Swing Out Sister

Swing Out Sister
Corinne Drewery and Andy Connell
Background information
Origin	Manchester, England, UK
Genres	Pop pop rock sophisti-pop
Years active	1985–present
Labels	Mercury, Fontana, Shanachie
Website	swingoutsister.com
Members	Andy Connell Corinne Drewery
Past members	Martin Jackson

Swing Out Sister are an English pop group best known worldwide for the 1986 song "Breakout". Other hits include "Surrender", "Twilight World", "Waiting Game" and a remake of the Eugene Record soul composition "Am I the Same Girl?"

Although Swing Out Sister are currently a duo, they began as a trio in the UK. The group was formed by Andy Connell (keyboards) and Martin Jackson (drums); they were later joined by Corinne Drewery (vocals). The group's name came from the title of a 1945 movie starring Arthur Treacher, called Swing Out, Sister, and they claim they chose the name because it was the only thing the band could agree on, in that they all hated it. Both Connell and Jackson had been playing in other bands prior to forming SOS, while Drewery was a fashion designer and model before she became the band's lead vocalist.

52nd Street’s Diane Charlemagne was influential in the period just prior the band signing to Phonogram Records. Connell and Jackson, outside of their usual roles as Manchester musicians in, A Certain Ratio and Magazine, were producing Electro tracks for Morgan Khan’s Streetwise label with a degree of underground success. This activity triggered interest from a few major labels including Phonogram/Mercury Records. Vocalised songs were asked for, so Connell who knew Charlemagne through Factory Records, approached her to sing on the Phonogram demos. These demos helped secure Connell and Jackson’s major label contract. This was the period in which 52nd Street moved from Factory Records to Virgin Records and as a result, Diane Charlemagne’s Swing Out Sister involvement ended.

Together with their producer, Paul Staveley O'Duffy, they signed with Mercury Records. Prior to their first album, they released the single "Blue Mood" in the UK in November 1985. However, it did not chart.