Belinda Kimberly "Lindy" Layton (born 7 December 1970) is an English singer. She was a founding member of and vocalist for

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded da ...

band

Beats International Beats International were a British dance music band and hip-hop collective, formed in the late 1980s by Norman Cook (later in his career known as Fatboy Slim) based in Brighton, East Sussex, England, after his departure from the Housemartins. ...

. She has released a number of solo albums and singles and worked with other musicians, more recently including

Hardknox Hardknox is an English electronic music duo consisting of producer and instrumentalist Steve Proctor and vocalist Lindy Layton. They have released two singles and a self-titled album. Their style of electronica features heavy beats with powerful ...

and

Dub Pistols Dub Pistols is an English electronic music band founded in 1996 by Barry Ashworth and Jason O'Bryan. Career The band's first singles were "There's Gonna Be a Riot" and "Best Got Better" in 1998. Their first album, '' Point Blank'', came out ...

Career

Layton attended the

Barbara Speake Stage School The Barbara Speake Stage School was opened on 10 February 1945 as an independent school, and was initially set up as a dancing school, by the founding principal Miss Barbara Speake, MBE, and was located in East Acton, London. The school was fee ...

in the 1980s and appeared as an actor in TV shows such as ''

Casualty Casualty may refer to: *Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster **Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare * The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...

'' and ''

Press Gang ''Press Gang'' is a British children's television comedy drama consisting of 43 episodes across five series that were broadcast from 1989 to 1993. It was produced by Richmond Film & Television for Central, and screened on the ITV network in i ...

'' (though many people have mistaken the latter for an appearance in ''

Grange Hill ''Grange Hill'' is a British children's television drama series, originally produced by the BBC and portraying life in a typical comprehensive school. The show began its run on 8 February 1978 on BBC1, and was one of the longest-running progra ...

'' on BBC One, getting Layton mixed up with the actress

Lindy Brill Lyndy Brill (also known as Lindy Brill; born 30 July 1963) is a former actress and singer. She was a pupil at the Barbara Speake Stage School. She is best known for playing Cathy Hargreaves in the BBC school drama, ''Grange Hill'' (1979–82), an ...

, who had also played a character called Cathy (Hargreaves)). In the early 1990s, Layton was part of Norman Cook's dance music collective

, which featured her as lead vocalist on a couple of singles, including the number-one hit "

Dub Be Good to Me "Dub Be Good to Me" is a song by British dub group Beats International featuring singer Lindy Layton, released on 24 January 1990 as the first single from their debut album, ''Let Them Eat Bingo'' (1990). It was written by frontman Norman Cook ...

". Beats International's debut album, '' Let Them Eat Bingo'', sold moderately. Following the success of the singles with Beats International in 1990, Layton signed a solo deal with Arista, and released her version of

Janet Kay Janet Kay Bogle (born 17 January 1958) is an English actor and vocalist, best known for her 1979 lovers rock hit "Silly Games". Biography Janet Kay Bogle was born in Willesden, North West London. She was discovered singing impromptu at a rehea ...

's hit "

Silly Games Silly may refer to: Places * Silly, Belgium, a town * Silly Department, a department or commune of Sissili Province in southern Burkina Faso Music * Silly (band), an East German rock group from the 1970s * The Sillies, an American punk rock b ...

". The single was a hit, and further releases followed from her 1991 debut album ''Pressure''. However, these decreased in popularity. ''Pressure'' was mostly produced by

Norman Cook Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist ...

and the dance-

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

- funk outfit

Driza Bone DRIZABONE is an international dance music / remixing musical group, led by record producer, musician and songwriter Vincent Garcia. Garcia used various female vocalists to provide the vocal element to his output. Driza Bone (sometimes billed as D ...

. The album's second single, "Echo My Heart", narrowly missed a UK Top 40 placing in January 1991, while "Wait for Love" produced by Norman Cook failed to reach 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 ...

altogether, in April of that year. Layton's summer 1991 release of "Without You (One and One)" followed, again produced by Driza Bone. "Without You (One and One)" sold better than Layton's previous single, but failed to reach the Top 40. Layton released a one-off single for Debut Records in 1992. "I'll Be a Freak for You" was not a chart hit. The following year, Layton re-emerged with a new deal with PWL. The new material was more commercial, and two single releases of minor chart success were released in the UK: "We Got the Love" and "Show Me". Without the expected profitable return, Layton parted company with PWL. In Japan she released a pop-reggae album, ''No Other Star'', in 1996, and went on to release other work as

with fellow DJ Steve Proctor the same year. They were signed to Skint Records and released their debut single "Coz I Can" which was given "Single of the Week" honours by ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

''. The group's second effort, the "Psychopath" EP, received the same recognition. After various performing remixes for artists such as

Orgy In modern usage, an orgy is a sex party consisting of at least five members where guests freely engage in open and unrestrained sexual activity or group sex. Swingers' parties do not always conform to this designation, because at many swin ...

Crystal Method The Crystal Method is an American electronic music act formed in Las Vegas, Nevada, by Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland in the early 1990s. They were pioneers of the big beat genre and their music has appeared in numerous TV shows, films, video gam ...

, and Faith No More, plus appearing on a various compilations and mixes, a self-titled LP was released in 1999 by

Jive Electro Jive Electro was a sublabel of the Zomba Group's Jive Records noted for releasing albums by Groove Armada, Hardknox, and Tangerine Dream as well as few remixes for the Madchester band The Stone Roses. The label was largely active between 1984 an ...

. Layton guested on three tracks on the 2009 Groove Diggerz album ''Money for Good Times'': "Weirdness", "Just Be Good to Me" (a reworking of her

hit "

"), and "Body Flow", for which she also shared a writing credit. She guested with the

in May 2009, reprising "Dub Be Good to Me", at their support slot to

the Specials The Specials, also known as The Special AKA, are an English 2 tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry. After some early changes, the first stable lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall and Neville Staple on vocals, Lynval ...

at the O₂ Academy Brixton. She guested again with the Dub Pistols at Rock the River 2009, a wakeboard and music festival held on the quay of World Heritage Site, Conwy. She also appeared with the Dub Pistols at the last

Glade Festival Glade Festival was an electronic dance music festival, founded by Nick Ladd and Ans Guise, which originally started out as Glastonbury Festival's Glade Stage, which was established by Luke Piper and Mark Parsons who also became founding partn ...

in 2009. Layton has also recorded with the band, appearing alongside

Rodney P Rodney Panton, also known as Rodney P (born in Balham, London, 12 December 1969) is an English MC, as well as a radio and television personality who first gained attention via the UK hip hop scene in the 1980s. A former member of UK hip-hop gro ...

on the single "I'm in Love" from their 2009 album '' Rum & Coke'' and "Rock Steady" from the 2013 LP ''Worshipping the Dollar''. In 2013, she began a daytime radio show on Kane FM with Mel Foster, ''The Mrs'', which ran for about a year. She is now a songwriter and composes with her writing partner Matt Kootchi, who owns and runs house label Good Lucky Recordings.

Singles

References

External links

* * *
Lindy Layton on Myspace
*

Allmusic.com Profile for Hardknox AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Pitchforkmedia.com Review of Hardknox Debut LP

GrooveDiggerz page on Breakin Even Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Layton, Lindy 1970 births Living people English dance musicians Singers from London People from Hammersmith English electronic musicians 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers English women in electronic music