The Style Council

The Style Council
Mick Talbot and Paul Weller, 1988
Background information
Origin	Woking, Surrey, England
Genres	Pop[1] sophisti-pop[2] blue-eyed soul[3] new wave[4] jazz[1]
Years active	1982–1989 2019
Labels	Polydor Geffen
Past members	Paul Weller Mick Talbot Dee C. Lee Steve White

The Style Council were a British band formed in late 1982 by Paul Weller, the former lead vocalist, principal songwriter and guitarist with the Jam, and keyboardist Mick Talbot, previously a member of Dexys Midnight Runners, the Bureau and the Merton Parkas.^[5] Weller started the project to escape the restrictions of the Jam, and to explore a more arty, European, jazzier direction,^[6] which encompassed pop, hip hop, and soul.^[7][8]

The permanent line-up grew to include drummer Steve White and Weller's then-girlfriend, vocalist Dee C. Lee.^[9] Other artists such as Tracie Young, Tracey Thorn (Everything but the Girl) and drummer/percussionist Steve Sidelnyk^[10][11] (who has played for Madonna, Seal and Richard Ashcroft^[12]) also performed and collaborated with the group. As with Weller's previous band, most of the London-based group's hits were in their homeland, where they scored seven top 10 hits.^[9] The band also had hit singles and albums in Australia and New Zealand during the 1980s.^[13]