; it peaked at number 77 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 ...

in January 1990. The band were subsequently signed to

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), Tom Newman. It ...

, but had no more chart hits and broke up after the release of their second album, 1992's ''Warm Hatred''.

Discography

Albums

*''Distant Cousins'' (1989) *''Warm Hatred'' (1992)

Singles

*"You Used To" (1989), UK number 77 *"Boo Hoo Hoo" (1990) *"You Used To '92" (1992) *"My Brother" (1992)

External links

Distant Cousins at The Smirks website

Fan page
English pop music groups British soul musical groups Madchester groups Musical groups from Manchester {{UK-band-stub