[1] She moved to Newcastle upon Tyne in England at the age of 18 to study for a BA in creative and performing arts.
Discs Records, which was considering signing the band, made her an offer to travel to Hull and sing with Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway of The Beautiful South.
[2] The decision was driven by a desire to record her own work and partly by ethical disagreements with some of Heaton's lyrics, particularly songs such as "36D", which criticised British glamour models and the industry that employed them.
[citation needed] Hemingway later remarked, "We all agree that we should have targeted the media as sexist instead of blaming the girls for taking off their tops".
[3][4][5] Her time with the band culminated in one of the fastest-selling British albums in history, Carry on up the Charts: The Best of the Beautiful South.