Natural Life 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 Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

of the early 1990s that are best described as a 'bohemian rock collective', their

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

is a combination of

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

influences and dancefloor beats. They emerged from

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

's Balearic dance movement and were quickly caught up in a bidding war between the major

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

s. Their early gigs listed venues such as

Danny Rampling Danny Rampling (born 15 July 1961) is an English house music DJ and is widely credited as one of the original founders of the UK's rave/club scene. His long career began in the early 1980s playing hip-hop, soul and funk around numerous bars an ...

's fledgling 'Milk Bar' and 'Eat The Worm' at the Hannover Grand, where they were supported by the then unknown

Ocean Colour Scene Ocean Colour Scene (often abbreviated to OCS) are an English rock band formed in Solihull in 1989. They have had five top 10 albums including a number one in 1997. They have also achieved seventeen top 40 singles and six top 10 singles to dat ...

. They were the only London based band to play 'Factory Day' at ' Cities in the Park' with The

Happy Mondays Happy Mondays are an English rock band formed in Salford in 1980. The original line-up was Shaun Ryder (vocals), his brother Paul Ryder (bass), Gary Whelan (drums), Paul Davis (keyboard), and Mark Day (guitar). Mark "Bez" Berry later joine ...

Electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

and

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 ...

. This almost exclusively Mancunian mini-festival was a memorial festival for the recently deceased

Martin Hannett James Martin Hannett (31 May 1948 – 18 April 1991), initially credited as Martin Zero, was an English record producer, musician and an original partner/director at Tony Wilson's Factory Records. Hannett produced music by artists including Joy ...

run by

Factory Records Factory Records was a Manchester-based British independent record label founded in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus. The label featured several important acts on its roster, including Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, the Duru ...

.(see Cities in the Park video band list) The band were signed to an offshoot of Hollywood Records called Tr1be Records. They toured extensively with indie dance act The Farm, and provided support for

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on his UK tour. The band's first

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

"Strange World" was voted 'record of the week' by

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. The second single "Natural Life" received the same accolade two weeks running. Although the band enjoyed a large UK following and were regulars on the

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival ...

circuit playing at both the

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and

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festivals that year, they never managed to break into the mainstream. The band performed on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

's '' The Word'' on 28 February 1992. Their

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

ist Shovell later found fame as a member of

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 ...

Members

* Jon Spong - Vocals * Shovell - Percussion * Darren Hunter - Guitar * "Liggy" Locko - Guitar * Mark Matthews - Bass * Ray Wilson - Keyboards * 'Big' Sydney Holdforth - Drums * Hakan Tuna - Keyboards (After Ray Left early 1992)

Discography

Singles

* "Strange World" ( Tr1be Records/ Hollywood Records - 1992) * "The Promise" (12" Hollywood Records. -1991) * "Passion" (Promo Hollywood Records. ) * "Natural Life"/"As One Alone" (Tr1be Records - 1992) - UK #47

Albums

* ''Natural Life''

References

{{Authority control English electronic music groups English dance music groups English rock music groups