Angelou was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 folk rock

Folk rock

Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...

 band formed in 1996 by singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 Holly Lerski

Holly Lerski

Holly Lerski is an English singer and songwriter known both for her work with Angelou and for her solo career.-Biography :...

 with guitarist Jo Baker, the duo taking the band's name from the author Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou is an American author and poet who has been called "America's most visible black female autobiographer" by scholar Joanne M. Braxton. She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first and most highly...

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Angelou debuted on Boo Hewerdine

Boo Hewerdine

Boo Hewerdine is an English singer-songwriter. His work includes lead singer and creative force behind The Bible, formed in the 1980s, and reformed in 1994, as well as solo recordings and work for film. He lives in Ely....

's independent record label

Independent record label

An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...

 Haven Records in 1997 with the "Hallelujah" EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

. Joined by Phil Di Palma and Chris Evans, they followed this up with two critically acclaimed album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

s, Automiracles (1998) and While You Were Sleeping (2000).

They toured Spain extensively in 2001 promoting their Spanish 'best of' release, Midnight Witcheries, with new members Cath Evans and Ann Richardson. The band returned a second time for the Benicassim festival 2001 tour, promoting their "Summertime" EP.

After their return to England they signed to Sanctuary Records

Sanctuary Records

Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest independent music management company in the world...

 and recorded their third album, Life Is Beautiful, releasing it under record company instruction in Lerski's name. The album finally broke Lerski and Angelou into the mainstream through heavy radio support for their two singles. Angelou left Sanctuary Records in 2005 through lack of support for the record, and the company dissolved soon after, to eventually be bought out by the Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...

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Lerski dissolved Angelou in 2006 and continues to write, record and release under her own name on her own Laundry Label

Laundry Label

Laundry Label is the record label for singer songwriter Holly Lerski....

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