Heather Small

Heather Margarita Small (born 20 January 1965) is a British soul singer and former lead vocalist of the band M People.

In 1997, Small performed in "Perfect Day", the official 1997 Children in Need charity release, alongside a broad range of artists, including Tom Jones and Lou Reed.

It sold over a million copies and was the UK's number one single for three weeks.

In 1998, Small and M People took some time off to pursue solo projects after The Best of M People was released.

Her subsequent debut solo studio album, Proud, was released in 2000.

Small was born in London and raised on a council estate in Ladbroke Grove, West London.

Small joined her first group, Hot House, as a singer while she was still a teenager.

She was the studio singer voice of the re-recorded version of "Ride on Time" by Black Box.

She had a chance meeting with Manchester DJ, Mike Pickering, formerly of Quando Quango, which led to sales of over 10 million albums worldwide with the group M People.

They had considerable success with songs such as "Moving On Up", "One Night In Heaven" and "Search for the Hero".

In 2000, Small released her debut solo album, Proud, and a single of the same name, closely affiliated with the British Olympic team of the time.

The single, which was used for the first season and the last episode of the final season of Queer as Folk, is Small's signature song, with which she achieved international success.

"Holding On" was released as the next single, followed in November 2000 by a duet single with Tom Jones, called "You Need Love Like I Do".

Small took time off to look after her newborn son, and record her second solo album.

She occasionally appeared on various TV programs such as Parkinson and Songs of Praise.

She also sang three songs at the Tsunami Relief Concert at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

Small sang "Proud", which was the unofficial anthem of Team GB at the Athens Games in 2004, and was the official anthem of the London 2012 Games.

When Oprah Winfrey was looking for a song to sum up the work she had been striving to achieve over her twenty-year career, she contacted Small, and "Proud" became the theme song to The Oprah Winfrey Show; in 2005, Small made her American television debut on the show.

Later the same year, "Proud" became the theme song for the American reality weight-loss show The Biggest Loser.

In 2005, a second M People greatest hits collection, Ultimate Collection, was released.

The record featured both the biggest M People hits and two of Small's solo singles.

"Proud" was re-released from this album and reached number 33 on the UK Singles Charts.

M People reunited and played together on an arena tour in 2005, and they have played a few times each year afterwards.

Small released a new single, "Radio On", in the UK on 17 July 2006.

Her second solo album, Close to a Miracle, was released on 24 July, followed by a second single of the same name released digitally on 25 September 2006.

It also included a previously unreleased track, "Changes".

The album was a commercial disappointment—it charted for one week at number 57, and both supporting singles failed to reach the Top 100—but a short UK solo tour later in the autumn was received well.

In 2007, Small collaborated with Icelandic tenor Garðar Thór Cortes on a song called "Luna".

It was released as a single from his album Cortes and reached number two in the Icelandic online music charts.

A new song was recorded to celebrate 200 years since the abolition of the slave trade, and Small performed at a concert in London to mark the anniversary on 10 November 2007.

On 26 May 2008, Small performed alongside Stereophonics and Feeder at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff as part of the celebrations of Wales's success at the 2008 Grand Slam.

In addition, Small performed three nights at Ronnie Scott's in October as part of her 2008 tour, and headlined at Manchester Pride.

On 24 August 2008, she performed at the Visa London 2012 Party to celebrate the handover as host city of the Olympic Games from Beijing, China, to London.

In December 2008, she performed "Proud" again on the 2008 BBC Sports Personality of the Year programme, as a soundtrack to a montage of British Olympian achievements at Beijing.

In 2008, Small was one of the sixteen celebrities in the sixth series of BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, where she was partnered with newcomer Brian Fortuna.

The couple were placed ninth overall in the series, and were in the bottom two on four occasions, in weeks 4, 5, 7, and 8.

They were eventually voted off by the judges when they lost in the dance-off against Rachel Stevens.

Small also appeared in an associated BBC Three series called Dancing on Wheels.

From late 2008 and throughout 2009, Small toured the UK.

The setlist included Small's solo tracks, M People songs, and some jazz covers.