Alison Statton

{{short description|Welsh singer}} {{EngvarB|date=June 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}} {{Infobox musical artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Alison Statton | honorific_suffix = | image = Alison portret april 26, 1989.jpg | image_size = | landscape =  | alt = Photo of Alison Statton from 1989 | caption = Statton in 1989 | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = | alias = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1958|03}} | birth_place = Cardiff, Wales | origin = | death_date =  | death_place = | genre = New wave, post-punk, jazz | occupation = | instrument = | years_active = 1978–present | label = Rough Trade, Les Disques du Crépuscule, Vinyl Japan | associated_acts = Young Marble Giants, Weekend, Devine & Statton | website =  | module = | module2 = | module3 = }} [[File:Young Marble Giants live at Factory Festival, Nivelles, Belgium (2008).jpg|thumb|Young Marble Giants live at Factory Festival, Nivelles, Belgium, 1 November 2008]] [[File:Weekend live at Paradiso, Amsterdam,1983.jpg|thumb|Weekend at the Paradiso, Amsterdam, 5 February 1983]] thumb|Weekend at the Paradiso, Amsterdam, 2 February 1983

'''Alison Statton''' (born March 1958)<ref>Larkin, Colin (1995) ''The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', Guinness Publishing, {{ISBN|978-1-56159-176-3}}, p. 4419</ref> is a Welsh singer best known for her work with Young Marble Giants. Fans of the singer have included Kurt Cobain,<ref>True, Everett (2006) ''Nirvana: The True Story'', Omnibus Press, {{ISBN|978-1-84449-640-2}}</ref> Courtney Love, Stephin Merritt, Belle and Sebastian and Renato Russo.

==Musical career== Born in Cardiff, Statton's career in music began in 1978 as the singer for the band Young Marble Giants.<ref name="Burt">Burt, Stephen (1995) "[https://books.google.com/books?id=IS0EAAAAMBAJ&dq=devine+and+statton&pg=PA19 In Search of ... Young Marble Giants]", ''CMJ New Music Monthly'', February 1995, pp. 18–19</ref> After Young Marble Giants split up in 1981, she formed the jazz-influenced band Weekend with Simon Emmerson (Booth) and Spike Williams, releasing the album ''La Varieté'' in 1982 and a live EP, ''Live at Ronnie Scott's'', the following year.<ref name="Burt" /><ref name="Paul">Paul, John (2014) "[http://www.popmatters.com/review/180271-weekend-the-81-demos/ Weekend ''The '81 Demos'']", ''PopMatters'', 18 April 2014. Retrieved 26 November 2015</ref>

Statton returned to Cardiff and trained to be a chiropractor while teaching tai chi.<ref name="Burt" />

She returned to music in the late 1980s and released two recordings with the guitarist from Ludus, Ian Devine as 'Devine and Statton', ''The Prince of Wales'' (1989) and ''Cardiffians'' (1990).<ref name="Hage">Hage, Erik "[http://www.allmusic.com/artist/devine-statton-mn0000716290/biography Devine & Statton Biography]", AllMusic. Retrieved 25 November 2015</ref><ref>Graf, Christian; Voigt, Sven (2003) ''Punk! Das Lexicon'', Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Germany, p. 652</ref><ref name="Kaplan">Kaplan, Matthew "[http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=alison_statton Alison Statton]", ''Trouser Press''. Retrieved 25 November 2015</ref>

After working with Devine, she released several records with Spike in the 1990s, starting with ''Weekend in Wales'' (1993).<ref name="Hage" /><ref name="Kaplan" /><ref>"[https://books.google.com/books?id=fT3PkoU5ylcC&dq=%22alison+statton%22&pg=PA24 Staff Selections; Heavy Rotation]", ''Spin'', May 1994, p. 24. Retrieved 25 November 2015</ref>

Young Marble Giants reunited for a number of live performances from 2007 to 2015 in Europe, the last one in London at the Royal Festival Hall during the Meltdown Festival curated by David Byrne.

Statton's singing has been called "coolly unadorned",<ref name="Hage" /> cool and dispassionate,<ref>Young, Rob (2006) ''Rough Trade'', Black Dog Publishing Ltd., {{ISBN|978-1-904772-47-7}}, p. 176</ref> and ghostly and fragile,<ref>Bonini, Alessandro; Tamagnini, Emanuele (2006) ''New Wave'', Gremese Editore, Italy, {{ISBN|978-88-8440-412-1}}, p. 195</ref> with a "shy, singsong delivery".<ref>''Inventory: 16 Films Featuring Manic Pixie Dream Girls, 10 Great Songs Nearly Ruined by Saxophone, and 100 More Obsessively Specific Pop-Culture Lists'', Scribner, {{ISBN|978-1-4165-9473-4}}, p. 162</ref> Her vocal style is considered influential on many of the indie pop artists that followed.<ref name="Paul" />

She presently works as a chiropractor.<ref>Eccleston, Danny (2015) "[http://www.mojo4music.com/21376/young-marble-giants-relive-colossal-youth/ Young Marble Giants Relive Their Colossal Youth]", ''Mojo'', 7 August 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2015</ref>

==Recordings==

===With Young Marble Giants=== *''Colossal Youth'' (1980), Rough Trade *''Salad Days'' (2000), Vinyl Japan *''Live at the Hurrah'' (2004), Cherry Red *''Colossal Youth & Collected Works'' (2007), Domino

===With Weekend=== *''La Variete'' (1982), Rough Trade *''Live at Ronnie Scott's'' (1983), Rough Trade *''Archive'' (2003), Vinyl Japan

===Devine and Statton=== *''The Prince of Wales'' (1988), Les Disques du Crépuscule *''Cardiffians'' (1990), Les Disques Du Crépuscule

===Alison Statton & Spike=== *''Weekend in Wales'' (1993), Vinyl Japan *''Tidal Blues'' (1994), Vinyl Japan *''Maple Snow'' (live album, 1995), Vinyl Japan *''The Shady Tree'' (1997), Vinyl Japan *''Bimini Twist'' (2018), Tiny Global Productions

===Other appearances=== *The Gist – ''Embrace the Herd'' (1982): vocals on "Clean Bridges" *Stuart Moxham & The Original Artists – ''Signal Path'' (1992): vocals on "Knives (Always Fall)"

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

==External links== *[http://www.ltmrecordings.com/astattoncat.html Alison Statton at LTM Recordings] *[http://www.ltmrecordings.com/asasbio.html Alison Statton and Spike biography]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Statton, Alison}} Category:1958 births Category:Living people Category:Singers from Cardiff Category:British women new wave singers Category:British post-punk musicians Category:20th-century Welsh women singers Category:Welsh new wave musicians