Scritti Politti

Scritti Politti are a British band, originally formed in 1977 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England by Cardiff-born singer-songwriter Green Gartside. He is the only member of the band to have remained throughout the group's history. Initially a left-wing-inspired post-punk British rock group, Scritti Politti developed into a more mainstream pop music project in the early to mid-1980s, enjoying significant success in the record charts in the UK and the US. The group's most successful album, 1985's Cupid & Psyche 85, spawned three UK Top 20 hits with "Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)", "Absolute", and "The Word Girl", as well as a US Top 20 hit with "Perfect Way". The band's 1988 album Provision was a UK Top 10 success, though it only produced one UK Top 20 hit single ("Oh Patti"). After releasing a couple of non-album singles in 1991, as well as a collaboration with B.E.F., Gartside became disillusioned with the music industry and retired to south Wales for more than seven years. He returned to music-making in the late 1990s, releasing two albums, 1999's Anomie & Bonhomie (which included various rap and hip hop influences) and 2006's stripped-down White Bread, Black Beer which returned to the more experimental era of the band's history.

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