White Town
Jyoti Prakash Mishra (born 30 July 1966), better known by his stage name White Town, is a British-Indian singer, musician, and producer.[1][2] He is best known for his 1997 hit song "Your Woman".[3]
White Town | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Jyoti Prakash Mishra |
| Born | 30 July 1966 Rourkela, India |
| Origin | Derby, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Labels | |
| Website | whitetown |
Early life
Jyoti Prakash Mishra was born in Rourkela, India on 30 July 1966, and emigrated to England with his family at the age of three. He grew up in Derby, England.[4]
Career
White Town was originally the name of a band formed by Mishra in 1989, inspired by a Pixies concert he had attended. Initially, there were other members on guitar, bass, and drums; they played support gigs for various bands, most notably Primal Scream.[5] In 1990, the project released its first self-financed record, White Town EP, on 7" vinyl. This featured Nick Glyn-Davies on drums and Sean Deegan on bass, with Mishra on guitar and vocals. Sean Phillips, who is credited as a guitarist on the EP, joined the band shortly before the release. In time, Deegan and Glyn-Davies left and were replaced live by a drum machine and Leon Wilson on guitar. The rest of the band drifted away in the autumn of 1990, and Mishra continued with the project as a one-man band from then on, occasionally collaborating with musicians such as Gary Thatcher of the Beekeepers on guitar.
The lead single from White Town's second album, Women in Technology, titled "Your Woman", reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart in January 1997.[1] It also peaked at No. 1 in Spain and Iceland; No. 2 in Australia; No. 4 in Canada, Denmark, and Finland; and No. 23 on the U.S. Pop Airplay chart. After a troubled working relationship with EMI, Mishra was dropped from the label in 1997.[4] Since then, he has gone back to working with indie labels such as Parasol Records. In 2006, he contributed the song "The PNAC Cabal" to the charity album Voyces United for UNHCR.
The EP A New Surprise was released in September 2006 by Swedish indie label Heavenly Pop Hits, and was followed by the album Don't Mention the War, which launched Mishra's own Bzangy Records label. A 7" White Town single titled "I Wanna Be Your Ex", with the B-side "Rainy Day", was released by Golly Jane Records in November 2014. Mishra released the albums Deemab and Polyamory in 2019. As of March 2020, he accumulates over 500,000 Spotify streams per month; his work received a boost in popularity in 2020 when Dua Lipa sampled the same trumpet hook White Town sampled in "Your Woman" in her song "Love Again".[6]
Artistry
Mishra has said, "I'm a mediocre singer, I'm a terrible guitarist, I'm a pretty good keyboardist, I'm a good producer, not amazing, but good."[6] Noting his status as a one-hit wonder, he said it is "better than a no-hit wonder" and elaborated, "To be a professional musician and to be entertaining people twenty years after my biggest hit, I feel like I'm the luckiest person alive. Just to have one song that connects with people—most musicians dream their entire lives of having that."[6]
Personal life
Mishra became straight edge at the age of sixteen[7] and is a radical Marxist;[5] he has been outspoken about his beliefs.[8]
Discography
Albums
| Year | Information | Chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | US | US Heatseekers | ||
| 1994 | Socialism, Sexism & Sexuality
|
— | — | — |
| 1997 | Women in Technology | 83 | 84 | 4 |
| 2000 | Peek & Poke
|
— | — | — |
| 2006 | Don't Mention the War
|
— | — | — |
| 2011 | Monopole
|
— | — | — |
| 2019 | Deemab
|
— | — | — |
| 2021 | Fairchild Semiconductor
|
— | — | — |
EPs
| Year | Information |
|---|---|
| 1990 | White Town
|
| 1991 | Alain Delon
|
| 1992 | Bewitched
|
Fairweather Friend
| |
| 1996 | >Abort, Retry, Fail?_ |
| 2015 | The Barren Seas EP
|
| 2019 | Polyamory
|
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [1] |
AUS [9] |
CAN | FRA | GER | IRE | NL | NZ | SWE | US | |||
| 1990 | "Darley Abbey" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1991 | "All She Said" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1997 | "Your Woman" | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 24 | 5 | 21 | 5 | 10 | 23 | >Abort, Retry, Fail?_ and Women in Technology |
| "Undressed" | 57 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Women in Technology | |
| 1998 | "Another Lover" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Peek & Poke |
| 2006 | "A New Surprise" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Don't Mention the War |
| 2010 | "Cut Out My Heart" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Monopole |
| 2014 | "I Wanna Be Your Ex" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Deemab |
| 2015 | "I'm Giving Up" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "How I Love You" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
References
- Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 599. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- White Town at AllMusic
- McAlpine, Fraser. "10 Greatest British One-Hit Wonders". BBC America. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
- Colin Larkin, ed. (2000). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Nineties Music (First ed.). Virgin Books. p. 425. ISBN 0-7535-0427-8.
- Lester, Paul (21 January 2016). "Devo, White Town, Babybird: what happens when your cult pop band gets huge?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- Jefferson, J'na (30 March 2020). "White Town's Jyoti Mishra on Dua Lipa Lifting 'Your Woman' Hook For 'Love Again': 'There's Magic in Old Samples'". Billboard. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- Kuhn, Gabriel. "'Why Is Your Band Called White Town?': Indie Pop, Dialectical Materialism, and Straight Edge". DIY Conspiracy. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
- Bulut, Selim (8 February 2017). "Remembering one of the UK's unlikeliest number one singles". Dazed. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
- "White Town - Your Woman". Australian-charts. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
External links
- Official website
- White Town discography at Discogs