Culture | Music A founding member of Manchester-based band M People , as well as a successful solo artist, Heather Small has been made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the King’s Birthday Honours for her voluntary and charitable services. Small became one of the most recognisable voices of the 90s British music scene, with hits including Moving On Up, Search For The Hero and Proud . Growing up on a London council estate in 1965, Small replied to an advert looking for an Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight-style singer, joining her first band Hot House at the age of 18.
The group got their first record deal when Small was aged 21, but she was dropped from the group two years later, before her management team found M People. Indie band M People were formed by Manchester DJ Mike Pickering in 1990 and consisted of Paul Heard, Small and Andrew “Shovell” Lovell. The group won best British dance act at the Brit awards in 1994 and 1995, as well as scoring the prestigious Mercury prize in 1994 for album Elegant Slumming.
In an interview with SheerLuxe, Small said it was only as she started moving up the billing sheet that she realised “I might not be being treated the same as other stars – probably because of the way I looked”. “My sister had to stand outside in a crowd of thousands watching her own sister sing on stage because they wouldn’t give me a ticket for her. “My mother had to watch from home.
And yet other people lower down the billing had .
