Saint Etienne

Formed in Croydon in 1988 by two childhood friends-turned-journalists, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, Saint Etienne blazed a sophisticated electro-pop trail with their version of Neil Young's "Love Can Only Break Your Heart" as their first single, released in 1990. After Foxbase Alpha (1991), the duo made the definitive addition of singer Sarah Cracknell, whose vocal imprint marked all subsequent albums, including the successful So Tough (1993), Tiger Bay (1995) and Good Humor (1998). What followed, though not without success, proved less adventurous, and was punctuated by numerous compilations and remixes of all kinds. Like a charming anomaly, the trio continues to chart its course with conceptual albums such as Tales from the Turnpike (2005), Words and Music by Saint Etienne (2012) and Home Counties (2017). In 2021, I've Been Trying to Tell You incorporates samples again, for the first time in two decades. It is also their highest charting single, at number 14 in the UK charts, since 1994. In 2024, the trio adopted a more ambient formula on The Night, before returning to their dance-pop roots on International (2025), their seventeenth original album, featuring guest vocalist Nick Heyward and Australian band Confidence Man.