(Polly Jean) PJ Harvey. Grew up on a farm in Corscombe, England. As a teenager, she played saxophone, and idolized one Captain Beefheart (RIP). At nineteen, joined a Bristol band called Automatic Diamini, formed by her musical soulmate John Parish. She toured with them in support of their first album, and recorded a second album with them that never saw the light of day. She left, and along with former bandmates Rob Ellis and Ian Oliver, formed the PJ Harvey Trio. Obviously, she was the lead - and the writer. They released their first album, Dry, all while PJ was enrolling at Central Saint Martins School of Art & Design. First single Dress caught listeners off-guard with its unabashedly feminist stance, although PJ didn't associate herself with any particular movement.
Not to be that guy, but there's a certain Kings of Leon song that TOTALLY rips off this song's chorus.
Dry's pîece de la resistance, however, is Sheela Na Gig. Based on Irish poetry, its statements could not be clearer.
After the release of Dry, PJ suffered from exhaustion, developed an eating disorder, and had a nervous breakdown. Her musical release of it became of one of the 90s most arresting albums: Rid of Me.
Still pissed the title track was never released as a single, but 50 Ft Queenie and Man-Size will have to do!
Buzz was building for Polly Jean. Many assumed that her writing was completely autobiographical, like that of her peers; To Bring You My Love, an album obsessed with loss and religion, written and performed by an agnostic, proved that not to be the case. Lead single Down By The Water became the biggest single of the year: playlisted by Z100, charting on the Hot 100, and nominated for a VMA.
The album's religious fervor was felt in its third single, Send His Love to Me.
It would be hard for anyone to follow up the acclaim of TBYML, but PJ's first single from her fourth LP, Is This Desire?, became her biggest hit of the 90s in her homeland:
Dress
Sheela Na Gig
50 FT Queenie
Man-Size
Down By The Water
Send His Love to Me
A Perfect Day Elise
