The Scissor Sisters are a five-piece American glam rock band strongly influenced by the gay-club scene of New York and named after a lesbian sex position (see tribadism). The group was formed with the full name Dead Lesbian and the Fibrillating Scissor Sisters in 2001 by lead vocalist Jake Shears (born Jason Sellards) and keyboardist/bass guitarist Babydaddy (born Scott Hoffman). The other members are Ana Matronic (born Ana Lynch, lead vocals), Del Marquis (born Derek Gruen, guitar), and Paddy Boom (born Patrick Secord, drums). The lyrics of their songs, largely written by Shears and Babydaddy, are known for their mixture of wit and tragedy.
Their first single "Laura" had a limited release in 2003 (reaching #54 in the UK singles chart), but received little attention except from British music paper New Musical Express. Also that year, the atmospheric "It Can't Come Quickly Enough" played under the credits of the New York club film Party Monster and appeared on its soundtrack. The group came to prominence in 2004 with the release of " Comfortably Numb" (reaching #10 in the UK), a disco-style cover of the Pink Floyd song which features Paul Leschen on piano and keyboards. This was followed by fan favourite "Take Your Mama" (#17 in the UK), a re-release of "Laura" (#12 in the UK), the ballad "Mary" (#14 in the UK), and the randy "Filthy/Gorgeous" (#5 in the UK). All the singles came from the self-titled debut album Scissor Sisters, which reached #1 on the UK albums chart and became the best selling album of 2004, beating their closest rival Keane by just 582 copies. In late 2004, Shears and Babydaddy co-wrote and produced the hit " I Believe in You" for Kylie Minogue.
