Hard-Fi (GB)

About

Also known as: Hard - FI, Hard Fi

Hard Fi built their reputation the hard way, recording most of their debut album Stars of CCTV in a disused minicab office in Staines upon Thames for around £300, picking up echo from the corridor and even the odd aeroplane overhead. That scrappy, street level sound turned out to be exactly what people wanted: the album eventually hit number one on the UK Albums Chart in January 2006, racking up 1.2 million sales worldwide, and earned nominations for the Mercury Prize and two Brit Awards. Singles like Hard to Beat, Cash Machine and Living for the Weekend all cracked the UK top 20. Their second album Once Upon a Time in the West went straight to number one in its first week, and the third, Killer Sounds, followed in 2011 with singles including Good for Nothing. The band of Richard Archer, Ross Phillips, Kai Stephens and Steve Kemp went on hiatus after a greatest hits release in 2014, then reunited in 2022 and put out new material in 2024.