Ayalah Deborah Bentovim (born 30 December 1970), better known by her stage name Sister Bliss, is a British keyboardist, record producer, DJ and songwriter. In the studio, she is best known for her work with

Rollo Armstrong Rowland Constantine O'Malley Armstrong (born 8 May 1966), known professionally as Rollo, is an English music producer. He is one half of the remix/production duo Rollo & Sister Bliss and is a founding member of the electronic music group Fait ...

as one half of the production duo Rollo & Sister Bliss, and particularly as part of

Faithless Faithless are an English band that formed in 1995, with its core members being Rollo, Sister Bliss and Maxi Jazz. Their first album, '' Reverence'', was released in 1996 and their most recent, ''All Blessed'', in 2020. They have sold millions ...

Career

Faithless

Sister Bliss formed Faithless in 1995 with Rollo,

Jamie Catto James David Catto (born 14 August 1968 in London, England) is a British musician, video director, photographer, and script editor. He was a founding member of Faithless, before leaving in 1999 to form 1 Giant Leap. Career Faithless Educated a ...

and

Maxi Jazz Maxwell Fraser (14 June 1957 – 23 December 2022), better known by his stage name Maxi Jazz, was a British musician, rapper, singer, songwriter and DJ. He was the lead vocalist of British electronic band Faithless from 1995 to 2011 and 2015 ...

. Bliss constructed most of the music of Faithless herself electronically, but also played the piano, violin, saxophone and bass guitar. Various others have been members and collaborators over the years including

Zoë Johnston Zoë Johnston is a Grammy-nominated British singer, songwriter and artist, born in Nottingham, England c.1976. She has written and recorded songs with a number of bands including Faithless, Above & Beyond, Bent, and Delerium, and also with for ...

and, frequently, Rollo's sister

Dido Dido ( ; , ), also known as Elissa ( , ), was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage (located in modern Tunisia), in 814 BC. In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (t ...

, who began her musical career providing backing vocals on Rollo's 1994 single 'Give Me Life' (under the pseudonym Mr V). Faithless toured extensively, and while Rollo preferred to stay in the studio, Sister Bliss could be seen on stage with Maxi Jazz. Faithless enjoyed a 17-year career that included 7 albums, including two number ones, and six top 10 singles. To date, Faithless have sold in excess of 15 million records worldwide and have played live to millions across the world. In 1996, she teamed up with Faithless bandmate Rollo to successfully remix

Moby Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "among the ...

's recording of "

That's When I Reach for My Revolver "That's When I Reach for My Revolver" is a song by Mission of Burma that was written and sung by band member Clint Conley. It appears on their 1981 EP '' Signals, Calls and Marches''. Moby covered the song in 1996 and released it as a single, r ...

". Moby was so pleased they were asked to remix another song – "

Honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

". Sister Bliss would sometimes use glue to disable unneeded keys on their synths during live performances, although this may have been done ironically. She released a two-disc compilation entitled ''Headliners: 02'' in 2001. On 10 September 2006, she gave birth to a son named Nate. The track "Nate's Tune" found on the Faithless album ''

To All New Arrivals ''To All New Arrivals'' is the 5th studio album by dance music act Faithless. The album was created after the positive response to the Faithless Greatest Hits tour, originally described as their "final tour". The album was released on 27 Novem ...

'' is dedicated to him. Later on, Faithless founded their own record label called Nate's Tunes. She released ''Nightmoves'' on 14 July 2008.

Post-Faithless

Following Faithless' retirement from touring in April 2011, she has concentrated on different projects. She presents a weekly show on

Ministry of Sound Radio The Ministry of Sound Radio (MoS) began service as a UK-based radio station operating since 1999. It was accessible on the Ministry of Sound website as streaming audio until March 2016. Current MoS radio's DJs include: DJ Bailey, X-Press 2, He ...

at 7 pm on Friday evenings. Sister Bliss has collaborated with

Boy George George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, author and mixed media artist. Best known for his soulful voice and his androgynous appearance, Boy George has been the lead singe ...

, Cat Power, Robert Smith (

The Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith has re ...

