While various forms of commercially produced popular music had existed in Great Britain for several centuries, what is now understood as British pop music emerged in the mid-to late 1950s as a softer alternative to rock 'n' roll and later to rock music. Like American pop music it has a focus on commercial recording, often orientated towards a youth market, usually through the medium of relatively short and simple love songs. While these basic elements of the genre have remained fairly constant, pop music has absorbed influences from most other forms of popular music, particularly borrowing from the development of rock music, and utilising key technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes. From the British Invasion of the 1960s, led by The Beatles, British pop music has alternated between acts and genres with national appeal and those with international success that have had a considerable impact on the development of the wider genre and on popular music in general.
Alison Moyet (born Geneviève Alison Jane Moyet 18 June 1961, Billericay) is an English singer, songwriter and performer noted for her bluesy voice.
Her UK album sales have reached a certified 2.3 million, with over a million singles sold, All seven of her studio albums and three compilation albums have charted in the Top 30 UK Album Chart, with two of the albums reaching number one. She has also achieved nine Top 30 singles and five Top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart.
Geneviève Alison Jane Moyet was born in the small Essex town of Billericay to a French father and English mother. She grew up in the nearby town of Basildon, where she attended Markhams Chase Junior School. Upon leaving school at 16, she worked as a shop assistant and trained as a piano tuner. She was involved in a number of punk rock, pub rock and blues bands in the South East Essex area during the late 1970s and early 1980s, including the Vandals, the Screamin' Ab Dabs, the Vicars and the Little Roosters (the latter featuring Gary Lammin formerly of Cock Sparrer).
Geraldine Estelle "Geri" Halliwell (born 6 August 1972) is a British pop singer-songwriter, clothes designer, author and actress. Halliwell came to international prominence in the late 1990s as Ginger Spice, a member of girl group the Spice Girls. She reportedly amassed a $30 million fortune during her last two years in the group. Halliwell launched her solo career in 1998, releasing her album Schizophonic. She has since released two more studio albums – Scream If You Wanna Go Faster and Passion – as well as four singles that reached number one on the UK Singles Chart: "Mi Chico Latino", "Lift Me Up", "Bag It Up" and "It's Raining Men". In 2008 Halliwell published a book series named Ugenia Lavender. As a solo artist, Halliwell has sold 12 million records worldwide, and been nominated for four Brit Awards (in 2000 and 2002). In 1999 she wrote her first autobiography If Only, in which she described her life as a Spice Girl. Her second autobiography was released in 2002. She is expected to release her fourth studio album "Putting On The Bling" in 2012.