Róisín Marie Murphy is an Irish singer-songwriter and record producer. She first became known in the 1990s as one-half of the UK-Irish trip hop duo Moloko with her partner Mark Brydon. Murphy met Brydon in 1994 at a party, using the chat-up line “Do you like my tight sweater? See how it fits my body.” Brydon brought Murphy to his Fon Studios, where he auditioned her voice on tape, and liked Murphy’s theatrical delivery. They began dating, and the newly formed Moloko were signed to Echo, releasing their debut album “Do you like my tight sweater?” the following year.
The follow-up ‘I Am Not A Doctor’ covered similar musical ground, and a remix of “Sing It Back” enjoyed international success, and would go on to be featured on more than 110 compilation albums. In place of paying Dlugosch for the remix, Murphy helped write “Never Enough”, which reached number sixteen on the UK Singles Chart in June 2001.
October 2000 saw the release of Moloko’s third album Things to Make and Do, for which they employed more live instrumentation, and more multifaceted arrangements by keyboardist Eddie Stevens. The album reached number three on the UK Albums Chart, and “The Time Is Now” became their most successful British single, reaching number two. Murphy and Brydon broke up but were contractually obligated to deliver further albums. After the 2003 release of Statues, Brydon backed out of much of the album’s promotion, so Murphy handled most of it herself. Although no official statement was issued pertaining to Moloko’s future, Murphy had this to say in an interview with magazine in May 2005 (which was reiterated in the review of Ruby Blue in July 2005): We left it on good terms after a very successful tour. We shook hands, said, “See you later”, and haven’t spoken since. I don’t know what Mark thinks of this record or what he’s doing. I don’t know if we will or we won’t reunite. Myself, I don’t not want to.
In May 2006, Murphy signed with EMI. Her first single for the label, “Overpowered”, was released in July 2007. Written by Murphy and Paul Dolby and mixed by Tom Elmhirst, the single was accompanied by a series of remixes from Seamus Haji, Kris Menace, Hervé and Loose Cannons. A second single “Let Me Know” (a collaboration with Andy Cato), was released in September and the album, was released soon after.
