Alison Statton

Alison Statton (born March 1958)[1] is a Welsh singer best known for her work with Young Marble Giants. Fans of the singer have included Kurt Cobain,[2] Courtney Love, Stephin Merritt, Belle and Sebastian and Renato Russo.

Alison Statton
Statton in 1989
Background information
BornMarch 1958 (age 62)
Cardiff, Wales
GenresNew wave, post-punk, jazz
Years active1978–present
LabelsRough Trade, Les Disques du Crépuscule, Vinyl Japan
Associated actsYoung Marble Giants, Weekend, Devine & Statton
Young Marble Giants live at Factory Festival, Nivelles, Belgium, 1 November 2008
Weekend at the Paradiso, Amsterdam, 5 February 1983
Weekend at the Paradiso, Amsterdam, 2 February 1983

Musical career

Born in Cardiff, Statton's career in music began in 1978 as the singer for the band Young Marble Giants.[3] After Young Marble Giants split up in 1981, she formed the jazz-influenced band Weekend with Simon Emmerson (Booth) and Spike Williams, releasing the album La Varieté in 1982 and a live EP, Live at Ronnie Scott's, the following year.[3][4]

Statton returned to Cardiff and trained to be a chiropractor while teaching t'ai chi.[3]

She returned to music in the late 1980s and released two recordings with the guitarist from Ludus, Ian Devine as 'Devine and Statton', The Prince of Wales (1989) and Cardiffians (1990).[5][6][7]

After working with Devine, she released several records with Spike in the 1990s, starting with Weekend in Wales (1993).[5][7][8]

Young Marble Giants reunited for a number of live performances from 2007 to 2015 in Europe, the last one in London at the Royal Festival Hall during the Meltdown Festival curated by David Byrne.

Statton's singing has been called "coolly unadorned",[5] cool and dispassionate,[9] and ghostly and fragile,[10] with a "shy, singsong delivery".[11] Her vocal style is considered influential on many of the indie pop artists that followed.[4]

She presently works as a chiropractor.[12]

Recordings

With Young Marble Giants

With Weekend
  • La Variete (1982), Rough Trade
  • Live at Ronnie Scott's (1983), Rough Trade
  • Archive (2003), Vinyl Japan

Devine and Statton

With Spike
  • Weekend in Wales (1993), Vinyl Japan
  • Tidal Blues (1994), Vinyl Japan
  • Maple Snow (1995), Vinyl Japan
  • The Shady Tree (1997), Vinyl Japan
  • Bimini Twist (2018), Tiny Global Productions

Other appearances
  • The Gist – Embrace the Herd (1982): vocals on "Clean Bridges"
  • Stuart Moxham & The Original Artists – Signal Path (1992): vocals on "Knives (Always Fall)"

References
  1. Larkin, Colin (1995) The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Guinness Publishing, ISBN 978-1-56159-176-3, p. 4419
  2. True, Everett (2006) Nirvana: The True Story, Omnibus Press, ISBN 978-1-84449-640-2
  3. Burt, Stephen (1995) "In Search of ... Young Marble Giants", CMJ New Music Monthly, February 1995, pp. 18–19
  4. Paul, John (2014) "Weekend The '81 Demos", PopMatters, 18 April 2014. Retrieved 26 November 2015
  5. Hage, Erik "Devine & Statton Biography", AllMusic. Retrieved 25 November 2015
  6. Graf, Christian; Voigt, Sven (2003) Punk! Das Lexicon, Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Germany, p. 652
  7. Kaplan, Matthew "Alison Statton", Trouser Press. Retrieved 25 November 2015
  8. "Staff Selections; Heavy Rotation", Spin, May 1994, p. 24. Retrieved 25 November 2015
  9. Young, Rob (2006) Rough Trade, Black Dog Publishing Ltd., ISBN 978-1-904772-47-7, p. 176
  10. Bonini, Alessandro; Tamagnini, Emanuele (2006) New Wave, Gremese Editore, Italy, ISBN 978-88-8440-412-1, p. 195
  11. Inventory: 16 Films Featuring Manic Pixie Dream Girls, 10 Great Songs Nearly Ruined by Saxophone, and 100 More Obsessively Specific Pop-Culture Lists, Scribner, ISBN 978-1-4165-9473-4, p. 162
  12. Eccleston, Danny (2015) "Young Marble Giants Relive Their Colossal Youth", Mojo, 7 August 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2015
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