Portishead consists of Adrian Utley, Beth Gibbons, Clive Deamer, Geoff Barrow.
Portishead ( IPA: /pɔːtɪsˈhɛd/) is a trip hop band from Bristol, United Kingdom, named after the small town of Portishead, 12 miles west of Bristol. With their tasteful use of live jazz samples and intentionally lo-fi sound, the band has been cited as influential by many modern musicians including Hip-Hop star Kanye West and underground producer DJ Dangermouse.
The band was formed in 1991, by keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Geoff Barrow and singer Beth Gibbons. Barrow had previously worked with two other trip hop bands from Bristol, Massive Attack and Tricky, and decided to name his new endeavour after his hometown.
After releasing a short film ( To Kill a Dead Man) and its accompanying music, Portishead signed a record deal with Go! Beat Records and their first album, Dummy, was released in 1994, and featured heavy contributions from guitarist Adrian Utley. In spite of the band's media-shyness, the album was successful in both Europe and the United States, spawning two hit singles, "Glory Box" and "Sour Times". Portishead has often been used as accompanying music in the media. Such examples include car adverts, Channel 4 intermissions and the teenage drama series Sugar Rush.
Their second album, Portishead, was released in 1997, and featured the single "All Mine". A live album featuring new orchestral arrangements of the group's songs was recorded primarily at Roseland in New York City, and released in 1998 with a DVD of the concert soon following. 1999 saw a cooperation with singer Tom Jones for a track on his album Reload.