Sarah Jane Morris, born 21 March 1959 in Southampton, England, is an English singer and songwriter.
Morris was the lead singer of The Republic in 1982. A London-based Afro-Caribbean-Latin group with leftish [when defined as] They received a lot of publicity from the music media, including coverage stories with NME, City Limits, and Granada TV. The band was not allowed to be played on radio, except for Capital London. The Republic signed to Charlie Gillett’s Oval Records Ltd. They released an EP called Three Songs From The Republic as well as two singles, “One Chance” (and “My Spies”) The band broke up in 1984 after they failed to find success.
Morris sang then with The Happy End, which is a 21-piece brass group named after Bertolt, Elisabeth Hauptmann, and Kurt Weill. The Happy End, which played a circuit that included Brighton’s Zap Club, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and other venues, explored protest music from Africa and Latin America in a manner that was similar to Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra.
Morris explored her theatrical side in Brecht/Eisler’s There’s Nothing Quite Like Money, and Brecht/Weill’s Pirate Jenny from The Threepenny Op.
Morris and The Happy End released two albums together on Cooking Vinyl. After a highly successful Edinburgh run in 1986 Morris moved to chart success with The Communards.
Morris first gained fame with the Communards. They are most famous for their hit “Don’t Let Me This Way”. Morris was a prominent part of many Communards songs, with her low voice contrasted with Jimmy Somerville’s falsetto. Since 1989, she has released albums as a solo artist. These albums are most popular in Italy and Greece.
Morris was also a part of the chorus in the 1991 opera The Fall of the House of Usher by Peter Hammill & Judge Smith. Also, she sang Mere Ubu’s part on Pere Ubu’s album Long Live Pere Ubu! (2009). This album features songs from Bring Me The Head Of Pere Ubu by David Thomas, David Thomas’s theatrical adaptation Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi.
She is the cousin of Armistead Maupin, an American author. They have a grandfather.