Singer, composer, & keyboardist Alison Goldfrapp hails from Bath, England. She began exploring music as a part of her studies as a Fine Art Painting major at Middlesex University, mixing sound, visuals, and performances in her installation pieces. While she was still in college, she appeared on her friend Tricky's 1995 debut "Maxinquaye". She also had appearances on albums from other cutting-edge electronic artists, including Orbital's "Snivilisation" and Add N To (X)'s "Avant Hard". By the late '90s, Goldfrapp began honing her own compositions, and one of her friends passed some of her demos on to composer Will Gregory. Finding much in common in their musical tastes and approaches, the duo took Alison's surname as the name for their collaboration. After signing to Mute in 1999, Goldfrapp delivered their debut album, "Felt Mountain", in autumn 2000. The album went on to near universal acclaim and spawned several singles, including "Utopia", which was released twice, once in late 2000, and a different version under the title "Utopia (Genetically Enriched)" in mid-2001. After spending most of 2001 touring, Goldfrapp spent most of 2002 recording and returned with the album "Black Cherry" in spring 2003, again spawning several singles including the massive hit "Strict Machine", the lead single from the album, which became a world-wide club hit and paved the way for the follow-up singles "Train", "Twist" and the eponymous "Black Cherry".After a break, the album "Supernature" was released in autumn 2005, following the release of the single, "Ooh La La". Several other singles followed from the album, including the hits, "Number 1" & "Ride A White Horse", along with the track "Fly Me Away", which brought the largest licensing deal to date being featured nationally in the North American retailer 'Target' stores holiday campaign of 2006. Extensive touring accompanied the album in 2006 along with an American remix compilation "We Are Glitter".The first single "A&E" landed from their upcoming album in early 2008. While it and the second single "Happiness" were remixed, the album "Seventh Tree" and it's third release "Caravan Girl" were shedding the heavier electro-disco edge and emerging with layered and inspired acoustic folk and electronic textures. The final single "Clowns" was pulled by the record company after it had been announced to the public. The band opted to release it as a free download from their website; making good on their promise to fans which Alison affectionately calls 'deers'._____________________________________________
Goldfrapp's 2000 debut album Felt Mountain featured minimalist electronic compositions that consisted of downtempo structures, classical sounding arrangements of strings and light, airy synths alongside Alison's sleek, soft vocals. The albums that followed, Black Cherry (2003) and Supernature (2005), have seen Goldfrapp embracing elements of glam rock, dance and disco music, taking their sound to a wider audience. Usually associated with the electroclash movement, Goldfrapp sometimes recalls 80s new wave.
In 2008, Goldfrapp released a more ambient and "folktronica" sounding album Seventh Tree.
March 2010 sees the release of their latest album Head First which marks another change of direction towards electropop and 1980s synthpop.
Trivia:
"Strict Machine" is also the song used by Verizon for its "Chocolate" phone commercials and was used for one "Gameboy Advance" commercial by "Nintendo". The song is also featured in many promo spots for the FX television series "Nip/Tuck".
"Fly Me Away" was featured in various "Target" department store Christmas commercials in 2006.
"Ooh La La" has also been used in "T-Mobile" adverts in the United Kingdom.
"Lovely Head" featured regularly in episodes of British satirical animation series "Monkey Dust".
"Train" was featured in the fourth season of Showtime's "Queer as Folk", and was also included in the soundtrack.
"Crystalline Green" can be heard in episode 7 of the second season of "House M.D.".
"Ride a White Horse" is played in the first episode of season six of "The Sopranos".
"Beautiful" was used in TV commercials for the "Sex and the City" movie.
"A&E" and "Happiness" have both been used in british soap opera "Hollyoaks".
From Wikipedia:Goldfrapp is an English electronic music duo, formed in 1999 in London, England, that consists of Alison Goldfrapp (vocals/synthesizer) and Will Gregory (synthesizer).
Despite favourable reviews and a shortlisting for the Mercury Prize, the ambient sound of their 2000 debut album Felt Mountain did not chart highly. Goldfrapp's second album Black Cherry, which incorporated glam rock and synthpop sounds into their music, was released in 2003. The album experienced success across nightclubs in North America and influenced the same dance-oriented sound of their third album Supernature. Supernature took Goldfrapp's work further into dance music, and enjoyed international chart success. Supernature produced three number-one U.S. dance singles, and was nominated for Best Electronic/Dance Album at the 49th Grammy Awards. Their fourth album Seventh Tree placed a greater emphasis on ambient and downtempo music, drawing inspiration from nature and Paganism, while their fifth album, Head First, found the group exploring 1980s-influenced synthpop.