The Grid
 |
The Grid | |
|---|---|
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres | House |
| Years active | 1988–1996, 2003–present |
| Labels | East West, Virgin, Deconstruction, Some Bizzare |
| Members | Richard Norris |
| Past members | Sacha Rebecca Souter (vocals) David Ball |
The Grid were an English electronic dance group, consisting of David Ball (formerly of Soft Cell) and Richard Norris,[1] with guest contributions from other musicians. They are best known for the hits "Swamp Thing", "Texas Cowboys", "Crystal Clear", "Rollercoaster" and "Floatation". Ball died on 23 October 2025.
Band members
[edit | edit source]- Richard Norris – keyboards, drum programming
- David Ball – keyboards, programming (died 2025)[2]
- Sacha Souter – vocals
History
[edit | edit source]The Grid formed in 1988, after both Ball and Norris had worked with Psychic TV on the Jack the Tab – Acid Tablets Volume One album. They recorded the track "Meet Every Situation Head On" together as "M.E.S.H.". The Grid had their first success with their debut single, "Floatation", released on East West Records in 1990. They went on to release a string of ten UK hit singles and four albums,[1] and toured the UK, Europe, Asia and Australia. The group's 1994 album Evolver reached No. 14 in the UK Albums Chart.[1] The lead single from this album, "Swamp Thing", features elaborate banjo lines played by Roger Dinsdale. "Swamp Thing" proved to be a commercial success in the UK, Europe and Australia, reaching No. 3 in the UK[1] and Australia,[3] and selling a total of one million copies.[citation needed]
In 1996, Norris and Ball agreed to a hiatus in order to pursue individual music interests. Norris formed The Droyds with Andy Chatterley, who went on to remix tracks by musicians including Armand Van Helden and Siobhan Fahey. Norris also wrote the official biography of Paul Oakenfold, published in 2007. Ball reformed Soft Cell with Marc Almond, and also wrote music scores for films.[citation needed] Norris has since formed the psychedelic duo, Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve, with DJ Erol Alkan, and has released a number of solo records and remixes under the name The Time and Space Machine.
The duo reunited in 2005, initially playing two gigs under the name GDM with female singer Misty Woods, before writing and recording new material as The Grid. A single, "Put Your Hands Together", was released in 2007 and an album, Doppelgänger, followed in 2008. Both were released on the Some Bizzare label. The album featured vocals by the British musician, Chris Braide.
In 2018, during the second reunion of Soft Cell, Ball and Norris released a new album as the Grid, One Way Traffic, which was recorded as part of Moog Music's "The Moog Sound Lab" program, using the Moog modular synthesizers.[4]
In 2021, Ball and Norris collaborated with Robert Fripp on a new album, Leviathan.
Discography
[edit | edit source]Albums
[edit | edit source]| Year | Album | UK [5] |
AUS [3][6] |
SWE [7] |
SWI [8] |
Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Electric Head | – | – | – | – | East West Records |
| 1992 | 456 | – | 199 | – | – | Virgin Records |
| 1994 | Evolver | 14 | 51 | 27 | 46 | Deconstruction Records |
| 1995 | Music for Dancing | 67 | – | – | – | Deconstruction Records |
| 2008 | Doppelgänger | – | – | – | – | Some Bizzare Records |
| 2018 | One Way Traffic | – | – | – | – | Moog Recordings Library |
| 2021 | Leviathan (with Robert Fripp) | – | – | – | – | Discipline Global Mobile |
Singles
[edit | edit source]| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) |
Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [5] |
AUS [3][6] |
AUT [9] |
BEL (Fla) [10] |
GER [11] |
IRE [12] |
NED [13] |
NOR [14] |
SWE [7] |
SWI [8] | |||||
| 1989 | "On the Grid" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Single only | ||
| "Intergalactia" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Electric Head | |||
| 1990 | "Floatation" | 60 | 102 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "A Beat Called Love" | 64 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "Origins of Dance" | 96 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Single only | |||
| 1991 | "Boom!" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 456 | ||
| 1992 | "Figure of 8" | 50 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Heartbeat" | 72 | 188 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 1993 | "Crystal Clear" | 27 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Texas Cowboys" | 21 | — | — | — | — | 18 | — | — | 36 | — | Evolver | |||
| 1994 | "Swamp Thing" | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 6 | |||
| "Rollercoaster" | 19 | 59 | — | 45 | — | 11 | — | — | 31 | — | ||||
| "Texas Cowboys" (re-release) | 17 | 74 | — | 40 | — | 18 | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 1995 | "Diablo" | 32 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Music for Dancing | ||
| 2006 | "Slammer" / "Slinker" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Doppelgänger | ||
| 2007 | "Put Your Hands Together" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||||||||||||
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ a b c d Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/oct/23/dave-ball-hitmaker-as-one-half-of-soft-cell-dies-aged-66
- ^ a b c Australian (ARIA Chart) peaks:
- Top 50 peaks: Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- "Floatation" (ARIA) peak: Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- Top 100 peaks to December 2010: Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- "Rollercoaster": Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- "Texas Cowboys": Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b UK chart peaks:
- All except "Origins of Dance": Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- "Origins of Dance" Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value). N.B. The High Point number in the NAT column represents the release's peak on the national chart.
- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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Further reading
[edit | edit source]- Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
External links
[edit | edit source]- The Grid official Facebook page
- Grid Central – unofficial page
- The Grid at AllMusic
- The Grid Myspace
- The Grid at IMDb
- The Grid discography at Discogs
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