Harriet Wheeler

Harriet Wheeler (born 26 June 1963) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer of the 1980s/90s alternative rock band the Sundays.[2][3]

Harriet Wheeler
Birth nameHarriet Ella Wheeler[1]
Born (1963-06-26) 26 June 1963
Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom
GenresAlternative rock
Occupation(s)Singer
Associated actsThe Sundays
Jim Jiminee

Early years

Wheeler grew up in Sonning Common, near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, the daughter of an architect and a teacher.[4] She studied English literature for her undergraduate degree at Bristol University when she met her future husband David Gavurin.[4] The two shared a common passion for music, and despite little musical training (although Wheeler had sung in a band called Jim Jiminee before meeting Gavurin), released demos to various clubs in London.[4][5]

The Sundays

Wheeler and Gavurin formed the core of the Sundays, with Paul Brindley on bass and Patrick Hannan on drums.[4] They decided upon the name by default as it was the only one they could all agree on.[4] The Sundays performed their first show in August 1988.[4]

Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, their debut album, was released in 1990.[4] Rolling Stone reviewer Ira Robbins called it "an alluring slice of lighter-than-air guitar pop, a collection of uncommonly good songs graced by Harriet Wheeler's wondrous singing."[4] The album sold over half a million copies around the world.[4]

The band released Blind, their second album, in 1992, and it also sold nearly half a million copies, giving the band another gold record.[4] Wheeler's vocals received the lion's share of praise.[4] One reviewer wrote, "Her singing is fluttery, mischievous, and full of unexpected, perverse flashes of tenderness."[4]

In March 1995, Wheeler and Gavurin had their first child, a daughter named Billie.[4] Parenthood prolonged the recording of their third album, but they eventually released Static & Silence in 1997. While some critics said The Sundays sounded exactly the same as before,[4][6] Kevin Raub of Ray Gun called Static & Silence "the band's most solid effort to date."[4]

Two years after the release of Static & Silence, Wheeler and Gavurin had their second child, a son named Frank in 1999.[7]

Although an interview in American Airlines' in-flight magazine with Wheeler and her husband Gavurin in 2014 suggested that they are recording music again [8], they have not released any music since the 1990s and have maintained a very low media presence since then.

References
  1. "Harriet Wheeler". Repertoire.bmi.com. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  2. Buckley, Peter (2003). The rough guide to rock. Rough Guides. p. 1034. ISBN 1-84353-105-4.
  3. Tortorici, Frank (26 June 1999). "The Sundays' Harriet Wheeler". VH1. Archived from the original on 2 September 2009. Retrieved 13 August 2009.
  4. Brennan, Carol (1997). McConnell, Stacy A. (ed.). Contemporary Musicians. 20. Gale Cengage. ISBN 978-0-7876-1177-4. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  5. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas Static & Silence at Allmusic Retrieved 9 May 2011
  6. "Arithmetic – Where Everyday is Like Sunday". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 23 March 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  7. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/apr/23/the-sundays-are-writing-together-again-reveals-an-inflight-magazine
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