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White Town

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White Town
Birth nameJyoti Prakash Mishra
Born (1966-07-30) 30 July 1966 (age 58)
Rourkela, India
OriginDerby, England
Genres[citation needed]
OccupationMusician
Years active1989–present
Labels
Websitewhitetown.co.uk

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]

Early life

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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

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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.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]

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

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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

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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

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Albums

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Year Information Chart positions
UK US US Heatseekers
1994 Socialism, Sexism & Sexuality
  • Released: 1994
  • Label: Bzangy / Parasol
1997 Women in Technology 83 84 4
2000 Peek & Poke
  • Released: 23 May 2000
  • Label: Bzangy Groink
2006 Don't Mention the War
  • Released: 23 October 2006
  • Label: Bzangy
2011 Monopole
  • Released: 13 October 2011
  • Label: Bzangy
2019 Deemab
  • Released: 1 January 2019
  • Label: Bzangy
2021 Fairchild Semiconductor
  • Released: 19 May 2021
  • Label: Bzangy
2023 Philogrammetry
  • Released: 9 September 2023
  • Label: Bzangy

EPs

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Year Information
1990 White Town
  • Released: 1990
  • Label: Satya
1991 Alain Delon
  • Released: 1991
  • Label: Parasol
1992 Bewitched
  • Released: 1992
  • Label: Parasol
Fairweather Friend
  • Released: 1992
  • Label: Elefant
1996 >Abort, Retry, Fail?_
2015 The Barren Seas EP
  • Released: 2015
  • Label: Bzangy
2019 Polyamory
  • Released: 2019
  • Label: Bzangy
2024 Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky
  • Released: 2024

Singles

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Year Single Peak chart positions Certifications 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"

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 599. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  2. ^ White Town at AllMusic
  3. ^ McAlpine, Fraser. "10 Greatest British One-Hit Wonders". BBC America. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  4. ^ a b Colin Larkin, ed. (2000). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Nineties Music (First ed.). Virgin Books. p. 425. ISBN 0-7535-0427-8.
  5. ^ a b 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.
  6. ^ a b c 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.
  7. ^ Kuhn, Gabriel. "'Why Is Your Band Called White Town?': Indie Pop, Dialectical Materialism, and Straight Edge". DIY Conspiracy. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  8. ^ Bulut, Selim (8 February 2017). "Remembering one of the UK's unlikeliest number one singles". Dazed. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  9. ^ "White Town – Your Woman". Australian-charts. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  10. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 1997 Singles" (PDF). ARIA. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  11. ^ "French single certifications – White Town – Your Woman". SNEP. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  12. ^ "New Zealand single certifications – White Town – Abort, Retry, Fail/Your Woman". RMNZ. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  13. ^ "British single certifications – White Town – Your Woman". BPI. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
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