The Temper Trap The Temper Trap are an Australian indie rock band formed in 2005 by Dougy Mandagi, Jonathon Aherne, and Toby Dundas. In 2008, the group relocated from Melbourne to London. The band released their debut album '' Conditions'' in June 2009 to favou ...

and

Example Example may refer to: * '' exempli gratia'' (e.g.), usually read out in English as "for example" * .example, reserved as a domain name that may not be installed as a top-level domain of the Internet ** example.com, example.net, example.org, ex ...

amongst others. A gifted musician and composer, Sister Bliss has written music for film, TV and theatre. Credits include 2012ʼs film ''

Knife Fight A knife fight is a violent physical confrontation between two or more combatants in which one or more participants is armed with a knife.MacYoung, Marc, ''Winning A Street Knife Fight'', (Digital format, 70 min.), Boulder, CO: Paladin Press, (J ...

'' starring

Rob Lowe Robert Hepler Lowe (born March 17, 1964) is an American actor, filmmaker, and podcast host. He made his acting debut at the age of 15 with ABC's short-lived sitcom ''A New Kind of Family'' (1979–1980). Following numerous television roles in ...

, and directed by 2-times Oscar winner, Bill Guttentag, commissions for ''

Sex and the City 2 ''Sex and the City 2'' is a 2010 American romantic comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by Michael Patrick King. It is the sequel to the 2008 film ''Sex and the City'', based on the 1998–2004 television series. Sarah Jessica Parker, ...

'',

Danny Boyle Daniel Francis Boyle (born 20 October 1956) is an English director and producer. He is known for his work on films including ''Shallow Grave'', '' Trainspotting'' and its sequel ''T2 Trainspotting'', '' The Beach'', '' 28 Days Later'', '' Su ...

ʼs '' The Beach'', acclaimed British film '' The Hide'', ''

Crossing The Line Crossing the Line may refer to: Films * ''Crossing the Line'', an alternate US title for the film ''The Big Man'', by David Leland * ''Crossing the Line'', an alternate UK title for the film ''Little Woods'', by Nia DaCosta * ''Crossing the Li ...

'' and popular TV drama '' Life Begins''. For theatre, Bliss has written music for The Black Album and The Emperor Jones at The National Theatre in London, as well as composing an original piece for the

London Sinfonietta The London Sinfonietta is an English contemporary chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble has headquarters at Kings Place and is Resident Orchestra at the Southbank Centre. Since its inaugural concert in 1968—givi ...

, which was performed at Fuse Festival, UK. The Faithless Sound System – a stripped down live act featuring a live PA from Maxi Jazz, DJ set from Bliss and percussion – has appeared at a number of festivals worldwide since the full Faithless band's split. The sets are typically one hour or less in duration. She has occasionally appeared at medium-sized clubs in the UK in recent years, often as a headline DJ act playing sets of house music. Junkdog Records is her current record label, launched in 2013. Junkdog has released Sister Bliss solo singles, her remixing of others' tracks and also independent artists. On 31 May 2013, she reunited with Maxi Jazz for a Faithless live PA and DJ set at the Electric Brixton nightclub in London. The 1,500 capacity event was in aid of the youth academy for

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

football club. A similar arrangement of her DJing house tracks between Faithless songs featuring Maxi Jazz on live vocals, was performed at a festival in the United States in March of the same year.Faithless at Ultra Music Festival, Miami 16.03.2013
– Soundcloud The Brixton Electric gig was repeated on 6 June 2014 and was described as an "annual fundraiser", indicating that it will continue to be a once-yearly event. She released the mid-tempo house track "Dancing Home" under the name of Bliss in 2014. Featuring Dutch vocalist Janne Schra, it was remixed by Tuff City Kids and Yoon.

Discography

Albums

* ''Headliners: 02'' (2001) * ''Nightmoves'' (2008)

Singles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bliss, Sister English electronic musicians English keyboardists English record producers English songwriters British women record producers DJs from London Club DJs Remixers Jewish British musicians English Ashkenazi Jews Living people 1971 births English women DJs Alumni of the University of Birmingham English women in electronic music 21st-century English women musicians Electronic dance music DJs