Cocteau Twins

Taking their name from a song by fellow Scots band Johnny and the Self-Abusers (later to become Simple Minds), the Cocteau Twins created a uniquely idiosyncratic sound built around the glorious, ethereal voice of Liz Fraser that made them one of the coolest and most fashionable bands of the 1980s. Originally formed by Robin Guthrie and bass player Will Heggie, they added Fraser to the band after meeting her at a local club and enjoyed instant success when they joined the 4AD label and released debut album Garlands in 1982. When Heggie quit soon afterwards, Fraser and Guthrie remained a duo to make their second LP Head Over Heels in 1983. They had their biggest success with 4AD founder Ivo Watts-Russell in the splinter project This Mortal Coil, which produced the fragile hit single Song To The Siren - an inspired cover of an old Tim Buckley song. While recording with This Mortal Coil, Fraser and Guthrie met bass player Simon Raymonde and invited him to join the Cocteaus, launching them into a more electronic style on Treasure (1983) - although he played no role in the 1986 acoustic album Victorialand. The group left 4AD in the early 1990s to join Fontana and adopted a more direct approach on Four-Calendar Café (1993) but returned to a layered guitar sound for Milk And Kisses (1996). They split the following year.