Although to most observers Texas is just Sharleen Spiteri, or at best, Sharleen Spiteri and some blokes, the singer wasn't always the most famous member of the group. Formed in 1988, Texas was a third bite at the cherry for guitarist Johnny McElhone, who had enjoyed a run of hits in the early 1980s with Clare Grogan in Altered Images, and also cracked the top forty in 1986 as a member of Hipsway.

With ex-hairdresser Sharleen on board, Texas signed to Mercury Records and released their first single I Don't Want A Lover in early 1989. While McElhone's other acts leaned towards lightweight pop, Texas' rockier, blues-influenced sound was an instant hit, with the single reaching number eight and propelling their debut album Southside to number three. Despite this early success, further hits proved difficult to come by, with the album's three subsequent singles all falling short of the top forty.

The band continued in much the same vein for their second album, Mother's Heaven. The album sold poorly, the singles barely sold at all, and Texas looked destined to be one hit wonders until their version of Al Green's Tired Of Being Alone finally took them back into the top twenty in 1992. Instead of capitalising on this success, however, they fell silent for over a year before their next album Rick's Road appeared in late 1993. The singles faired marginally better than those from the previous album, gracing the lower reaches of the top forty, and the album reached a fairly respectable number 18, but by this stage it was obvious that Texas would never be a major musical force unless something drastic happened.

In 1997, something drastic happened. The band's sound shifted away from the earthy blues influences of their previous work, towards a more soulful, radio-friendly style. At the same time, Texas began to look like a Sharleen solo project, as the band's videos and record sleeves concentrated almost exclusively on the photogenic lead singer. Critics denounced the move as a cynical marketing ploy, but it worked. The comeback single Say What You Want made number three, while the album White On Blonde gave them their first number one and went on to produce a brace of hit singles: Halo, Black Eyed Boy, Put Your Arms Around Me and Insane all reached the top ten, the latter backed by a bizarre remix of Say What You Want in collaboration with scary American rappers and unlikely Texas fans, the Wu-Tang Clan.

The band maintained their success in 1999 with their fifth album, The Hush. If anything, this album relied even more heavily on Sharleen's visual appeal. The image makers had her writhing on a beach for the album cover, romping on a bed in the Summer Son video, and floating in a swimming pool in the video for When We Are Together, although, to Sharleen's credit, she retained some dignity by remaining fully dressed at all times! Despite the feeling that Sharleen could go solo tomorrow and no-one but a few hardcore Texas fans would notice, with the release of The Greatest Hits in time for Christmas 2000, and another bunch of accompanying hit singles, Texas looks like maintaining its success for some time to come.

Recommended listening