M People are a British house music act from Manchester formed in 1990 which achieved success throughout most of the 1990s. The name M People is from the initials of Mike Pickering,[1] who formed the group.
After the release of The Best of M People, the band took a long break. Small recorded a solo album, and it seemed that the band had split. However, a re-packaged ‘Greatest Hits’ album was released in 2005, and the band also embarked on a short tour of the UK. Small continued to pursue a solo career, as her song “Proud”, was the soundtrack to the successful London 2012 Olympic bid.
M People toured once again in 2007 as part of the Forestry Commission’s 2007 Forest Tours at Delamere Forest, Cheshire; Dalby Forest, North Yorkshire Moors; Thetford Forest, Suffolk and Westonbirt Arboretum, Wiltshire to support The Forestry Commission’s social and environmental programmes. Small said: “We have played in many different locations but never in forests so we’re really looking forward to doing these gigs”. In addition to these gigs M People performed at the Hampton Court Festival in Surrey, London on the 12 June 2007, and the Chichester Real Ale and Jazz festival on 4 July 2007.
They played a concert in Warsaw, Poland on 7 September 2007. M People played some festival dates in 2008.
