The Streets

The Streets is a stage name of young and up-and-coming musician Mike Skinner. Skinner was born in Birmingham, England. He loved music a lot and wanted to become famous but he had to work dead-end and underpaid jobs. Skinner started to record his first tracks in early 90s. He organized band The Streets together with his friends, but in a short time the band broke and Skinner remained the only member of it. In 2000 he signed a contract with Locked On, a well-known sound recording studio. His single Has It Come to This managed to hit Britain's Top 20.

The first album of The Streets Original Pirate Material (2002) became very popular among widely varying audiences not only in Great Britain but also in the United States. Thanks to this collection The Streets was nominated for Mercury Prize, a prestigious prize for the best British album, and for Brit Awards. The critics of NME, Rolling Stone, Spin, New York Times, USA Today and LA Times included Original Pirate Material in the lists of the best collections. The next album A Grand Don't Come for Free, released in 2004, was very successful commercially mostly due to smash-hits Fit But You Know It, Dry Your Eyes, Blinded by the Lights and Could Well Be In.

In 2005 The Streets made a remix of Banquet, a popular song of British band Bloc Party, and a video for this remix. The Streets became so well-known that Skinner was invited for the shooting of an advert for Reebok “I am what I am”. The next creation of The Streets The Hardest Way To Make an Easy Living (2006) was a real masterpiece as well as the previous works. The song When You Wasn’t Famous was called the single of the week shortly after its release. The Streets’ last creation Everything Is Borrowed (2008) managed to grip the attention of the audience and critics in no time. Skinner’s numerous fans are waiting impatiently for the coming gifts of their musical superhero.