They met in their mutual home town of Bournemouth, England,[2] where they had a shared appreciation of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Crawley was the lead vocalist in the band[4] that went on to release four albums, Helleborine (1987), Century Flower (1989), Humroot (1992) and We Have Everything We Need (2008).
In 1991, Crawley was approached by 4AD Records founder Ivo Watts-Russell who asked her to appear on four tracks of This Mortal Coil's album Blood.
[citation needed] In the early 1990s, Crawley formed Babacar along with bassist Roberto Soave, guitarist Rob Steen, and drummer Boris Williams.
They made their live debut playing four songs at the 4AD Records 13 Year Itch celebration on 22 July 1993 at the ICA, London.