Olive (band)

Olive
Origin	London, England
Genres	Electronica, trip hop, breakbeat
Years active	1994–2003
Labels	RCA, Maverick
Past members	Ruth-Ann Boyle Tim Kellett Robin Taylor-Firth

Olive is a trip hop group from London, England. The founding membership consisted of producer, instrumentalist and songwriter Tim Kellett, producer and keyboard programmer Robin Taylor-Firth, and singer Ruth-Ann Boyle. The band has released two albums, the second without Taylor-Firth. Their 1996 single "You're Not Alone" reached number one in the UK singles chart.

Two of Olive's founding members had been members of successful acts. Tim Kellett was a member of Simply Red from 1981 until 1991.Robin Taylor-Firth had decided to branch out although continuing with George Evelyn's project Nightmares on Wax. The two met through a mutual friend who had recently joined Simply Red as bassist and formed a musical collaboration.

By 1994, three demos (which would become "Miracle", "Falling" and "You're Not Alone") were recorded in Kellett's cellar studio, upon which the two began their search for a singer. At this time, Kellett went on tour as keyboardist with Vini Reilly's The Durutti Column, with whom he had played for a decade prior to joining Simply Red. While playing back pre-recorded keyboard samples on stage, Kellett heard a favourable vocal sample; the voice was that of Ruth-Ann Boyle, who had provided the samples for The Durutti Column's 1994 album Sex and Death.

Kellett contacted Boyle about singing for the collaboration; at the time working in a bar, and though disillusioned from past experiences singing in bands, Boyle accepted. After an audition with "Miracle", Boyle's membership in the band was set. The completion of the three initial demos attracted the interest of various UK record labels, and Olive signed with the top bidder, RCA, in September 1995.

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