Pooka was the former songwriting duo of UK guitarists/vocalists Sharon Lewis and Natasha Jones. They took their name from

Púca The púca (Irish for ''spirit/ghost''; plural púcaí), puca (Old English for ''goblin''; plural pucel) pwca, pooka, phouka, puck is a creature of Celtic, English, and Channel Islands folklore. Considered to be bringers both of good and bad f ...

, a mythical

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

goblin with an uneven temper.

Career

Pooka were formed early in 1992 at

Nottingham Polytechnic Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as a new university in 1992, although its roots go back to 1843 with the establishment of the Nottingham Government School of Design, w ...

. After only a few months of forming the band Lewis and Jones decided to try their luck in

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 ...

to find a record company to work with. They did this by visiting record companies in person, guitars in hand, and performing their songs live to various

talent scouts Artists and repertoire (colloquially abbreviated to A&R) is the division of a record label or music publishing company that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists (singers, instrumentalist ...

. This eventually led to their gaining a 5 album

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

with

WEA The Wea were a Miami-Illinois-speaking Native American tribe originally located in western Indiana. Historically, they were described as either being closely related to the Miami Tribe or a sub-tribe of Miami. Today, the descendants of the ...

. Pooka's eponymous debut album (produced by John Coxon) was released in 1993 on WEA ( Elektra in the USA). Tours with

Everything But The Girl Everything but the Girl (occasionally referred to as EBTG) are an English musical duo formed in Kingston upon Hull in 1982, consisting of lead singer and occasional guitarist Tracey Thorn and guitarist, keyboardist, producer and singer Ben Watt ...

Tindersticks Tindersticks are an English alternative rock band formed in Nottingham in 1991. They released six albums before singer Stuart A. Staples embarked on a solo career. The band reunited briefly in 2006 and more permanently the following year. Th ...

Kristin Hersh Kristin may refer to: * Kristin (name), a Scandinavian form of Christine * ''Kristin'' (TV series), a 2001 American sitcom * Kristin Peak, Antarctica * Kristin School, a school in New Zealand See also * Kristen (disambiguation) Kristen may re ...

Al Stewart Alastair Ian Stewart (born 5 September 1945) is a Scottish born singer-songwriter and folk-rock musician who rose to prominence as part of the British folk revival in the 1960s and 1970s. He developed a unique style of combining folk-rock so ...

and

The Levellers The Levellers were a political movement active during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms who were committed to popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law and religious tolerance. The hallmark of Leveller thought was its popul ...

followed and, between recording their own material, Pooka co-wrote tracks with

Ultramarine Ultramarine is a deep blue color pigment which was originally made by grinding lapis lazuli into a powder. The name comes from the Latin ''ultramarinus'', literally 'beyond the sea', because the pigment was imported into Europe from mines in Afgh ...

found upon their 1995 release ''Bel Air'', and a track for Orbital, "Otono", released on their 1999 album '' The Middle of Nowhere''. Pooka's second album, ''Spinning'', was released in September 1997 on Trade 2, a subsidiary of

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

and managed by ex- Rough Trade founder

Geoff Travis Geoff Travis (born 2 February 1952) is the founder of both Rough Trade Records and the Rough Trade chain of record shops. A former drama teacher and owner of a punk record shop, Travis founded the Rough Trade label in 1978. Biography Travis wa ...

. Garnering praise and support while on tour throughout Europe in the next two years, Pooka released a five-song EP, ''Monday Mourning,'' in 1999 on the Frenc
Telescopic Records
label. In 2001, Lewis and Jones independently released ''Fools Give Birth To Angels'', a self-produced, classically written and arranged collection of new songs, replete with string sections and a hand bell choir. Only 1,000 copies of the CD were produced. Soon thereafter, their ten-year musical partnership came to an abrupt end, but not before the Rough Trade release of their fourth album ''Shift.'' Both Jones and Lewis continue to play live, and have since each released two solo albums.

Discography

References

External links

Sharon Lewis's homepageNatasha Lea Jones's homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pooka (band) English folk musical groups Musical groups from Manchester English musical duos Folk music duos Female musical duos