Rowetta

Rowetta, having emerged from the wild excesses surrounding Happy Mondays during their early-1990s peak as a backing singer, later established herself independently by securing third place on the debut season of The X Factor. Born in Manchester in 1966 to a Jewish mother and Nigerian father George Idah, a politician, she entered talent contests while still young and, after finishing school, worked as a professional club singer. Guest vocals for Vanilla Sound Corp and Inner City followed in the late 1980s, after which she joined Shaun Ryder’s Happy Mondays in 1990. Her contributions included backing vocals on Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches and Yes, Please, plus multiple world tours, until the group split in 1993. A brief return came when she portrayed herself in Michael Winterbottom’s 24 Hour Party People, set against the Hacienda scene, yet she largely withdrew until auditioning for the first series of The X Factor in 2004. A performance of “Lady Marmalade” earned the judges’ approval and propelled her to the live shows, where her Shirley Bassey-inflected delivery and candid outbursts positioned her among the competition’s most memorable figures. She placed third, behind pop-opera quartet G4 and blue-eyed soul singer Steve Brookstein, and subsequently signed with Gut Records. The resulting self-titled debut album blended original material with covers of songs by Oasis, Sammy Davis, Jr., and the Beatles, though it peaked at number 89. Attention then turned to theater, with appearances in The Best of Broadway and The Songs of Sister Act, before she linked up with New Order’s Peter Hook for his band The Light in 2010. Further credits encompass recordings with Simply Red, Groove Armada, and P.J. Proby, a presenting role on Gaydio, and vocals on Sweet Mercy’s “Reach Out,” later sampled by the Black Eyed Peas for their number-one single “Boom Boom Pow.”