Sonia Marina Clarke (born 21 June 1965), better known by her stage name Sonique, is an English singer, musician and DJ. She came to public attention as a member of

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

band

S'Express S'Express (pronounced ''ess-express''; sometimes spelled S'Xpress or S-Express) was a British dance music act from the late 1980s, who had one of the earliest commercial successes in the acid house genre. " Theme from S'Express", which contain ...

during the early 1990s, but achieved greater success as a solo artist in the early-to mid 2000s. During this period, she achieved UK top 20 hits with " It Feels So Good", "

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...

", "

I Put a Spell on You "I Put a Spell on You" is a 1956 song recorded by "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins and co-written with Herb Slotkin. The selection became a classic cult song, covered by a variety of artists. It was Hawkins's greatest commercial success, reportedly su ...

" and " Can't Make Up My Mind", and won the 2001 BRIT Award for British female solo artist.

Biography

1965–1983: Early life

Clarke was born and raised in

Crouch End Crouch End is an area of North London, England, from the City of London in the western half of the borough of Haringey. It is within the Hornsey postal district (N8). It has been described as one of "a new breed of urban villages" in London ...

to parents of

Trinidadian Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The population of Trinidad is notably diverse, with approximately 35% Indo-Trinidadian, 34% ...

descent. The first record she ever purchased was

Donna Summer Donna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the "Queen of Disco", while her music ...

's "

I Feel Love "I Feel Love" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Donna Summer. Produced and co-written by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, it was recorded for Summer's fifth studio album, '' I Remember Yesterday'' (1977). The album concept was to ha ...

". When Sonique was sixteen, her mother remarried and moved back to Trinidad. She refused to move with her mother and two siblings and instead stayed in London, moving into the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

1983–1996: Early music career

At the age of seventeen, a youth worker commented that she had a nice voice and suggested she use it. She put together a

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

band called 'Fari', in which she ended up writing all the music. After Fari disbanded she set about getting a recording contract. Sonique released the single "Let Me Hold You", published by Cooltempo, in 1985. The single hit the

top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

on the

UK Dance Chart The Dance Singles Chart and the Dance Albums Chart are music charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company from sales of songs in the electronic dance music, dance music genre (e.g. house music, house, trance music, trance, ...

. In 1990, she was credited for the track "Zombie Mantra", which was included on the album '' Set the Controls for the Heart of the Bass'', the debut record of

William Orbit William Mark Wainwright (born 15 December 1956),"William Orbit." ''Contemporary Musicians''. Vol. 30. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2000. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, 7 May 2017. Available onlinvia ''Encyclopedia.com'' known ...

's project Bass-O-Matic. Soon after, she teamed again with DJ Mark Moore, a few years after providing vocals for

. The

dance-pop Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit ra ...

duo charted on the UK Singles Chart with singles such as " Nothing to Lose". She maintained a friendship with Mark Moore after S'Express disbanded and, shortly afterwards, he gave her the gift of a set of turntables and a mixer with which she began experimenting.

1997–2001: DJ career

For three years, she accompanied both Mark Moore and her childhood friend

Judge Jules Julius O'Riordan (born 26 October 1965), better known by his stage name Judge Jules, is a British dance music DJ, record producer and entertainment lawyer. He is known for his DJ activities, music production and long-running radio show which ac ...

to their gigs. She eventually signed to London-based label Serious Records, where her first single was "

" produced by Chris Allen and ex-Wang Chung keyboardist Graeme Pleeth. She was DJ-in-residence at Club Manumission in

Ibiza Ibiza (; ; ; #Names and pronunciation, see below) or Iviza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of th ...

between 1997 and 1999. In 1998, she came to the attention of UK promoters/label Fantazia and was asked to mix one of the discs on their album '' Fantazia British Anthems Summertime''. The album was certified

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

in the UK. Sonique released her debut solo album '' Hear My Cry'' in 1998. Re-released in 2000, the album's hit single " It Feels So Good" topped the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in May/June of that year. After 14 weeks in the Top 40, it became the UK's third best-selling single of 2000. In 2001, after the success of "It Feels So Good" she announced that she planned to retire from the world of DJing to focus on her singing career. After finishing the album '' Born to Be Free'', Sonique did return to DJing on a few special occasions.

2002–2006: ''On Kosmo''

In 2004, Sonique announced she was working on an album called ''On Kosmo''. The first single was "Another World", which reached number 57 in Germany when released in 2004. "

Why Why may refer to: * Causality, a consequential relationship between two events * Reason (argument), a premise in support of an argument, for what reason or purpose * Grounding (metaphysics), a topic in metaphysics regarding how things exist in v ...

" (released Spring 2005), reached number 90 in Germany. "Alone" was selected as the third single with which the album would be launched, but when the album got pushed back from the expected release date of February 2006, the single was cancelled. When the new release date of 29 September 2006 was announced, the track "Sleezy" was chosen as the single with which the album was to be released. However, "Sleezy" was also cancelled when the release date was pushed back once again. When ''On Kosmo'' was finally released, on Monday 13 November 2006, it failed to chart significantly in the UK. Nevertheless, Sonique was shown as a celebrity guest at 2006 edition of the

World Music Awards The World Music Awards was an international award show founded in 1989 under the patronage of Albert II, Prince of Monaco and co-founder/executive producer John Martinotti. The event was based in Monte Carlo. Awards were presented to the worl ...

