Mike Skinner encouraging the crowd to "Get Low" at Reading 2006

Farewell To The Streets: The Story So Far

Earlier this year there was some sad news for Mike Skinner fans as he announced that his 2011 tour would be his last as The Streets. Deciding to spend more time on other interests including venturing into the visual arts, Mike seems genuinely happy to be leaving behind life as a solo artist after more than 10 years.

Young, brash and year's ahead of the curve; Skinner was a truly original voice in the early 2000s

Originally from Birmingham but moving to London early on in his career Mike released his first single ‘Has It Come To This?’ in late 2001, it was received well and reached number 18 in the UK charts. The single was a real sign of intent and was one of the stand out tracks of his 2002 debut album ‘Original Pirate Material’. The album was a great success, whilst it fitted with the popular urban/garage scene at the time it had a great uniqueness which propelled the record to numerous award nominations that year.

Skinner from revolutionary geezer to chart conquering superstar

Two years later the single ‘Fit but You Know It’ was released marking the return of The Streets, the single which told the story of a lad’s holiday abroad proved hugely popular. However it wasn’t until second single ‘Dry Your Eyes’ that Mike hit that elusive number 1 spot and the success of the single also propelled the album ‘A Grand Don’t Come For Free’ to the top of the album charts.

Third album ‘The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living’ was released in 2006 and entered straight in as number 1. The album was hugely different creatively from his previous attempts and although it did well collectively, singles from the album didn’t chart as well with ‘When You wasn’t Famous’ performing the best peaking at 8th in the chart.

Further albums included 2008 ‘Everything is Borrowed’ and 2011 ‘Computers and Blues’ but neither could repeat the success of the first three records. Despite this the impact was already made with The Streets generally considered as one of the UKs top urban acts of all time fusing Hip Hop, Garage, Dance, Electronica and god knows what else into something which is quite frankly bloody brilliant.

Skinner: Older, Wiser, and Ready To Move On

The Streets fusion sound, combined with a detailed and satirical lyrical eye would inspire a generation of artists and songwriters, most notably a young lad in Sheffield by the name of Alex Turner. Mike Skinner presented a day in the life of a smart, funny, forward thinking geezer, before evolving to give us a glimpse into the world of celebrity breakdowns. Throughout their career The Streets set the standard in 21st Century kitchen sink songwriting.

If past live performances are anything to go by then Reading and Leeds festivals are in for a real treat, so give one of the truly great British music artists the send off he deserves by participating in a sing along or two when he headlines the NME tent at this years festival.

The Streets play the NME tent at Leeds on Friday and Reading Sunday.