My Life Story
Encyclopedia
My Life Story are a British
indie pop
group
who peaked in the mid to late 1990s, when they were regarded as part of the Britpop
movement. Fronted by singer
/songwriter
Jake Shillingford, the group was formed in London
around 1991, and inherited their name from an earlier group in which Shillingford had appeared. A cross between a pop
group and a chamber orchestra, the band's sound was heavily oriented toward orchestral instruments
.
, "Girl A, Girl B, Boy C" (1993) produced by Giles Martin
son of George, the group had a regular line-up of twelve members. Though the membership fluctuated continually, it rarely dipped into single figures until 1999, when their third album
credited just four regular members, though most of the former line-up were still used as session musician
s.
My Life Story enjoyed the most success at the time of their second album
, which spawned five singles that entered the lower half of the UK Singles Chart
, but finally disbanded after a series of farewell concert
s in December 2000.
On 26 May 2006 the band re-formed with the full line-up of thirteen members to play a sell-out crowd at he On 26 May 2006 the band reformed with the full line-up of thirteen members to play to a sell-out crowd at the Mean Fiddler on Charing Cross Road in London, in support of their forthcoming Best Of album. The gig got a review rating of 10/10 from Planet Sound. A second reunion show took place at the Astoria in London on 8 December 2006. Further reunions have taken place every two years on 13 December 2007 at the Shepherds Bush Empire and Koko on 26th November 2009 where the band performed their debut album Mornington Crescent for the first time in its entirety.
My Life Story announced that they are to reunite again to perform The Golden Mile at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire on Saturday 3rd March 2012 to celebrate fifteen years since the albums release.
In 2009, it was announced that, to mark 15 years since their debut album, the group would reform and perform the album in full, together with later songs. This concert took place at KOKO which is next door to Mornington Crescent tube station
.
Their recording
of the song
"Mr Boyd" (originally recorded by Roger Hodgson
's Argosy in 1969) was featured during the closing credits
of the film
, Stiff Upper Lips
.
"12 Reasons Why I Love Her" was used in an advert for The Sarah Silverman Program
on Comedy Central in the UK.
. Shilling also produced many My Life Story tracks, including most of the Golden Mile album.
Shillingford also released an acoustic solo album in 2009 called "Written Large", which featured 2 new tracks, plus acoustic versions of My Life Story and ExileInside songs.
More recently, Shillingford has taken on the moniker of Choppersaurus, and been involved in writing tracks such as "You Are Not Alone" by dance outfit Mason.
Shillingford has also presented an electronica
music show on the Essex
based community radio station Phoenix FM
.
Dan Turner the band's keyboard
player went on to form the band MacArthur with singer/songwriter producer Dom Chapman (aka CHAPMAN) after the group split in 2000. He landed a recording contract
with Artist Network and recorded the Northern Soul
influenced album MacArthur working with musicians such as Gary "Mudbone" Cooper {Funkadelic
} and Chris Sharrock {The La's
, World Party
, Robbie Williams
, Oasis
}. As the band were about to release their first single the record company went bankrupt. The music has now been taken on by Fairwood Music.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
indie pop
Indie pop
Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid...
group
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
who peaked in the mid to late 1990s, when they were regarded as part of the Britpop
Britpop
Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s...
movement. Fronted by singer
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
/songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
Jake Shillingford, the group was formed in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
around 1991, and inherited their name from an earlier group in which Shillingford had appeared. A cross between a pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
group and a chamber orchestra, the band's sound was heavily oriented toward orchestral instruments
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
.
History
At the time of their debut singleSingle (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "Girl A, Girl B, Boy C" (1993) produced by Giles Martin
Giles Martin
Giles Martin is an English record producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He is the son of Sir George Martin, famed producer of almost all of The Beatles' records.- Biography :...
son of George, the group had a regular line-up of twelve members. Though the membership fluctuated continually, it rarely dipped into single figures until 1999, when their third album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
credited just four regular members, though most of the former line-up were still used as session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
s.
My Life Story enjoyed the most success at the time of their second album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, which spawned five singles that entered the lower half of the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
, but finally disbanded after a series of farewell concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
s in December 2000.
On 26 May 2006 the band re-formed with the full line-up of thirteen members to play a sell-out crowd at he On 26 May 2006 the band reformed with the full line-up of thirteen members to play to a sell-out crowd at the Mean Fiddler on Charing Cross Road in London, in support of their forthcoming Best Of album. The gig got a review rating of 10/10 from Planet Sound. A second reunion show took place at the Astoria in London on 8 December 2006. Further reunions have taken place every two years on 13 December 2007 at the Shepherds Bush Empire and Koko on 26th November 2009 where the band performed their debut album Mornington Crescent for the first time in its entirety.
My Life Story announced that they are to reunite again to perform The Golden Mile at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire on Saturday 3rd March 2012 to celebrate fifteen years since the albums release.
In 2009, it was announced that, to mark 15 years since their debut album, the group would reform and perform the album in full, together with later songs. This concert took place at KOKO which is next door to Mornington Crescent tube station
Mornington Crescent tube station
Mornington Crescent is a London Underground station in Camden Town in north west London, named after the nearby street. The station is on the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line, between and...
.
Their recording
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
of the song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
"Mr Boyd" (originally recorded by Roger Hodgson
Roger Hodgson
Charles Roger Pomfret Hodgson is a British musician and songwriter, best known as the former co-frontman, and founding member, of progressive rock band Supertramp....
's Argosy in 1969) was featured during the closing credits
Closing credits
Closing credits or end credits are added at the end of a motion picture, television program, or video game to list the cast and crew involved in the production. They usually appear as a list of names in small type, which either flip very quickly from page to page, or move smoothly across the...
of the film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, Stiff Upper Lips
Stiff Upper Lips
Stiff Upper Lips is a broad parody of British period films, especially the lavish Merchant-Ivory productions of the 'eighties and early 'nineties...
