Down The Dumper – The 90s Part 13.

Here’s the story of yet another pop star who suddenly found fame. It must be a rather odd experience for your debut single to be a chart-topper. You work for a long time to define your style, go through the process of putting some songs together, aim to get a record deal, and then when the time comes to launch your career, you go from being a virtual unknown to the biggest pop star around in a very short time, and this is just about what happened here.

Tasmin Archer is a singer-songwriter who was born in Bradford. In September 1992 her debut single “Sleeping Satellite” was released, this was a chart-topper for two weeks (and there were two videos made), and this also made no. 32 in America. Now I do like this one, although as you should know it isn’t my favourite Number One single of 1992! It’s a rather interesting listen, and one of the highlights is an organ suddenly coming in halfway through. It’s rather different and haunting compared to what else was on the chart at the time.

The idea behind this one is rather ambitious, and a lot of things are attempted to be covered, many people have tried to decipher the rather cryptic lyrics, what could this possibly be all about? One theory is that this is about the space race, and now that the aim of landing on the moon has been achieved, where do we go next, all of those expensive satellites are now redundant and forever flying around as space junk. Or maybe it’s not about that at all. “Sleeping Satellite” has also been covered by several singers, including Kim Wilde in 2011.

In October 1992 her debut album “Great Expectations” was released, and this reached no. 8. And not long after, in 1993, Tamsin won a Brit Award. It seemed to be the perfect start to a career. But she would have no more Top Ten hits, and people might not realise that she went on to have five more hit singles, but each one charted lower than the previous one. In 1993 there were “In Your Care”, “Lords Of The New Church”, and “Arienne”, followed in 1994 by a cover of “Shipbuilding”.

After a break, Tasmin returned in March 1996 with “One More Good Night With The Boys”, but this only made no. 45, and shortly after her second album “Bloom” barely made the Top 100. Tasmin left the music scene after this, and more people seem to remember the badger character named after her in Harry Hill’s show than most of her hits now. She eventually returned a decade later in 2006 with her third and final album “On”, although this wasn’t a hit.