Corinne Drewery

Drewery was born and grew up in Nottingham. She later moved to the Lincolnshire village of Authorpe and went to South Reston Primary School, then Monks' Dyke High School and King Edward VI Grammar School in nearby Louth, then Lincoln College.[1] She grew up on the classic pop standards, since her father played in a band which was regular support to big stars like Tom Jones and Sandie Shaw. She was strongly influenced by Northern soul, visiting performances at the Winter Gardens in Cleethorpes, and referred to Northern soul tracks during an extensive interview on BBC Radio Nottingham. Her mother, Elaine Drewery, is the founder of Hedgehog Care in Authorpe.[2]

Drewery moved to London after leaving school in 1976 to study fashion at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design[3] and eventually became a fashion designer. But she also sang for short periods with bands such as Working Week.

She first met Andy Connell and Martin Jackson in 1984 and together they formed Swing Out Sister. In 1986–87 the group achieved chart success on both sides of the Atlantic with "Breakout". This became the band's signature song and was by far their most successful hit.

Apart from singing the lead vocals in the band, Drewery is the band's lyricist, and participates in the composing of the songs with her musical partner Connell.[4]

In 1986, she provided additional vocals on the track "Bootsy" by Connell's former band A Certain Ratio; the song was released exclusively as a single in Australia and featured on their album Force.

• Official Swing Out Sister website
• Swing Out Sister – the Swinging Website
• Corinne Drewery at IMDb