.
"12 Reasons Why I Love Her" was used in an advert for The Sarah Silverman Program
The Sarah Silverman Program
The Sarah Silverman Program is an American television series that starred comedian and actress Sarah Silverman, who created the series with Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab...
on Comedy Central in the UK.
Other projects
The spirit of the band lived on in Shillingford's next project, ExileInside, which drew its influences from 1980s electronica, replacing the lush orchestral sounds of My Life Story with a quirky retro synth based sound. Former band members Aaron Cahill and Mal Campbell appear in the line-up, and the material is engineered by George ShillingGeorge Shilling
George Shilling is a British musician, record producer, composer and audio engineer. He is the son of Eric Shilling, formerly of the English National Opera and actress Erica Johns...
. Shilling also produced many My Life Story tracks, including most of the Golden Mile album.
Shillingford also released an acoustic solo album in 2009 called "Written Large", which featured 2 new tracks, plus acoustic versions of My Life Story and ExileInside songs.
More recently, Shillingford has taken on the moniker of Choppersaurus, and been involved in writing tracks such as "You Are Not Alone" by dance outfit Mason.
Shillingford has also presented an electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
music show on the Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
based community radio station Phoenix FM
Phoenix FM
Phoenix FM is a community radio station serving the areas of Brentwood and Billericay, England. It was formed in 1996 and has broadcast twelve 28-day restricted service licence broadcasts on FM. The station's presenters include local snooker hero Steve Davis, Boxer Rebellion drummer Piers Hewitt,...
.
Dan Turner the band's keyboard
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
player went on to form the band MacArthur with singer/songwriter producer Dom Chapman (aka CHAPMAN) after the group split in 2000. He landed a recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
with Artist Network and recorded the Northern Soul
Northern soul
Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged from the British mod scene, initially in northern England in the late 1960s. Northern soul mainly consists of a particular style of black American soul music based on the heavy beat and fast tempo of the mid-1960s Tamla Motown sound...
influenced album MacArthur working with musicians such as Gary "Mudbone" Cooper {Funkadelic
Funkadelic
Funkadelic was an American band most prominent during the 1970s. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, began the funk music culture of that decade.-History:...
} and Chris Sharrock {The La's
The La's
The La's were an English rock band from Liverpool, originally active from the mid-1980s to early 1990s. Fronted by singer, songwriter and guitarist Lee Mavers, the group is most famous for their hit single "There She Goes". The band was formed by Mike Badger in 1984 and Mavers joined soon after...
, World Party
World Party
World Party is a British pop/alternative rock band, which is essentially the solo project of its sole member, Karl Wallinger. He started the band in 1986 in London after leaving The Waterboys.-Career:...
, Robbie Williams
Robbie Williams
Robert Peter "Robbie" Williams is an English singer-songwriter, vocal coach and occasional actor. He is a member of the pop group Take That. Williams rose to fame in the band's first run in the early- to mid-1990s. After many disagreements with the management and certain group members, Williams...
, Oasis
Oasis (band)
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...
}. As the band were about to release their first single the record company went bankrupt. The music has now been taken on by Fairwood Music.
Albums
- Mornington Crescent (Mother Tongue RecordsMother Tongue RecordsMother Tongue Records is an independent record label formed in the early 1990s that featured the 12 piece glam-orchestral Britpop band My Life Story, the label was resurrected in the early 2000s with The Barbs, Nick Oliveri and The Long Weekend amongst its acts...
- 1994) UKUK Albums ChartThe UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
# 115 - The Golden Mile (ParlophoneParlophoneParlophone is a record label that was founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch was formed in 1923 as "Parlophone" which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a leading jazz label. It was acquired in 1927 by the Columbia Graphophone Company which...
- 1997) UK # 36 - Mornington Crescent (Parlophone - 1998)
- Joined Up Talking (it RecordsIt Recordsit Records was a pop record label of the late 1990s and early 2000s that was an offshoot of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group. Acts included My Life Story, who released singles such as “It’s a Girl Thing” whilst being signed to the label, Icebreaker International and Birdie.-External links:**...
2000) UK # 126 - Sex & Violins (The Best of My Life Story) (Exilophone Records 2006)
- Megaphone Theology (B-Sides and Rarities) (Exilophone Records 2006)
Singles
- "Home Sweet Zoo" (1986)
- "Girl A, Girl B, Boy C" (1993)
- "Funny Ha Ha" (1994)
- "You Don't Sparkle (In My Eyes)" (1995)UKUK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
#155 - "The Mornington Crescent Companion EP" (1995)
- "12 Reasons Why I Love Her" (1996) UK # 32
- "Sparkle" (1996) UK #34
- "The King Of Kissingdom" (1997) UK #35
- "Strumpet" (1997) UK #27
- "Duchess" (1997) UK #39
- "If You Can't Live Without Me Then Why Aren't You Dead Yet?" (1998) - Download-only single in Windows MediaWindows MediaWindows Media is a multimedia framework for media creation and distribution for Microsoft Windows. It consists of a software development kit with several application programming interfaces and a number of prebuilt technologies, and is the replacement of NetShow technologies.The Windows Media SDK...
format (later available as an MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
) - "It's A Girl Thing" (1999) UK #37
- "Empire Line" (1999) UK #58
- "Walk/Don't Walk" (2000) UK #48
Collaborations
- Yesterday Has Gone with P.J. Proby and Marc AlmondMarc AlmondMarc Almond is an English singer-songwriter and musician, who originally found fame as half of the seminal synthpop/New Wave duo Soft Cell...
(as the My Life Story Orchestra)