History The band, formed in late 1996 in London, consisted of singer
Siobhan de Maré and
Martin Virgo on
keyboards,
synthesizer programming, and
production. Virgo, trained in classical piano at the
Guildhall School of Music and Drama, had been working as a
session musician since the early 1990s as part of the production team of
Nellee Hooper, which led to credits on a remix of
Massive Attack's "
Unfinished Sympathy" (considered one of the landmark songs of trip hop's "
Bristol sound") and
Björk's 1993 album
Debut. De Maré comes from a family with several generations of history in entertainment; her father was
Tony Meehan, drummer for
the Shadows, her grandfather was one of the
Gongmen featured in the opening logo sequences in
Rank Organisation films, The two were introduced to each other while in London in pursuit of their respective musical projects: Virgo was in the midst of a break in session work, while de Maré had been planning to set up a personal recording studio in Paris. The band signed a UK-only contract at first with
Echo Records, passing up labels like
Warner,
Island, and
London. Their first release, in 1996, was an EP of the song "Life in Mono" and various remixes, most notable of these being two by the
Propellerheads, a popular
big beat band and remix group at the time. This was followed by the
Formica Blues album in 1997. In 1998, the use of "Life in Mono" in the
soundtrack,
trailers, and
end credits of the
film adaptation of
Great Expectations (after
Robert De Niro, who was working on the film, heard the song) while
Formica Blues was #73 on Toronto's
102.1 The Edge's 1998 year-end top 102 albums countdown.) With the band's new U.S. deal with
Mercury Records (signed with then-
A&R vice president
Steve Greenberg, who had reportedly been looking to sign the band from the start), After a quiet period, however, the band broke up in 2000. De Maré now sings for
Violet Indiana featuring
Robin Guthrie of the group
Cocteau Twins; later, in 2004, she recalled feeling "creatively stifled" as part of Mono. Violet Indiana has released a number of singles, two albums and a singles collection. More recently, de Maré also founded Pearl Dust, a
music management company. Virgo went on to work with a number of high profile artists including Alanis Morissette (for the film Dogma); Rob Fusari (lady gaga), whilst continuing with his keyboard session work on a number of album releases. He also wrote music for film and TV, winning a British Television Advertising Craft Award for best original music for the cinema advertisement ‘What Do You See’. He also played live keyboards for a number of bands including International Love Corporation; The Bellagios (appearing at Glastonbury festival); Maiuko and Mampama. In 2008 he gained a further M.A. (with distinction) in classical music composition. In 2026 he released 'Ghost Piano', an album of solo piano music.
Musical style Virgo has stated that his top musical influences are
John Barry,
Burt Bacharach and
Phil Spector. These influences are evident in the songs on
Formica Blues, which Virgo has characterized as being inspired by the most-played music in his record collection. supports Virgo's citation of the group (as well as their
Klangfarbenmelodie technique) as among his influences. The opening chords of "Hello Cleveland!" are a sample of the opening chords of
Keith Jarrett's "17 October 1988" from his
Paris Concert CD. ==Discography==