Everything but the Girl are an English musical duo formed in Kingston upon Hull in 1982, consisting of lead singer, songwriter, composer and occasional guitarist Tracey Thorn and guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, composer, producer and singer Ben Watt.

The group's early works have been categorized as sophisti-pop with jazz influences[3][4] before undergoing an electronic music turn following the worldwide success of the 1994 hit single "Missing", remixed by Todd Terry.

4, and spawned the top-10 singles "Walking Wounded" and "Wrong.” The band went inactive in 2000, with Thorn declaring she would no longer perform live.

It is audibly made by people with a deep love for and understanding of the music they're inspired by … a comeback worth waiting for."

[2][16] Everything but the Girl's debut EP,[17][18] with a "samba interpretation" of Cole Porter's "Night and Day",[19] was released in June 1982.

[2] After steady sales and exposure on the Cherry Red record label's 99-pence promotional Christmas 1982 compilation album entitled Pillows & Prayers, the single was reissued in August 1983.

Watt's 1983 debut LP, North Marine Drive, was the follow-up to his 1982 5-track EP Summer Into Winter, featuring Robert Wyatt.

[2] On 5 January 1983, Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt, as Everything But the Girl, made their live debut at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, and performed with Paul Weller.

[6] Thorn wrote in 2016 that her lyric was misunderstood as a lovelorn lament, when it was actually a response to the patronizing tone her earlier all-female band Marine Girls was written about by male music critics.

[22] In spite of their early history as established independent artists, as newcomers Everything but the Girl were considered part of the "lite-jazz/neo-jazz-pop"[23] music style, later[24] known as "sophisti-pop", alongside other British acts such as Carmel, a then-newly-solo Alison Moyet, Swing Out Sister, Sade, Matt Bianco and The Style Council.

[citation needed] In 1986, the band released Baby, the Stars Shine Bright, recorded with an orchestra at Abbey Road Studios.

[6] A cover version of Danny Whitten's "I Don't Want to Talk About It", previously a success for Rod Stewart, was released as a single shortly afterwards.

[2] Around this time, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions asked Thorn to contribute vocals to the song "Big Snake" on their final studio album, Mainstream.

1990's Los-Angeles-recorded "slick, commercial"[28] album The Language of Life was produced by Tommy LiPuma and featured notable US west coast and US east coast session musicians, including Omar Hakim, Vinnie Colaiuta, Lenny Castro, Joe Sample and Michael Brecker.

Watt was hospitalised for 10 weeks, and endured several life-saving operations; he subsequently wrote a memoir, Patient, about his near-death ordeal.

[33] Watt then proceeded with a new angle on his solo career that included launching the Buzzin' Fly record label in 2003,[34] and becoming the part-owner-founder of the Neighbourhood and Cherry Jam nightclubs from 2002–2005.

[35] Watt released a string of club-oriented productions including the Bright Star EP, with producer Stimming and British singer Julia Biel, on Buzzin' Fly in 2010.

[36] In 2005, Thorn co-wrote and recorded vocals for the song "Damage", a collaboration with German band Tiefschwarz that appeared on their Eat Books album.

[38] In October 2011, Thorn released a cover version of The xx's "Night Time", on which Watt played guitar and sang backing vocals.

At the time, Watt explained that Warner Music Group still maintained control over their back catalogue: "our big fear was that one day we'd wake up and they'd have reissued them, without telling us.

"; when the representative from Edsel, a company that specialises in reissued material, made contact, the couple decided that the time was appropriate.

According to the Everything but the Girl website, "Once again, Ben and Tracey have helped at every stage of the process, sourcing demos, rarities and memorabilia for the releases.

[43] Watt paused his association with record labels and DJ activities to return to his folk-jazz singer-songwriter roots in 2014.

It featured collaborations with Bernard Butler, formerly of the band Suede, Berlin-based producer Ewan Pearson and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd.

It continued his relationship with Bernard Butler, and added guest cameos from MC Taylor of North Carolina folk-rock band, Hiss Golden Messenger, and Boston singer-songwriter Marissa Nadler.

Thorn's 2013 memoir, Bedsit Disco Queen, covers a significant portion of the history of Everything but the Girl as a band.