Skin (musician)

Deborah Anne Dyer (born 3 August 1967), known by the stage name Skin, is a British singer, songwriter, electronic music DJ, and occasional model. She is best known as the lead vocalist of British rock band Skunk Anansie, a band often grouped as part of the Britrock movement in the UK and gained attention for her powerful, wide-ranging soprano voice and trademark bald look. As Deborah Dyer, Skin studied Interior Design at Teesside University in Middlesbrough, from which she later received an honorary degree. Mavis Bayton, author of Frock Rock, says that "women like Skin, Natacha Atlas, Yolanda Charles, Mary Genis, and Debbie Smith are now acting as crucial role models for future generations of black women".[1]

Skin
Skin at the Eska Music Awards 2011 in Katowice
Background information
Birth nameDeborah Anne Dyer
Born (1967-08-03) 3 August 1967
OriginBrixton, London, England
Genres
Occupation(s)Singer
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
Years active1994–present
Labels
Associated actsSkunk Anansie
WebsiteSkinMusic.net

In 2015, she joined the judging panel of the Italian version of the talent show The X Factor for one season, and 2016 was on the cover of the UK lesbian magazine Diva. After releasing new music and touring with Skunk Anansie, in 2018 Skin was featured as one of the cover stars of Classic Rock Magazine’s special "She Rocks" issue and was honoured with the Inspirational Artist Award at the Music Week Awards ahead of celebrating 25 years of Skunk Anansie. She also appeared on the cover of Kerrang! magazine in November 2018.

Skunk Anansie
Main article: Skunk Anansie

After forming in 1994, the band released three albums, Paranoid & Sunburnt, Stoosh and Post Orgasmic Chill, which sold more than 4 million copies worldwide; their biggest hit was the single "Weak". The band disbanded in 2001 in which she embarked a solo career and reformed in 2009. As of 2019 they are still recording and touring.

Early life

Deborah Ann Dyer was born on 3 August 1967 in Brixton, London, to Jamaican parents. Her father was in the Royal Air Force who later worked on oil rigs while her mother was a nurse before taking a government position in the environmental department. She describes her parents as "very strict, very Jamaican". At the age of 6, she moved with her grandfather in a two-up two-down in Long Acre, Brixton, who ran a nightclub in the basement, in which she mentions there was "always music and rum" and posters of Bob Marley and Muhammad Ali, which inspired her. As a child, she wanted to be a pianist. At the age of 14, she read MacBeth, later stating that she loved the "intricacy and complexity of Shakespeare's play".[2]

Solo career
Skin at Glastonbury

After Skunk Anansie split, Skin released her debut solo album Fleshwounds. The album was toned down from her Skunk Anansie days and did not gain the same acclaim from Skunk Anansie fans. She even ditched her trademark bald look and grew her hair into a boyish crop. While the album was not a massive success in the UK, two singles were released from it: "Trashed" and "Faithfulness". "Lost", a double A-side with "Getting Away with It", was a planned third single but was pulled shortly before release; promo CDs were sent out to radio stations but it received no airplay. Elsewhere in Europe the album's success was greater. For example, in Italy it peaked at number 6 in the album chart and in Germany at number 18.

After releasing Fleshwounds, Skin went on to perform various solo gigs around Europe. She was also support for the European leg of Robbie Williams' and Placebo's world tours.

Soon after touring she began to record her second album, Fake Chemical State, which was released for sale on 20 March 2006, preceded by new single "Just Let the Sun" two weeks earlier. The first single actually issued from this album was "Alone in My Room", a download-only track released on 7 November 2005. "Alone in My Room" was also the name given to Skin's first solo tour in two years, which commenced in Berlin in November 2005. For this album she shaved her head bald again, returning to the look she had in her Skunk Anansie days.

Skin's next solo outing was a small promotional "Fake Chemical State" tour. It started in Glasgow on 17 March 2006. She went on to perform many festivals around Europe including Rock Werchter in Belgium and the Southside/Hurricane festivals in Germany. She performed on the main stage at most of these festivals.

In February 2008, she announced that she was working with Timo Maas and Martin Buttrich on a side project called "Format-3". Her 2008 song "Tear Down These Houses" was released as a part of the soundtrack to Parlami d'Amore, directed by Silvio Muccino.

