Sharleen Spiteri

Sharleen Eugene Spiteri (born 7 November 1967) is a Scottish singer and guitarist, best known as the lead singer of the rock band Texas.

She has a contralto vocal range.

Sharleen Spiteri worked as a hairdresser in Muirhead, North Lanarkshire, until Texas became her sole priority in 1988.

Spiteri's musical influences include the Clash (the main reason she plays a black Fender Telecaster), Blondie, Marvin Gaye and Prince.

She is also a dedicated Diana Ross fan.

Spiteri co-founded the band while working at the Irvine Rusk salon as a hairdresser in Glasgow.

The band, composed of Spiteri, Johnny McElhone, Ally McErlaine, Tony McGovern, Eddie Campbell, Michael Bannister and Neil Payne, first released an EP titled Everyday Now before releasing their debut album Southside in July 1989.

The band gained international success with their debut single "I Don't Want a Lover" which reached No. 8 in the UK Singles Chart, and No. 77 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Later singles released from Southside were not as successful, "Thrill Has Gone" which charted at No. 60 on the UK Singles Chart, "Everyday Now" at No. 44 and "Prayer for You" at No. 73.

Only four singles were released from Southside before going on a tour and return to the studio to start work on their second album Mothers Heaven.

Around the same time as Southside was being recorded, Spiteri's cousin Mark Rankin was founding his own band, the hard rock band Gun, and Spiteri contributed backing vocals to two tracks from their debut album Taking on the World, also released in 1989.

In 1991, Texas's second studio album Mothers Heaven was released, soon after the band released an extended play to help promote the album; Extracts from Mothers Heaven was released in 1991.

The album was released on 23 September 1991 and was not as successful as Southside.

The album charted at a low and unexpected No. 32 on the UK Album Charts and two singles "Why Believe in You" which charted at No. 66 in the UK, "In My Heart" which charted at No. 74 in the United Kingdom were not as successful.

However, the album's third and final single "Alone with You" was more successful, reaching No. 32 on the UK Singles Chart.

Promotion had stopped for Mothers Heaven and again the band returned to the studio to work on their third album, Ricks Road.

Ricks Road was released in 1993, again, not as successful as the band and fans had hoped for, but chart and sales wise, the album did better than Mothers Heaven.

Ricks Road charted at No. 18 on the UK Album Charts, only spending a further 1-week falling to No. 56 on the UK Album Charts before leaving the charts.

The album's lead single "So Called Friend" charted at No. 30 on the UK Singles Chart and the second "You Owe It All To Me" charted at No. 39.

The further three singles released, "So in Love with You" charted at No. 28 in the United Kingdom.

The further two singles "You've Got To Give a Little" and "Fade Away" did not chart in the United Kingdom.

In 1997, Texas came back to the music scene with the international hit "Say What You Want".

The song was released internationally on 6 January 1997.

The song became the band's highest-charting single to date on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at No. 3. In February, Texas released their fourth, multi-platinum selling album.

White on Blonde, it went on to become the band's most successful album to date.

The album charted at No. 1 on the UK Album Charts and returned to the top spot in the United Kingdom three times (including its debut peak at number one).

The album managed 91 weeks on the UK Album Charts.

During the period Texas were on hiatus during 2005–2013, Spiteri released her debut solo album Melody which was released in 2008, followed by a second solo album, The Movie Songbook, in March 2010.

During this time, Spiteri was a judge on the Sky music talent show, Must Be the Music.

Spiteri was born in Bellshill Maternity Hospital in Bellshill, Scotland, to father Eddie, a guitar-playing merchant seaman, and mother Vilma, a singing window-dresser.

Spiteri is of Maltese, Italian, Irish and German descent.

When she was young, the family moved from the Glaswegian suburbs to nearby Balloch, close to the shores of Loch Lomond, and she went to Vale of Leven Academy school there.

As a teenager, she was interested by pop culture.

Music was her escape: "I used to love going to the record shop on a Saturday and I'd buy a single and a plastic sleeve. I'd go back to my bedroom where [singer] Siouxsie Sioux was painted on my bedroom wall".

She later stated: "I guess what people never realise is that real bands and musicians are geeks, we spend our youth as geeks and we turn into these rock stars."

While a student at Vale of Leven Academy, her nickname was 'Spit the Dog', after the character on the TV show Tiswas.

In 2013, Texas's worldwide album sales were counted at 40 million records.

Texas returned from their hiatus in 2013 with The Conversation, which debuted at No. 4 on the UK Album Chart, No. 3 on their native Scottish Album Charts as well as No. 8 in France.

A 25th-anniversary album followed in 2015 entitled Texas 25, followed by the band's ninth studio album, Jump on Board (2017), which achieved mainstream chart success, topping the albums charts in Scotland and debuting within the top ten in France, the United Kingdom and Belgium.

Their tenth studio album, Hi was released in May 2021 and became their highest-charting album in the UK since 1999's The Hush, reaching number three on the official UK Albums Chart, number one on the UK Independent Albums Charts and debuting at number one in their native Scotland.