M People: A Song <i> and</i> Dance Act

London’s M People is a hit dance group on a mission--in fact, a couple of missions.

In dance music--a pop genre where the emphasis is normally on technology and grooves--group founder Mike Pickering is interested in songs .

Pickering, who finds inspiration in dance music’s R&B; origins, rather than the icy, techno grooves that currently dominate the field, also goes against the conventional dance grain by relying on live instrumentation rather than recycled samples to bring those songs alive.

“We want to be successful, of course,” says Pickering, who speaks about his work in a refreshingly down-to-earth manner. “But we want to do it on our own terms. We won’t compromise our beliefs just for the sake of succeeding, and we believe that this approach is not only good for us, but healthy for dance music in general.”

While the electronic-leaning techno and rave cultures have largely replaced dance music’s soul and passion with trippy artiness or the relentless assault of spine-shattering beats, M People blends the savvy of classic Motown, the sweaty grooves of Booker T. & the MG’s and state-of-the-art dance nuances into a cool and classy dance-pop.

Already Pickering’s strong vision has steered M People, a group he founded four years ago in London as a vanity project, to six Top 10 hits on the British pop charts and a critically acclaimed European tour. The group’s “Moving on Up” was a recent No. 1 dance hit in the United States, where it has now crossed over into the pop charts.

The band’s U.S. debut album on Epic, titled “Elegant Slumming” and due in stores Tuesday, is a funk-driven collection of dynamic grooves and potently crafted pop lyrics.

“To us, the most important element in the music is the song, which I think is something we get from old soul records,” says Pickering, 33, by phone from his home in London.

“I used to love that Motown gave you 3 1/2 minutes of tightly structured, beautiful songs, wonderful melodies and great lyrics. We feel that songs are timeless, and the various mixes you give it are just the flavor of the time.”

The lyrics are sung by Heather Small, another key element in the group’s appeal. She provides not only a striking visual identity, but a sonic one as well, possessing a husky, powerful voice with a maturity far beyond her 27 years.

Larry Flick, dance music editor for Billboard magazine, raves about both Small and the group.

“M People grew from a simple deejay project into a legitimate, powerhouse act and Heather is a crucial reason why,” he says. “She’s got a very unusual voice; she doesn’t sound or look like every other little girl singer out there. You’ve got to see her and the group live to truly appreciate them.”

Pickering agrees with that assessment.

“We think that until people see us live, they won’t totally get the vibe,” he says.

“When we were doing the European tour, we’d already gotten good press clips on the album, but the critics were astonished that we could actually play and play well. See, a lot of traditional rock critics think there are no viable acts in dance music, none that can cut it live.

“We kept arguing the point with the press, offering up examples like Kool & the Gang and Earth, Wind & Fire, but then we realized we couldn’t name any contemporary acts. That’s really sad for dance music fans, because that means they can’t belong to a dance act the way you can a rock act. You can’t buy the album, see them live and forge a connection, and I think that’s really important.”

Pickering began formalizing his musical instincts as a popular club deejay in London in the late ‘80s. He eventually channeled his expertise into a high-profile career as a remixer for such English artists as ABC, New Order, Jomanda and countless others. He also produced alternative rock acts such as Happy Mondays and James, and some underground soul acts.

Wanting to stretch his talents, he decided four years ago to put together a music collective. Modeled after Soul II Soul, which had big hits with “Back to Life” and “Keep on Movin’,” it would have a variety of guest vocalists giving life to his musical ideas. His goal was to put together a collective where he could draw from both the early American R&B; he’d been obsessed with as a child and the dance music he now loved.

He wanted someone with more actual musical training than he had, and found him in Paul Heard, who’d not only studied music in college, but had also worked in the music department of the BBC. The two instantly clicked, and Heard, 33, now plays bass and keyboards in the M People.

“We almost immediately became a partnership,” says Pickering, “and we quickly set out writing songs with Heather’s voice in mind. She was in a soul group called Hot House at the time and we were huge fans of her voice. She agreed to sing some of the songs for us and just as she did, Hot House broke up. That’s really when M People, which was going to stand for Mike’s People, was born.”

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The new group worked quickly in the studio, releasing three singles, “Colour My Life,” “Excited” and “How Can I Love You More,” in 1991. All went into the Top 10 of the U.K. pop charts. Those tracks eventually made their way across the Atlantic to become underground club hits as imports, generating a huge buzz about M People. Those three singles are included on the U.S. version of “Elegant Slumming,” which is actually the group’s second album.

Their debut album, “Northern Soul,” which also includes the premiere singles, was released in 1992 to widespread critical acclaim. A subsequent tour established the M People as one of the U.K.’s top live bands. By using the musicians who’d played on its records for the tour, M People distanced itself from the lip-sync stereotype of dance artists.

The 1993 release of “Elegant Slumming” in the U.K. yielded three more Top 10 hits--”One Night in Heaven,” “Moving on Up” and a version of Dennis Edwards’ R&B; staple “Don’t Look Any Further”--and the stateside buzz intensified.

Proving that the music has actual weight is one of Pickering’s main goals, one that’s nearly as important as actually making the music. From the album’s title (lifted from author Tom Wolfe’s withering description of New York socialites who threw fund-raisers for the Black Panther Party) to the music’s ability to unite various elements of society, Pickering sees a powerful political subtext in the music.

“Dance music brings far more people together than any rock music does,” he insists. “It speaks to youth culture because it tends to have a far more optimistic message than rock music. I think young people these days, in England, throughout Europe, and even in the States, they need hope. They don’t need to be told they are living in a (expletive) hole. They know they are.”

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With the U.S. release of “Elegant Slumming” (which is made up of five tracks each from their two U.K. efforts), Pickering intends to bring the same positive vibe to U.S. fans that has made the outfit one of dance music’s great hopes in Europe.

“I think the main thing with M People is optimism and self-belief,” he explains. “That’s why the dance scene is so big here. We’ve had some lean years and people want to hear something other than a band telling them that everything is doom and gloom and that they’re all finished. That’s one of the reasons the album has the title it does.”

How does Wolfe’s putdown of pseudo-political socialites convey hope?

Pickering chuckles. “Initially,” he admits, “I just liked the sound of ‘elegant slumming.’ But in England, if you have no money it’s called slumming. I just felt that for a group of young people who have no money, who are so oppressed by a variety of social and political circumstances, they slummed very elegantly.”