Sister Bliss

As a founding member of Faithless, Sister Bliss became one of Britain's most popular figures in the electronica scene. However, by the time that band was formed in 1995 she was already established as being among the first British female house DJs, bringing eight years of experience in that field to her work with DJ Rollo Armstrong and the Buddhist rapper Maxi Jazz. As a child she started learning the piano at the age of five, eventually broadening her palette by moving on to the violin, saxophone, and bass. Building on her 1987 debut DJ set, Sister Bliss went on to make prestigious appearances at clubs such as Cream, the Gallery, and Ministry of Sound. By the early '90s she was making her own demos, and by the time she met Armstrong she'd already made an impression on the techno scene with singles such as 1993's "Future Pulse" on the Italian label DTC. Armstrong and Sister Bliss soon began to write and record together, and their collaborations were eventually released under the Faithless name. While their first album, 1996's Reverence, was an underground sensation, its accompanying single "Insomnia" became one of the most durable club hits of the decade, reaching the Top Five in ten countries. Released in 1998, the Mercury-nominated Sunday 8pm capitalized on this success, as did their third album, 2001's Outrospective, which eventually went platinum. Throughout this ascent and beyond, Sister Bliss continued to DJ in many different countries and also began to compose music for film, TV, and theater, including a commission for Danny Boyle's 2000 adaptation of the Alex Garland novel The Beach. The Forever Faithless greatest-hits collection was issued in 2005 and sold over one and a half million copies, before the band issued its final studio album, The Dance, in 2010. Even after Faithless had disbanded, they sporadically performed live, without Armstrong, as the pared-down Faithless Sound System. During this period Sister Bliss not only continued to compose music for films including 2012's Knife Fight and Sex & the City 2, but also collaborated with Example on his chart-topping third album, Playing in the Shadows. The fruits of recording sessions with Dido were revealed on March 4, 2013 when her album Girl Who Got Away was issued. However, on the very same day, Sister Bliss released her single "Ain't There" on her own, relaunched Junkdog Records, a label that would go on to issue material by the Brooklyn-based Zebra Katz and the London duo I Said No. ~ Bradley Torreano, Rovi