Sarah Cracknell
Sarah Jane Cracknell is an English singer-songwriter and lead singer of the electronic music band Saint Etienne.
Career
Cracknell's career started with the Windsor-based indie band The Worried Parachutes in 1982. Following the demise of the band she released two solo singles, "Love Is All You Need," and "Coastal Town" in 1987. With friend Mick Bund, she then formed a new band, Prime Time, who released a handful of singles.Cracknell was one-half of the duo who released three singles between 1991 and 1992 including "Heart Spin," "Fingertips" b/w "Live To Breathe," and "Journey To The Centre Of Love."
File:Sarah Cracknell 2007.jpg|thumb|left|Cracknell performing with Saint Etienne at Rise Festival in London, July 2007
Saint Etienne was originally to be an indie dance act featuring various vocalists. After Moira Lambert sang on their initial 1990 single "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" and Donna Savage was heard on the follow-up single "Kiss and Make Up", Cracknell lent her vocals to "Nothing Can Stop Us" and ended up doing the rest of the singing on their debut album Foxbase Alpha. Cracknell has been Saint Etienne's permanent vocalist since then.
Preceded by the single "Anymore" in 1996, Cracknell released a solo album, Lipslide, in May 1997. Originally released in the UK only by Gut Records, the album featured dance, indie and pop tunes and received good reviews from critics, but was not a big seller.
Lipslide finally surfaced in the U.S. three years later, when Instinct Records released it in February 2000. With completely different cover art, the original album's track listing was also modified: five tracks were removed and four new songs plus a remix were added. Months later, Instinct released the Kelly's Locker EP, which contained the five tracks originally removed from the UK version of Lipslide, along with two previously unreleased songs and a new remix.
Cracknell was Spiller's first choice for the vocals of his number-one hit "Groovejet " in 2000, but she never got to record the song, which instead featured Sophie Ellis-Bextor. She has recorded tracks with various artists such as David Holmes, Xploding Plastix, Cheapglue and Paul Van Dyk.
She recorded a duet of Dusty Springfield's 1968 song "I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten" with Marc Almond for his album Stardom Road, released in June 2007.
In December 2007, BBC radio began playing "The Journey Continues" by Mark Brown featuring Cracknell. The song consists of extensive samples from a composition by Elena Kats-Chernin entitled Eliza's Aria, well known to UK TV viewers as the music from the animated 'For the Journey' commercials for Lloyds TSB bank. The single was released in February 2008 on Positiva. The song peaked at #11 in the UK after being released.
Cracknell has collaborated with French pop star Etienne Daho on several occasions. She co-wrote and sang back-up vocals on "Les passagers" from his 1996 album Eden, and also co-wrote "Le premier jour" which was released as a single from his greatest hits compilation Singles. With Saint Etienne, they collaborated on the Reserection EP. Saint Etienne's single "He's on the Phone" was actually an English-language adaptation of Daho's French language 1984 single "Weekend à Rome".
On 21 August 2014, Cherry Red Records announced that it had signed Cracknell to a worldwide deal under which she would release a new solo album. The album, entitled Red Kite, was recorded in December 2014 and released on 15 June 2015. A series of live shows by Cracknell in support the album were planned for the weeks following its release.
Personal life
Cracknell married Martin Kelly in Kensington and Chelsea, London on 5 December 2004. They have two children, born in Westminster, London in 2001 and 2004.Cracknell is the daughter of Stanley Kubrick's first assistant director Derek Cracknell and actor and singer Julie Samuel.
Discography
The discography consists of two studio albums, two compilations, six solo singles and four singles as a featured artist.Albums
Studio albums
Compilation albums
Singles
As lead singer
As featured artist
Guest appearances
| Title | Year | Other artist | Release |
| "I Fell in Love with a Stranger" | unknown | Inter Nation featuring Sarah Jane | I Fell in Love with a Stranger |
| "Fingertips" | 1991 | LoveCUT>>DB* featuring Sarah Jane | Fingertips / Live To Breathe |
| "Supermarket" | 1992 | Supermarket | We Are Icerink |
| "Worthless" | 1993 | Mexico 70 | Worthless/ Heaven in Your Eyes |
| "Les Passagers" | 1996 | Étienne Daho | Eden |
| "Tokyo to London" | 1997 | Hideki Kaji | Mini Skirt |
| "The Man I Love" | 1998 | Kid Loco | Red Hot + Rhapsody: The Gershwin Groove |
| "Week-end à Rome" | 1998 | Étienne Daho | Singles |
| "Kissing Things" | 1999 | The 6ths | Hyacinths & Thistles |
| "Elysium" | 1999 | Madness | Wonderful |
| "Tomorrow's Girl" | 2002 | Funky Monkey | Join Us in Tomorrow |
| "You Just Won Me Over" | 2002 | Cheapglue | You Just Won Me Over |
| "The Last Weekend" | 2015 | Akasha | Hail The Sun |
| "We Look at the Stars" | 2016 | Lisbon Kid | We Look at the Stars |
| "Growth of Raindrops" | 2017 | Warm Digits | Growth of Raindrops |
| "Do You Like My New Hair?" | 2020 | The Pre New | Do You Like My New Hair? / In The Perfect Place |