Secret Life (band)


Secret Life was a British R&B/house and pop band active from 1991 to 1996, particularly popular in the UK and Europe.

History

The first release by Secret Life was a white label recording called "Spanish Lullaby", written and produced by Andy Throup and Jim Di Salvo. This was their first release from their "No Fixed Abode" recording studio, set up in South London. The band then increased in size with the addition of Charlton Antenbring and Paul Bryant. Antenbring was a fashion student, disc jockey and reporter for The Big Issue. Jim Di Salvo contributed on guitars, cubase programming, sampling and music production. Throup was a classically trained pianist and contributed to cubase programming and music production. Bryant was the vocalist. Bryant and Throup co-wrote most of Secret Life's material.
Contemporaneous to the development of Secret Life, Throup was also working with others involved with techno and house music, such as noted techno and house DJ Lenny Dee.
The band toured extensively, particularly in the United Kingdom, and performed on three popular UK TV music shows: The Beat, Dance Energy and The Hitman and Her. They also released several music videos. Di Salvo left the band in 1993 to set up "Bass Boom" recording studios. Di Salvo then released numerous singles and albums under his own name, and the alias act names of "The Juggler", "Bong Brothers" and "Salvo Jets", during the 1990s.
One of Secret Life's first singles "As Always", a 1992 dance arrangement of Stevie Wonder's "As", was one of the most successful records issued by their then label, Cowboy Records, associated with their manager, Charlie Chester. After house producers Masters At Work remixed Secret Life's "Borrowed Time", Chester moved the band to Pulse-8 Records, with a view to enhanced pop appeal. He was able to obtain an eight album deal from the label. The group was now a core duo of Bryant and Throup. A pop-oriented single, "Love So Strong", previously issued by Cowboy Records in 1993, was remixed and released by Pulse-8 in 1994. Three other singles were released in 1994, followed by an album, Sole Purpose, in 1995. According to one reviewer, "Production from Brothers in Rhythm, Chris Porter and Pete Gleadall give Sole Purpose an R&B and house feel, and the album is topped off with...thoughtful lyrics and smooth vocals."
From 1992 to 1996, the group released eight singles and one album. Five of the singles reached Number 1 on the Coolcuts and Mixmag dance charts in the United Kingdom. Two of the singles were also Top 40 hit record on the UK Singles Chart.
Pulse-8 Records subsequently went bankrupt, ending prospects of further releases through that label. Throup, now known as Andrew Grainger, moved to New York in 2000, and became a lounge pianist and recording studio owner. In 2007, Grainger relocated to Austin, Texas, to continue lounge work. After spending some time in the late 1990s contributing vocals to the work of others, Bryant left the music industry, becoming a support worker for disabled adults in South Gloucestershire, England.

Discography

Singles