She sings in the opening musical piece "Renaissance", in Medici: Masters of Florence, a Netflix original series released in October 2016.[3]

Skin has always had a love of electronic music and she moved into the genre when her friend Damian Lazarus gave her a mixer in 2009. Going under the moniker D-Dyer she made her first steps into the DJ world which she has now been doing for the past decade. She plays Techno, Tech House and Minimal all over the world at classic venues such as Output in New York, Sound Nightclub in LA and Fabric in London.

Possessing dark, heavy, in-your-face, high tempo, edgy, unapologetic and sweat-inducing characteristics the music has her vibrant personality embedded in the production with the addition of her own unmistakable vocals which give the tracks their unique appeal.

In 2015 Skin collaborated with techno icon Nicole Moudaber and they released the Breed EP on Nicole's Mood Records. It features five tracks including "Don't Talk To Me I'm Dancing". In 2016 she DJ-ed at Carl Cox's Revolution in Ibiza, Coachella and also released Techno music under the guise of Juvenal through Mood Records.

In 2020, Skin participated in the UK version of The Masked Singer, appearing as Duck. Her identity was revealed in episode six, when she was eliminated.

On 18 October 2020, Skin began presenting a Sunday-night radio show titled The Skin Show on Absolute Radio.[4]

Personal life

Skin is openly bisexual.[5] In 2013 she entered into a civil partnership with Christiana Wyly, daughter of American billionaire Sam Wyly.[6] She and Wyly split in 2015. In September 2020, she announced her engagement to Rayne Baron on Twitter.[7] In January 2021 she assumed the role of Chancellor at Leeds Arts University in Leeds, United Kingdom.

Discography
Main article: Skin discography
See also: Skunk Anansie discography

Solo studio albums

Guest Appearances
  • Vocals on "Carmen Queasy" from Maxim's (of The Prodigy) 2000 solo album, Hell's Kitchen – UK Chart Number 33
  • Vocals on "Licking Cream" from Sevendust's second album, Home
  • Vocals on "You Can't Find Peace", by Pale3, which was made for the Tom Tykwer film Der Krieger und die Kaiserin (The Princess and the Warrior)
  • Vocals on "Good Times", by Ed Case – UK Chart Number 49
  • Vocals on "If This Ain't Love" by Erick Morillo & Eddie Thoneick - released 2012
  • Contributes vocals to "Still Standing" from Unity – The Official Athens 2004 Olympic Games Album
  • Performs "Kill Everything" on the OST of L'Empire des Loups
  • Contributes vocals to "La Canzone Che Scrivo Per Te" on the album Che Cosa Vedi by Marlene Kuntz
  • Contributes vocals on "Stagioni D'Amore" (Seasons of Love) from the cast album to the Italian production ofRent
  • Vocals on "Meat" from Tony Iommi's album Iommi
  • Vocals on "Comfort of Strangers" on the OST to Timecode
  • Contributes to charity single "It's Only Rock And Roll"
  • "Not an Addict" (with K's Choice) – live at Pinkpop 1996
  • "Army of Me" (with Björk) – live version on Top of the Pops, 5 May 1995
  • "Anti Love Song" (Betty Davis cover; live on Taratata with Lenny Kravitz)[8]

References
  1. Bayton, Mavis (1998). Frock Rock: Women Performing Popular Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 191. ISBN 019816615X.
  2. "My Secret Life: Skin, singer, 42". The Independent. 7 November 2009. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  3. Giangrasso, Caterina (5 October 2016). "I Medici – ecco la sigla scritta da Paolo Buonvino con Skin". Cinematographe (in Italian). Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  4. https://radiotoday.co.uk/2020/09/skunk-anansie-lead-singer-skin-joins-absolute-radio/
  5. Romano, Tricia (30 November 1995). "Skin and no bones about it". The Online Daily of University of Washington. The University of Washington Student Newspaper. Archived from the original on 16 February 2007.
  6. Gubbins, Teresa (9 April 2018). "Kimbal Musk and Wyly heiress celebrate wedding at Dallas restaurant". CultureMap. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  7. "Skin annuncia il matrimonio con la fidanzata Ladyfag: "È ciò che ho sempre voluto"". Huffington Post (Italian edition). 22 September 2020. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  8. Taratata n°119 10 March 1996 – (Video mistitled "He was a big freak") Archived 14 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine

Sources
  • Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.

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