Alfie

In the closing years of the 1990s, the five-piece Manchester outfit Alfie took shape, consisting of vocalist Lee Gorton, guitarist Ian Smith, cellist Matt McGeever, bassist Sam Morris, and drummer Sean Kelly. Gorton had grown weary of the area's music circuit, dominated as it was by acts simply recycling Oasis material. Their debut performance drew attention from NME, the British music magazine, which was profiling various U.K. scenes at the time and included both a review and a photograph of the newcomers in its pages. Before long, the musicians connected with Damon Gough, otherwise recognized as Badly Drawn Boy, leading him to add them to the roster of his fresh Twisted Nerve imprint. Alfie followed up with a series of singles and extended plays including The Alfie EP, Bookends, and Montevideo, culminating in the arrival of their initial album, If You Happy With You Need Do Nothing, during 2001.