Sarah Nixey is best known as the singer in Black Box Recorder. Whilst working as a backing vocalist for the folk band Balloon, Nixey stumbled upon the reprobates John Moore (ex Jesus & Mary Chain drummer) and Luke Haines (ex The Auteurs frontman), also in the bands line up at that time. Moore and Haines approached Nixey with an idea for a band, sending her a fax, promising to make her famous. Given their lack of previous chart success, Nixey was amused and immediately took up their offer.
The enigmatic three piece appeared at the start of 1998 and have released four massively acclaimed albums to date. Their debut, brutish and bleak, England Made Me spawned the single Child Psychology, thought to have been banned from national radio because it contained the chorus “Life is unfair/kill yourself or get over it”. This was possibly the first anti-Britpop record. The follow-up entitled The Facts Of Life dealt with similar themes - love, sex and death - and saw the band performing the Top Twenty title track on Top Of The Pops. The Worst of Black Box Recorder, a collection of b-sides and unreleased material preceded the band’s urbane 2003 album, Passionoia. As the Trojan horse of one of the most fascinating and compelling pop bands of recent years, Nixey’s detached sensuality and Jane Birkin-esque vocals played beautifully upon the juxtaposition of safety and horror.
When BBR entered a comatose state, Nixey began collaborating with producer James Banbury, writing and recording her first solo album, Sing, Memory. The songs are modern tales of poison-pen letter writers, dysfunctional relationships, disappearances, secret love affairs and city life, providing the ideal contemporary pop backdrop for Nixey’s distinctive, Queen’s English voice. Whilst BBR songs are often about characters stranded without navigation tools, Sing, Memory occasionally offers an exit route. Singles The Collector, Strangelove, When I'm Here With You and The Black Hit of Space were released by the boutique label ServiceAV to great reviews (MSN, Playlouder, Stylus Magazine, Drowned in Sound, popjustice etc.). The Collector was on the main XFM playlist, whilst the third single When I’m Here With You reached national radio. Sing, Memory was released on 19th February 2007.
More recently, Nixey released a cover of Françoise Hardy's Le Temps De L'Amour backed by Ici Avec Toi, a gauloised-up translation of the dreamily romantic When I’m Here With You.
Sarah Nixey is currently writing songs for a future album.
We have an outstanding song we wish to be published for another artist or released as is. It has everything from superb backing harmonies from a quire to a blistering solo and well thought out melody lines. Please hear the song on our myspace soon, it has the backing of the press and radio as it standing this month. We wish to raise money for charity with it's sale. If you care about children please hear the song out. The song is called "Children in need". Can you help or know someone who can aid us on our quest?? Please comment back on our myspace to at least give us encouragement to make this happen. God bless you.. we would be honored to hear from you.
hey sarah .. loving the solo work . brilliant! ... the video with the bored 'bodyguard?' is amusing ... got into your band black box recorder after hearing FACTS OF LIFE a long while ago .. GOODNIGHT KISS, ANDREW R, GIRLS SINGIN ect ect .. love it all ... felt liked i'd discoved some magical band . cos i had ..an vocals were proberbly one of the major highlights ... very original vocal style which was a million miles away from anything around at the time
i did a verson of child p, on my Covers medley JUST ANOTHER COVERS BAND which i got up at the moment ... an the way i did tammy wynettes TILL I CAN MAKE IT ON MY OWN ...in the same medley was kinda bbr influienced ... i aint singing obviously lol ...good luck ..an speak to you soon .. lee
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