Fusing jazzy pop and electronica together in a seamless, listener-friendly package, Everything but the Girl (or simply EBTG) was one of the UK's most successful groups throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Vocalist Tracey Thorn and multi-instrumentalist Ben Watt formed the band in Hull, England in 1982, after meeting one another at university. The duo's musical partnership, and subsequent marriage, showcased a successful songwriting team that started as a jazz and folk-influenced pop project and ended as an electronica and trip hop outfit. With Thorn's pure vocals and Watt's slick pop confections full of jazz guitar, house beats and lounge music atmospheres, Everything but the Girl enjoyed a long-lasting heyday that saw it satisfyingly merge the disparate elements of its myriad influences. The band went on indefinite hiatus in 2000, though Thorn has hinted at a possible reunion sometime in the future.
