The Glitch WeeklyExtra
The Streets
British garage music act
The Streets is an English musical project led by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Skinner. The project was founded in the early 90s in Birmingham, while Skinner was still a teenager; however, no music would formally come out until the early 2000s.
In the initial run of The Streets, the project released five studio albums: Original Pirate Material (2002), A Grand Don't Come for Free (2004), The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living (2006), Everything Is Borrowed (2008) and Computers and Blues (2011). The Streets also released a string of successful singles during this time, which reached the Top 40 on the UK Singles chart – including "Has It Come to This?", "Fit but You Know It", "Dry Your Eyes", "When You Wasn't Famous" and "Prangin' Out".
After disbanding The Streets in 2011, Skinner pursued several other musical projects before ultimately reviving the moniker in 2017. A mixtape, None of Us Are Getting Out of This Life Alive, was released in 2020.
File card: The Streets
real name: Michael Geoffrey Skinner
formed in: Birmingham
labels: 679 Artists, Atlantic Records, Locked On Records
genres: grime, hip-hop
Facts from Wikidata and Discogs, free to use.
The Broken RecordExtra
2001–2003: Original Pirate Material
Mike Skinner sent a demo tape to a record shop in north London, run by A&R Nick Worthington. The song developed into Skinner's first single, "Has It Come to This?", and was released under the name The Streets. The song peaked at number 18 on the UK Singles Chart in October 2001.
Mike Skinner, born November 27, 1978, was brought up in Birmingham and now lives in Brixton.
He started messing around with keyboards at the age of 5.
He took several jobs in fast food restaurants to finance a failed attempt to launch his own record label.
As a teenager, he built a recording studio in a cupboard in his bedroom.
At 19, he went to Australia for a year, taking his sampler along for company.
The first two Streets albums were nominated for the Mercury Music Prize: Original Pirate Material in 2002 and A Grand Don't Come For Free in 2004.
"Fit But You Know It" was a Top 5 hit in the summer of 2004.
Mike Skinner has performed live at Reading Festival 2004 in the dance tent as well as on the main stage.
He releases overall 5 studio albums until he take a hiatus 2011 until 2017.
Also known as: Streets, 街頭小子
From Discogs (free to use). Their entry