The Flying Pickets

The group was first formed in 1982 by members of the 7:84 Theatre group, a socialist fringe theatre group who used acappella singing in a production called One Big Blow, the story of the 1982 miner's strike in the UK, from the miner's point of view. The first recording was a live show 'Live at the Albany Empire' on the group's own label, they soon came to the attention of Virgin Records, who signed the group in 1983. "Only You", a cover of a song by Yazoo, went straight to number 1 in the UK charts and was to remain there for five weeks over the Christmas of 1983.

Since 1983 there have been over 25 members of the Flying Pickets, some returning to the band more than once. The group continued to tour for the next quarter of the century and produced another 11 albums before celebrating their 25th anniversary with a new show Changing Times. In 2008 the album Big Mouth was released. In 2010 the group released a new christmas album with a new version of Only You, hence this album was titled Only Yule.

The Flying Pickets are now celebrating their 30th Year.