Swing Out Sister

Swing Out Sister

Swing Out Sister are a British pop group from Manchester, United Kingdom, active since 1985. They are best known for the 1986 single Breakout, and their music is associated with acid jazz and sophisti-pop, alongside pop and smooth-jazz elements.

Formation and members

The group begins as a trio formed by Andy Connell and Martin Jackson in 1985, with Corinne Drewery joining later. Connell plays keyboards, Jackson plays drums, and Drewery provides vocals and writes lyrics. Before forming the group, Connell and Jackson play in other bands, while Drewery works as a fashion designer and model. The name comes from the 1945 film Swing Out, Sister, and the group reportedly chooses it because it is the one name they all dislike. Later, Drewery and Connell become the core of the act after Jackson leaves during the making of the second album. The project then continues as a duo, although later live and studio line-ups also include other musicians.

Early releases and breakthrough

Before the debut album, the group releases Blue Mood in the UK in November 1985, but it does not chart. Breakout follows in late 1986 and reaches number 4 in the UK and number 6 in the United States. Their first album, It’s Better to Travel, reaches number 1 on the UK album chart. Its sound combines jazz and electropop, with arrangements by producer-arranger Richard Niles and production by Paul Staveley O’Duffy. The album features real horns, synthesizers used to suggest strings, drums and xylophones.

1987 to 1994

The follow-up single Surrender features a trumpet solo by John Thirkell and reaches number 7 in the UK in January 1987. Twilight World becomes a remixed club favourite, while Fooled By a Smile returns to a brighter pop style. In 1988, the group receives Grammy nominations for Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Group or Duo for Breakout.

The second album, Kaleidoscope World, is released in 1989 and marks a move towards retro influences, including easy-listening references associated with Burt Bacharach and Jimmy Webb. O’Duffy returns as producer, and the record uses orchestral arrangements led by Gavyn Wright. The album includes the singles You On My Mind, Waiting Game, Where in the World and Forever Blue. Jackson leaves during its recording and later works for Frank Zappa.

Get In Touch With Yourself appears in 1992 and draws on 1960s and 1970s jazz, pop, soul and funk. It includes a cover of Barbara Acklin’s Am I The Same Girl?, which becomes the group’s last US hit and reaches number 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The title track receives strong smooth-jazz and adult contemporary radio play. Drewery also changes her image during this period by growing her hair out from the bob associated with the group’s early years.

The Living Return follows in 1994. After early sessions, producer Paul O’Duffy is replaced by Ray Hayden, giving the album a looser sound built partly from studio jams. The recording credits and live line-up expand to include musicians such as Derick Johnson, Chris Manis, Myke Wilson and John Thirkell, bringing the group to ten members for live-style performances. The album includes La La (Means I Love You), also used on the Four Weddings and a Funeral soundtrack.

Later albums, Japan and international work

The group gains especially strong popularity in Japan, even when Western pop chart success declines. Shapes and Patterns, first released in Japan in 1997, includes Now You’re Not Here, which is used as the theme for a Japanese TV programme and wins a Japanese Grand Prix for best international single. The album returns to lush orchestral arranging, with O’Duffy co-writing half the songs and influences from Bacharach, Webb, John Barry, Minnie Riperton, Rotary Connection and The 5th Dimension.

Filth and Dreams is released only in Japan in 1999 and leans further towards jazz, trip-hop and darker subject matter. The single Who’s Been Sleeping is issued with remixes. Somewhere Deep in the Night, recorded in France and released in Japan in 2001 before later appearing elsewhere, is dedicated to Kazuhiko Yanagida and features many instrumental passages, French vocalisation and orchestral arrangements. O’Duffy produces and co-writes all the songs, with backing vocals from O’Duffy, Connell and Cansfield. Universal drops the group from its US contract after declining sales, and they then sign with Shanachie Records.

Where Our Love Grows appears in 2004 in Japan before a UK release, and uses jazz, soul, R&B, Latin and easy-listening elements, with samples from Roger Nichols & The Small Circle of Friends and Herbie Mann. Beautiful Mess follows in 2008, first on Avex Trax in Japan and later in the UK and US. In 2006 the group also composes incidental music for the ITV1 drama The Outsiders.

Collaborators and touring

Across its career, Swing Out Sister work with a number of musicians and arrangers, including O’Duffy, John Thirkell, Gary Barnacle, Luis Jardim, Tim Cansfield, Jerry Hey and Jimmy Webb. Later studio and live work also includes Gina Foster, Jody Linscott, Dan Swana and other players. The group performs tribute concerts, including a 2000 appearance at London’s Royal Albert Hall in honour of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. They also tour extensively in Asia, with concerts in Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore and Bangkok.

Selected additional recordings and projects

Other releases in the discography include Another Non-Stop Sister, Swing Out Singles, Live at the Jazz Cafe, The Big Elsewhere, Now You’re Not Here, several best-of and collection releases, and live albums such as Live in Tokyo. In 2002, Drewery records Waters of March with Japanese singer Akiko as an English version of Antônio Carlos Jobim’s Aguas de Marco.