Cornershop

A unique merger of Asian influences with trance beats and pop sensitivity, Cornershop struck it big in 1998 when the brilliant and highly original single Brimful Of Asha topped charts all over the world, creating far greater awareness and appreciation of Asian roots music. The band is the brainchild of Tjinder Singh, the son of a teacher, whose family had emigrated to England from the north India state of Punjab. While Tjinder's first language was Punjabi, he was raised in Wolverhampton; blending both his Indian and English cultures, yet fuelling a sense that he didn't belong to either. At college in Preston, he teamed up with Canadian-born Ben Ayres and the seeds of Cornershop were planted. They quickly made their mark with politicised, anti-racist material like How Can Any Asian Vote Tory? and released their debut album Hold On It Hurts in 1994. David Byrne of Talking Heads signed them to his Luaka Bop label for second album Woman's Gotta Have it (1995) which gave them a cult following as they toured with Stereolab and Oasis. But it was their third album, When I Was Born For The 7th Time (1997), that turned them into international stars, cleverly mixing pop, hip hop and Asian music; and a Fatboy Slim remix of the single Brimful Of Asha - a tribute to the Indian star Asha Bhosle - propelled them up the pop charts. However, instead of exploiting this success, Singh and Ayres formed an alternative project Clinton and didn't return to Cornershop until the 2002 album Handcream For A Generation, featuring Noel Gallagher and Guigsy from Oasis. It did less well and there was another long break until they returned again with Judy Sucks A Lemon For Breakfast, in 2009.