Singer Harriet Wheeler is the main ingredient in the sound of the British jangle-pop band
the Sundays. Her high, lilting voice floating over boyfriend David Gavurin's guitars
enabled the group to stand apart from the hordes of alternative-rock
bands first making
chart headway in the early '90s.
Wheeler was born 36 years ago today in Maidenhead, England. Before forming the
Sundays, she sang with London band Jim Jiminee. In 1988 she formed the Sundays
with Gavurin, whom she met at Bristol University and with whom she had been
romantically involved for several years.
After writing a few songs together, the pair added bassist Paul Brindley and drummer
Patrick Hannan. After a London club gig generated a lot of word-of-mouth attention, the
Sundays were the subject of a bidding war among several record labels, with Rough
Trade ultimately signing the band. For U.S. distribution, the group chose DGC Records.
The Sundays enjoyed a UK hit with their first single, 1989's "Can't Be Sure." A year later,
their critically lauded debut LP, Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, was released. It
became a top-five hit in the UK. The album also was popular in the U.S., where "Here's
Where the Story Ends" became a modern-rock hit. With their 1990 world tour, the
Sundays reinforced the critical consensus that they were headed for major commercial
success.
But then Rough Trade went bankrupt and the Sundays took a long time writing and
recording a follow-up. Still, Blind (1992) was a modern-rock hit on both sides of
the Atlantic, scoring with popular singles such as "Love" and "Goodbye." It also featured
a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses," which was later used in a commercial.
After another global tour, the Sundays retreated from the music scene -- Wheeler and
Gavurin had a daughter. Though some fans thought the band might be through, the
Sundays returned in 1997 with Static & Silence, featuring such cuts as
"Summertime" (RealAudio excerpt) and "Homeward."
"I don't mean to say that we're not ambitious," Gavurin said. "We're happy with how many
records we've sold, and we'd like to reach more people -- but not at the cost of who we
are. ... We'll never put out something we didn't believe in just to have something in the
marketplace."
Other birthdays: Billy Davis Jr. (ex-Fifth Dimension), 59; Georgie Fame, 56; Rindy Ross
(Quarterflash), 48; Mick Jones (ex-Clash, Big Audio Dynamite), 44; Patty Smyth, 42; Terri
Nunn (Berlin), 40; Mark Decloedt (EMF), 32; and Colin Greenwood (Radiohead), 30.
|