, in London.

2007–2011

In 2007, when promotional work for her previous album, ''On Kosmo'', was finished, Sonique announced she would continue touring Europe despite the flop of the album. A teaser from some of the new material she had been working on, titled "Better Than That", 'leaked' online on 5 October 2008. Due to the positive reception of this 'leak', the track was posted available to download on various legal

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg. It was designed to greatly reduce the amount ...

download sites. She was diagnosed with

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

in June 2009, for which she underwent surgery at a London clinic. Following her operations, Sonique opted to receive 5 months of

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

in an effort to prevent a recurrence. She was given the all clear in 2010 and celebrated by appearing on a cover version of the

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper ( ; born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Known for her distinctive image, featuring a variety of hair colors and eccentric clothing, and for her powerful four-octave vocal range;Jerome, ...

song ''

Girls Just Want To Have Fun "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" is a single made famous in 1983 by the American singer-songwriter Cyndi Lauper, written by Robert Hazard in 1979, with some of the lyrics changed by Lauper. It was released by Portrait Records as Lauper's debut s ...

'', which was released to raise funds for the

Cancer Research UK Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is the world's largest independent cancer research organisation. It is registered as a charity in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man, and was formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and t ...

charity. The single "World of Change" was released on 23 October 2009 and the official video was posted by Sonique's label on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. The year 2011 brought the release of the album ''Sweet Vibrations'', which contains the previously released singles "Better Than That" and "World of Change".

2024–Present

In March 2024 Sonique sold out her own show at the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London, England. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a G ...

with special guests Baby-D and

Rozalla Rozalla Miller (born 18 March 1964), better known as simply Rozalla, is a Zimbabwean electronic music performer who was born in what was then Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). She is best known for her three 1991/92 hit singles " Faith (In the Po ...

and added a string-section and

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

to her band. On 27 June 2024, Sonique performed a DJ set on the Silver Hayes stage at the

Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...

. In February 2025, She announced a tour to celebrate 25 years of her debut album 'Hear My Cry'

Discography

Albums

Singles

Notes

*A "I Put a Spell on You" peaked at number 36 in the United Kingdom upon its original release in 1998; it was later re-released in 2001, and served as the third single from ''Hear My Cry'' in all other territories. *B "It Feels So Good" peaked at number 24 in the United Kingdom upon its original release in 1998; it was later re-released in 2000, and served as the first single from ''Hear My Cry'' in all other territories.

Awards and nominations

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MOBO Awards The MOBO Awards (Music of Black Origin, also known as the MOBOs) are an annual British music award presentation honouring achievements in " music of black origin", including hip hop, grime, UK Drill, R&B, soul, reggae, jazz, gospel, and Ba ...

, rowspan=2, " It Feels So Good" , Best UK Single , , , - , rowspan=4,

MTV Europe Music Awards The MTV Europe Music Awards (originally named MTV European Music Awards, commonly abbreviated as MTV EMA) are awards presented by Paramount International Networks to honour artists and music in pop culture. It was originally conceived as an al ...

, Best Song , , rowspan=4, , - , rowspan=5, Herself , Best New Act , , - , Best Dance , , - , Best UK & Ireland Act , , - ,

NME Awards The ''NME'' Awards is an annual music awards show in the United Kingdom, founded by the music magazine ''NME'' (''New Musical Express''). The first awards show was held in 1953 as the ''NME'' Poll Winners Concerts, shortly after the founding o ...

, Best Dance Act , , , - , rowspan=2, Smash Hits Poll Winners Party , Best Dance/Soul Act , , , - , rowspan=5, " It Feels So Good" , Best Dance Choon , , , - ,

The Record of the Year The Record of the Year was an award voted by the United Kingdom public. For many years it was given in conjunction with a television programme on ITV of the same name. The award began in 1998 and was televised on ITV (TV network), ITV for eigh ...

, Record of the Year , , - , rowspan=10, 2001 , BMI Pop Awards , Award-Winning Song , , , - , rowspan=2,

Ivor Novello Awards The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Welsh entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and Musical composition, composing. They have been presented annually in London by the The Ivors Academy, Ivors Academy, formerly called the Britis ...

, International Hit of the Year , , - , Best Selling UK Single , , - , Hungarian Music Awards , '' Hear My Cry'' , Best Foreign Dance Album , , - , International Dance Music Awards , rowspan=4, Herself , Best New Dance Artist Solo , , - , DanceStar Awards , DanceStar of the Year , , - , rowspan=4, Brit Awards , British Female Solo Artist , , rowspan=4, , - , British Dance Act , , - , rowspan=2, " It Feels So Good" , British Single of the Year , , - , British Video of the Year ,

Notes

References

External links

Official site

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sonique 1965 births 20th-century Black British women singers 20th-century British women singers 21st-century Black British women singers 21st-century British women singers Brit Award winners English club DJs Black British DJs English dance musicians English electronic musicians English house musicians English people of Trinidad and Tobago descent English women DJs English women in electronic music English electronic dance music DJs Living people People from Crouch End Republic Records artists Singers from the London Borough of Haringey Universal Music Group artists ZYX Music artists

Biography

1965–1983: Early life

1983–1996: Early music career

1997–2001: DJ career

2002–2006: ''On Kosmo''

2007–2011

2024–Present

Discography

Albums

Singles

Notes

Awards and nominations

See also

Notes

References

External links