The Real People

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Biography

The Real People , from Liverpool , England , were one of the first bands to play what is today known as Britpop , and have been quoted by Oasis (band)|Oasis as being one of their major influences. They were formed in 1987 by brothers Christopher and Anthony Griffiths, and the original line up consisted of Chris Griffiths (guitar and vocals), Tony Griffiths (bass and vocals), Dave Reilly (drums, ex-China Crisis), Jay Norton (keyboards, ex-It's Immaterial), and Gordon Morgan (guitar, ex-Black). Tony Elson (drums) replaced Dave Reilly, and was himself later replaced by Garry Ford. Gordon Morgan was replaced by Sean Simpson, followed by Alan Gillibrand, then by Ian 'Sitar'. The current line up is Tony Griffiths (bass guitar and vocals) and Chris Griffiths (guitar and vocals), Martin Lappin (guitar) and Tony McGuigan (drums).

The band

Originally influenced by The Stone Roses and the Inspiral Carpets , as well as by the Beat music|Mersey sound of the 1960s, the band started playing in local clubs and later toured as support act for the Inspiral Carpets, Ocean Colour Scene , Nelly Furtado , The Pixies , Simple Minds , David Bowie , and others throughout the 1990s and onwards.

JoJo & The Real People signed a management deal with local entrepreneur Mick Swift of Whitehouse Management, Bold Street, Liverpool in 1986. Their first record deal was in 1988, a one single deal brokered with Polydor Records after Mick Swift had persuaded Eddie Lundon of Kirkby band China Crisis to produce the demo of their debut single " One by One (song)|One by One ". The band also signed a publishing deal with Polygram .

In 1989, and now managed by Jeff Abbotts, they were then signed as The Real People by CBS on the Columbia Records|Columbia label, although CBS were subsequently bought out by Sony . They released their self titled debut album The Real People in 1991. All the songs were written by Chris and Tony Griffiths. This reached the number 59 in the UK Albums Chart . They recorded a second album, 'Marshmellow Lane', for CBS, but although "Believer", the first single from the album, charted at #38 and another single, "Too Much Too Young", appeared soon afterwards, the album was never actually released. Several tracks subsequently appeared on a two band compilation album called Liverpool – The Calm Before the Storm , released in 1996 on the Columbia label. Tony and Chris Griffiths went on to set up their own recording studio (Realistic Studios) in Birkenhead, Wirral, and started their own label Egg Records.

Their next album, ''What's on the Outside'', was released independently under their own label in 1996. It was critically acclaimed but failed to make the charts. Although another album called 'Closer' was reported to be in preparation in 2002, it was never released.

The Real People and Oasis

Oasis were still unsigned when Noel Gallagher first met Tony Griffiths of The Real People when he was roadie to the Inspiral Carpets. In 1992, determined to make a professional sounding demo (music)|demo , he contacted Griffiths and asked him to help record something to send out to record companies.

Paul Moody of the NME reported:-

'Used to the hard-knock school of the Manchester scene, Oasis were shocked by the co-operation of their scouse mates. "Because we'd got our own eight-track studio we let them come down to the Dock Road and record there," says Tony. "They were quite naive about recording, so we'd show them how to play the songs, how to think about the structure of the songs and the dynamics. We were just helping them because that's what bands do in Liverpool. I don't think it's quite the same in Manchester, because no one had done anything for them before."'

The result was the eight song music demo (later dubbed the Live Demonstration tape) recorded in Liverpool in 1993 that got Oasis their first record deal. The tape included many of the songs that eventually featured on the band's first album Definitely Maybe .
# " Rock 'n' Roll Star "
# "Strange Thing"
# "Bring It on Down"
# "Fade Away "
# " Definitely Maybe|Columbia "
# "Cloudburst"
# "D'Yer Wanna Be a Spaceman"
# " Married with Children (song)|Married with Children "

Chris and Tony Griffiths' input into the writing and recording process has since been fully acknowledged by Oasis. Tony Griffiths is credited with providing vocals on " Supersonic (Oasis song)|Supersonic " on Definitely Maybe . Chris Griffiths also co-wrote "Rockin' Chair" with Noel Gallagher in 1993. This was released as the B-side to the single of " Roll with It (Oasis song)|Roll with It " in 1995, and also appeared on the album The Masterplan . Chris Griffiths also claimed to have written the lyrics for "Columbia", with Liam Gallagher being responsible for the chorus. They are both included in the documentary made for the Definitely Maybe 10th anniversary DVD.

Current work

Despite having minimal chart success, they have had critical acclaim from the music press. The Real People enjoy cult status among fans and from their more successful contemporaries. As well as a vast number of songs written for The Real People, Chris and Tony Griffiths have since written top 40 hits for artists such as Cher , Tunde , Ocean Colour Scene, Rooster , bb mak , Atomic Kitten plus many more and continue to work with other artists and songwriters.
In 2006, "Losing a Friend" was released in the UK as a single by the Iceland ic girl group Nylon (band)|Nylon . It reached top 20 in the UK chart. Another Real People cover, "Closer" was the second single release from the group in October 2006. Both songs were number ones in Iceland.

They also wrote several tracks for the debut solo album by ex- Atomic Kitten , Natasha Hamilton . 2005/06/15 (Accessed: November 29, 2006) "Reaching Out" (co-written with Alistair Griffin and James and Tom Martin ) was recorded by the Northern Irish band Bel's Boys and appeared on their 2007 album People Lets Go .(Accessed: August 13, 2008)

Chris and Tony Griffiths continue to perform live, both as solo artists and as backing for other bands. In November 2006 the Real People played a special benefit concert at the Carling Academy in Liverpool, for the mental health charity C.A.L.M. following another successful live gig in December. The Real People supported The Pretenders at the Liverpool Summer Pops , on 9 July 2007 at the Aintree Pavilion Arena, Aintree Racecourse . They also appeared at Liverpool Arena on 19 January 2008 as part of The Number One Project singing a cover of " Hey Jude ". This was later released on the charity album Liverpool – The Number Ones Album .(Accessed: August 13, 2008)
They have since played at the Carling Academy on 21 March 2008, at the Echo Arena supporting Duran Duran and also at the Cockpit in Leeds .

Their long delayed fourth studio album, Think Positive , was released on 6 December 2010. They continued to play gigs through 2010 and 2011, and more recently in March 2012 in York .

Discography

Albums

Year	Title	UK Albums Chart
1991	first= David	last= Roberts	year= 2006	title= British Hit Singles & Albums	edition= 19th	publisher= Guinness World Records Limited	location= London	isbn= 1-904994-10-5	pages= 452/ 3
1992
1996
2002
2010

Singles

Year	Title	UK Singles Chart
1987
1987	"Lady Marmalade" - as Jo Jo and the Real People
1990
1991
1992
	"Believer"
	"Too Much Too Young"
1995
	"The Real People EP"
	"Every Vision of You"
1996
1996	"Rolling Stone"
1997

Copyright Citations

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