Samantha Sprackling was born in Lagos, Nigeria, to an English father and Portuguese mother of part Chinese ancestry and grew up in Brixton, South London, England.

Saffron then had a brief career as a solo artist, with one of her singles – a cover of Atlantic Starr's "Circles" – charting at #60 in the UK in 1993.

Sprackling met Republica keyboard players Tim Dorney and Andy Todd by 1994, and they started writing songs after recruiting a guitarist and drummer.

In April 2016, Saffron assembled a full solo band consisting of Tony Feedback (Angelic Upstarts, Sham 69, Urban Dogs, UK Subs) on guitar, Piers Gielgud (Meat Beat Manifesto) on bass, Brad Walkhouse on saxophone/horns and Josh Collins (Reverbed) on drums.

The band debuted at Polyfest 3 playing a mix of X-ray Spex classics and Republica hits.