Sarah Jane Morris | |
|---|---|
 Morris in 2011 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 21 March 1959 Southampton, England |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter |
| Years active | 1980s–present |
| Website | sarahjanemorris |
Sarah Jane Morris (born 21 March 1959) is an English singer of pop, jazz, rock and R&B and a songwriter.
In 1982, Morris joined The Republic as lead singer. A London-based Afro-Caribbean-Latin band, they received enormous publicity from the music press including cover stories with NME and City Limits and a documentary for Granada TV. But the band was deemed too political for radio play, with the exception of Capital Radio. The Republic were signed to Charlie Gillett's Oval Records Ltd and released an EP entitled Three Songs From The Republic and two singles entitled "One Chance" and "My Spies". Success did not follow and the band split up in 1984.
Morris then sang with The Happy End, [1] a 21-piece brass band named after Bertolt Brecht, Elisabeth Hauptmann and Kurt Weill's musical play. Playing a circuit that included Brighton's Zap Club and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, The Happy End explored protest music from Africa, Ireland and Latin America on a way that emulated Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra.
Morris explored her more theatrical side on Brecht/Eisler's There's Nothing Quite Like Money and Brecht/Weill's Pirate Jenny from The Threepenny Opera .
The Happy End released two albums on the Cooking Vinyl label with Morris. Following a successful Edinburgh run in 1986, Morris then decamped to chart success with The Communards.
Morris found fame initially with the Communards, [2] who are best known for their hit "Don't Leave Me This Way". [1] Morris featured prominently on many Communards tracks, her low and deep vocal range contrasting with Jimmy Somerville's falsetto. She has also recorded as a solo artist, releasing albums since 1989. These have enjoyed most popularity in Italy and Greece. [3]
Morris also contributed to the opera The Fall of the House of Usher (1991) by Peter Hammill and Judge Smith, singing the part of the chorus. [1] She also sang the part of Mère Ubu on the Pere Ubu album Long Live Père Ubu! (2009), which features songs from Bring Me The Head of Pere Ubu, David Thomas's theatrical adaptation of Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi .
She recorded an album of John Martyn covers with guitarist Tony Rémy in 2019 entitled Sweet Little Mystery and is touring with him playing the songs from the album. [4]
She is a cousin of American author Armistead Maupin. [5] [6]
The Threepenny Opera is a German "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, The Beggar's Opera, and four ballads by François Villon, with music by Kurt Weill. Although there is debate as to how much, if any, contribution Hauptmann might have made to the text, Brecht is usually listed as sole author.
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht. With Brecht, he developed productions such as his best-known work, The Threepenny Opera, which included the ballad "Mack the Knife". Weill held the ideal of writing music that served a socially useful purpose, Gebrauchsmusik. He also wrote several works for the concert hall and a number of works on Jewish themes. He became a United States citizen on August 27, 1943.
Armistead Jones Maupin, Jr. is an American writer notable for Tales of the City, a series of novels set in San Francisco.
The Communards were a British synth-pop duo formed in London in 1985. The duo consisted of Jimmy Somerville and Richard Coles. They are most famous for their cover versions of "Don't Leave Me This Way", originally by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes featuring Teddy Pendergrass and the Jackson 5's "Never Can Say Goodbye".
"Mack the Knife" or "The Ballad of Mack the Knife" is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their 1928 music drama The Threepenny Opera. The song sings about a knife-wielding criminal of the London underworld from the musical named Macheath, the "Mack the Knife" of the title.
David Lynn Thomas is an American singer, songwriter and musician based in Great Britain.
David William Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school.
Allen Ravenstine is an American keyboard player, most recognized for his work in the experimental rock group Pere Ubu. In 1991, he quit music to become a commercial airline pilot.
Pere Ubu is an American rock group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. The band had a variety of long-term and recurring band members, with singer David Thomas being the only member staying throughout the band's lifetime. They released their debut album The Modern Dance in 1978 and followed with several more LPs before disbanding in 1982. Thomas reformed the group in 1987, continuing to record and tour.
Dagmar Krause is a German singer, best known for her work with avant-rock groups including Slapp Happy, Henry Cow, and Art Bears. She is also noted for her coverage of songs by Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler. Her unusual singing style makes her voice instantly recognisable and has defined the sound of many of the bands with whom she has worked.
Mary Margaret O'Hara is a Canadian singer-songwriter, actress and composer. She is best known for the album Miss America, released in 1988. She released two albums and an EP under her own name, and remains active as a live performer, as a contributor to compilation albums and as a guest collaborator on other artists' albums.
The "Alabama Song"—also known as "Moon of Alabama", "Moon over Alabama", and "Whisky Bar"—is an English version of a song written by Bertolt Brecht and translated from German by his close collaborator Elisabeth Hauptmann in 1925 and set to music by Kurt Weill for the 1927 play Little Mahagonny. It was reused for the 1930 opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny and has been recorded by the Doors and David Bowie.
Love Records was a record label from Finland established in 1966 by Christian Schwindt. It specialized in Finnish rock and also released jazz, leftist political songs, and ethnic music.
Pennsylvania is an album by the American band Pere Ubu, released in 1998. The album marked Tom Herman's return to Pere Ubu's studio work after a twenty-year absence. It is a loose concept album about geography, travel, and road trips.
Happy End is a three-act musical comedy by Kurt Weill, Elisabeth Hauptmann, and Bertolt Brecht which first opened in Berlin at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm on September 2, 1929. It closed after seven performances. In 1977 it premiered on Broadway, where it ran for 75 performances.
"Don't Leave Me This Way" is a song written by Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff and Cary Gilbert. It was originally released in 1975 by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes featuring Teddy Pendergrass, an act signed to Gamble & Huff's Philadelphia International label. "Don't Leave Me This Way" was subsequently covered by American singer Thelma Houston in 1976 and British duo the Communards in 1986, with both versions achieving commercial success.
Anna Prucnal is a Polish actress in both cinema and theatre, as well as a singer.
Long Live Père Ubu! is an album by the American band Pere Ubu, released in 2009. It is a soundtrack to a musical adaptation of the play from which the band took its name. The band performed its adaptation at (Le) Poisson Rouge. David Thomas referred to Long Live Père Ubu! as the first "true" punk album to be released in 30 years.
Live at the Desert Inn is a live album by American singer Bobby Darin, released in 1987.
Sarah Elizabeth Reeves; born April 29, 1989) is an American musician and singer who primarily plays a Christian pop and worship style of music. She has released five extended plays and three studio albums.
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