Sweet Female Attitude

Sweet Female Attitude are a Manchester, United Kingdom electronic music group best known for “Flowers”, whose Sunship remix reaches number two on the UK Singles Chart and becomes an enduring garage anthem. The group’s sound sits across house, soul and vocal house, and it also connects strongly to UK garage and 2-step.

Formation and early line-up

The act begins in 1996 as a collaboration between songwriters Mike Powell, DJ Shine MC and Leanne Brown. From that starting point, the group develops with Leanne Brown, Sarah Bridgewood and Charlene Morrison. Morrison later leaves in 1997. In 1998, before the first release, the group briefly uses the name Trinity Way after Shine MC chooses to perform alongside Leanne and Sarah. The original name returns after the act signs its first record deal with Cutfather and Joe Recordings at Manchester’s In The City event in August 1998, with Shine MC resuming his songwriting role.

Breakthrough with “Flowers”

In early 1999, Sarah Bridgewood leaves and Leanne Brown is asked to front the group alone or find another singer. After auditions, Catherine Cassidy joins, and the pair record the album In Person in 2000. Under the creative direction of manager Gordon Charlton, “Flowers” is remixed by Sunship. The track first appears as a white label release in 1999 on Milkk Records, a subsidiary of Reverb Records, then gains traction in the London UK garage scene.

The official release of “Flowers” follows in 2000 on Warner Music Germany. It sells more than 200,000 copies, reaches number two in the UK Singles Chart and brings appearances on Top of the Pops, MTV, T4 and Radio One’s One Big Sunday, as well as a UK and European club tour. The group is also nominated for a Brit Award. “Flowers” appears on several Pure Garage compilations and is widely treated as a garage standard.

Albums, later singles and compilation appearances

After “Flowers”, Leanne and Catherine spend much of their time in Denmark and Germany recording their first album. The next single, “DJ Play It”, does not match the success of “Flowers”, and the follow-up “Don’t Tell Me” is released only in Germany in 2001. The album In Person appears in Germany in November 2001 and is later re-released globally by Reverb Records in September 2015.

The group’s tracks “Nothing to Lose”, “Dreamin’” and a Cutfather & Joe remix of “Flowers” are added to the soundtrack of the Xbox 360 game Dead or Alive Xtreme 2. An October release by Krept & Konan also samples “Flowers”.

Later activity and remixes

After nearly a decade of performing, Sweet Female Attitude records an unsigned single, “Crazy”, in 2009, along with an unreleased version of “Flowers” with the Miami Superfly Boys. A Jamie Duggan remix of “Flowers” is released on Universal Music in 2009, and the group tours the UK around it.

In 2015, a “Flowers” remix by Sam Divine and Curtis Gabriel appears on All Around the World Records, alongside mixes by Majestic & That Guy, Freejack and ANOTR, and it finds success in the underground house scene. The group then releases a single in 2016 with South African producers Beebar & Symphonik, followed by eight singles in 2017 with UK house producers eSquire, Reload and the Peverell Brothers, French producer Rio De La Duna and UK garage producers Control-S. One of these tracks, “I Quit”, appears on the Majestic Pure House & Garage 2 compilation. In 2018, the group adds further singles and two EPs, including collaborations with Platnum and underground producers Ill Phil, Danny Blaze, Rick Live, Joe Hunt, Soulecta and No F in Irony.

Membership

The group’s listed members are Leanne Brown, Catherine Cassidy and Nekstman.