Biography

Introduction

Faithless are a British electronica band consisting of Maxi Jazz, Sister Bliss and Rollo. The group is known most famously for their dance songs ("Insomnia", "God Is A DJ" and "We Come 1"). Faithless have recorded numerous albums offering a wide variety and blend of styles.

History

The three principal members of Faithless are Maxi Jazz, Sister Bliss and Rollo. Jazz acts as a vocalist in mostly rap format with lyrics that have strong spiritual or socio-political content. Bliss constructs most of the music herself electronically, but is talented in playing the piano, violin, saxophone and bass. Rollo heads and produces the band. Lead female vocals for many of their songs are performed by Pauline Taylor, who also performed lead vocals for singles Rollo released under his monikers Rollo Goes Mystic and Rollo Goes Spiritual.

Music

Faithless have released five albums of their own work, the first four gaining successively higher positions on the album charts. The albums are called Reverence (which reached number 26), Sunday 8PM (reaching number 10), Outrospective (peaking at number 4) and No Roots (which debuted at number 1) between 1996 and 2004, with a greatest hits album out in 2005. In light of their dance roots, each of the four studio albums has been followed with a subsequent bonus disc of remixes. Their fifth album, To All New Arrivals, was released in 2006.

As well as their own studio albums, all three members actively engage in other people's work as solo figures. Sister Bliss, as previously mentioned, is a prominent dance DJ and has for a long time toured the circuit on her own, remixed others' albums and even appeared in music videos, such as Paul Oakenfold's "Weekend". Maxi Jazz brought out an album before the formation of Faithless and also worked on pirate radio. He also collaborated with Faithless founding member Jamie Catto on his new project 1 Giant Leap guesting on a song with Robbie Williams. Finally, Rollo founded the label Cheeky Records and has produced the music of other artists, most notably his sister's three albums, as well as using various monikers to create popular dance music under the names Rollo Goes ... (Camping, Mystic and Spiritual), Felix, Our Tribe (with Rob Dougan), and Dusted.

As well as this other work, the band collectively indulge in mixtapes of other musicians' work, either mixed by the group or merely selected by them. This includes the long running Back To Mine sessions, of which they are the fifth of over 20 people selected to choose the music, as well as The Bedroom Sessions and more recently the Renaissance 3D music project, in conjunction with the Renaissance nightclub.

On 29 September 2006, the first single Bombs from their latest studio album To All New Arrivals made its debut on BBC Radio 1's Pete Tong show. The album was released on 27 November 2006. "Bombs" generated moderate controversy with its music video, as demonstrated by MTV's refusal to air it. The music video featured interchanged clips of war scenes and daily life; symbolizing the presence of war all around us. As said by the director of the music video Howard Greenhalgh, "War infects all our lives; recently it feels that this has increasingly become 'our way of life'". On 7 August 2009, a dub mix of the track "Sun To Me" from their latest studio album (name still unconfirmed) made its debut on BBC Radio 1's Pete Tong show , Sister Bliss commented on it that it was something to get connected with the dance floor again .

Discography

Studio albums

Reverence (April 1996) #63 UK
- Reverence / Irreverence (November 1996) #26 UK
Sunday 8PM (18 September 1998) #10 UK
- Sunday 8PM / Saturday 3AM (25 October 1999)
Outrospective (18 June 2001) #1 Belgium; #2 Netherlands & Norway; #4 UK & Switzerland; # 10 Finland; #11 Denmark & Australia; #17 Austria; #19 Sweden; #26 New Zealand; #100 France
- Outrospective / Reperspective (26 August 2002) #64 UK
No Roots (7 June 2004) #1 UK
- Everything Will Be Alright Tomorrow (31 August 2004)
To All New Arrivals (27 November 2006) #30 UK

Compilations

Back to Mine (16 October 2000) (various artists, selected and mixed by Faithless)
The Bedroom Sessions (August 2001) (various artists, selected by Faithless, released with August 2001 issue of Mixmag)
Forever Faithless - The Greatest Hits (16 May 2005) #1 UK
Renaissance 3D (10 July 2006)
Insomnia - The Best of (8 May 2009)

DVDs

Live at The Melkweg Amsterdam (2001)
Forever Faithless - The Greatest Hits (16 May 2005)
Live at Alexandra Palace (October 2005)
Faithless - Live In Moscow (Filmed in 2007, Released on DVD, 17 November 2008)

Singles

From Reverence:

"Salva Mea (Save My)" - 1995 #30 UK, #1 US Dance/Club Play, #16 NL
"Insomnia" - 1995 #27 UK, #1 US Dance/Club Play, #62 US Hot 100
"Don't Leave" - 1996 #34 UK
"Insomnia" - 1996 re-release #3 UK, #13 NL
"Salva Mea" - 1996 re-release #9 UK, #36 NL
"Reverence" - 1997 #10 UK
"Don't Leave" - 1997 re-release #21 UK
"Insomnia" - 2005 re-entry #48 UK
"Drifting Away" - 2009 #98 UK

From Sunday 8PM:

"God Is a DJ" - 1998 #6 UK & Finland, #1 US Dance/Club Play, #1 Netherlands, #2 Switzerland, #4 Belgium & Norway
"Take The Long Way Home" - 1998 #15 UK, #5 US Dance/Club Play
"Bring My Family Back" - 1999 #14 UK, #17 US Dance/Club Play
"God Is A DJ" - 2005 re-entry #66 UK
"Why Go (featuring Boy George)" - cancelled in UK but released in other countries

From Outrospective:

"We Come 1" - 2001 #3 UK, #3 US Dance/Club Play, #3 NL
"Muhammad Ali" - 2001 #29 UK, #4 US Dance/Club Play
"Crazy English Summer" / "Tarantula" - 2001 #18 Finland; #29 UK; #49 Belgium; #53 Netherlands; #89 Switzerland
"One Step Too Far" (featuring Dido) - 2002 #6 UK, #4 US Dance/Club Play, #47 NL

From No Roots: