About Sonique
Sonia Marina Clarke , better known by her stage name Sonique, is a British singer, musician and DJ. She came to public attention as a member of dance band S'Express during the early 1990s, but achieved greater success as a solo artist in the early-to mid 2000s. During this period, she achieved UK top 20 hits with "It Feels So Good", "Sky", "I Put a Spell on You" and "Can't Make Up My Mind", and won the 2001 BRIT Award for British female solo artist.
Sonia Clarke was born and raised in Crouch End to parents of Trinidadian descent. The first record she ever purchased was Donna Summer's "I Feel Love". When Sonique was sixteen, her mother remarried and moved back to Trinidad. She refused to move with her mother and two siblings and instead stayed in London, moving into the YMCA.
At the age of seventeen, a youth worker commented that she had a nice voice and suggested she use it. She put together a reggae band called 'Fari', in which she ended up writing all the music. After Fari disbanded she set about getting a recording contract.
Sonique released the single "Let Me Hold You", published by Cooltempo, in 1985. The single hit the Top 40 on the UK Dance Chart.
In 1990, she was credited for the track "Zombie Mantra", which was included on the album Set the Controls for the Heart of the Bass, the debut record of William Orbit's project Bass-O-Matic. Soon after, she teamed again with DJ Mark Moore, a few years after providing vocals for S'Express. The dance-pop duo charted in the UK Singles Chart with singles such as "Nothing to Lose". She maintained a friendship with Mark Moore after S'Express disbanded and, shortly afterwards, he gave her the gift of a set of turntables and a mixer with which she began experimenting.
For three years, she accompanied both Mark Moore and her childhood friend Judge Jules to their gigs. She eventually signed to London-based label Serious Records, where her first single was "I Put a Spell on You" produced by Chris Allen and ex-Wang Chung keyboardist Graeme Pleeth. She was DJ-in-residence at Club Manumission in Ibiza between 1997 and 1999.
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