timeline

PJ Harvey

A Dorset-born singer, guitarist and writer who began in a raw trio in 1991, recorded with Steve Albini, and kept reinventing herself, becoming the only artist to win the Mercury Prize twice.

Origin
Yeovil, Somerset, England
Years active
1988-present
Genres
alternative rock, punk blues, art rock, indie rock, folk rock, avant-rock
Labels
Too Pure, Island, Vagrant, Partisan
Also known as
Polly Jean Harvey

Yeovil to Dry

Polly Jean Harvey was born on 9 October 1969 in Bridport, Dorset, and her music began around Yeovil in Somerset. In July 1988 she joined Automatic Dlamini, a group John Parish had formed in 1983, as vocalist, guitarist and saxophonist. Parish became one of her closest collaborators for the rest of her career.

In 1991 she formed a trio under her own name with drummer Rob Ellis and bassist Ian Oliver, who was soon replaced by Steve Vaughan. Their first gig was in April 1991 at Charmouth, and the single Dress appeared on Too Pure that October. Dry was recorded between September and December 1991 at The Icehouse in Yeovil and released on 30 March 1992. It reached eleven in the UK, and its second single, Sheela-Na-Gig, went to nine on the American modern rock chart. Harvey said later that the record felt very extreme to her because she thought it might be her only chance.

Albini and the end of the trio

The trio signed to Island in mid-1992. That December, after a short American tour, they went to Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, to record with Steve Albini, whose raw sound Harvey had chosen. Rid of Me came out on 26 April 1993 and went to three in the UK. It was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize and lost to Suede. Its first single was 50ft Queenie, and the title track, Rid of Me, later placed 194th on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs.

The trio broke up in 1993, after a support tour with U2 in August. From then on PJ Harvey was Harvey herself, working with a changing circle that included Parish, Mick Harvey, Jean-Marc Butty and the producer Flood.

To Bring You My Love and Stories

To Bring You My Love followed on 27 February 1995, made with Flood, Parish, Mick Harvey and Butty at Townhouse Studios in London. Its lead single, Down by the Water, became the song she has played most often on stage. The album won the Village Voice Pazz and Jop poll and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. The same year she sang the duet Henry Lee with Nick Cave on his Murder Ballads. Dance Hall at Louse Point with Parish came in 1996 and Is This Desire? in 1998.

Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea was recorded in March and April 2000 at Linford Manor in Milton Keynes. Harvey wanted a more melodic, fuller sound than before, and Thom Yorke sang on three tracks. It reached 23 in the UK and 42 in the US, and Metacritic gives it 88. When it won the 2001 Mercury Prize, Harvey was in Washington, D.C. and accepted by phone, as the first female solo artist to take the award. This Is Love was its best-known single. In 2004 she played nearly everything herself on Uh Huh Her, and in 2007 she made White Chalk, a piano-based album.

England, archives and after

Let England Shake was written over about two and a half years and recorded in five weeks in April and May 2010 at St. Peter's Church in Eype, near Bridport, with much of it played live. Its songs deal with war, and The Words That Maketh Murder was its lead single. The photographer Seamus Murphy made twelve short films, one for each song. The album won the 2011 Mercury Prize, making Harvey the only artist to win it twice, and the Ivor Novello Award for album of the year in 2012. She was made an MBE in 2013.

She published a book of poems with Murphy, The Hollow of the Hand, in 2015. The Hope Six Demolition Project was recorded in January and February 2015 in public sessions behind one-way glass at Somerset House in London, and in April 2016 it became her first UK number one. Her scores include Hedda Gabler, Hamlet, All About Eve, The Virtues and Bad Sisters, and her poetry collection Orlam appeared in 2022. In July 2023 I Inside the Old Year Dying, on Partisan, reached five in the UK. The Victoria and Albert Museum now holds her archive, including press, fan art, letters and the Tascam 8-track used for the White Chalk demos. An anniversary reissue of Stories was announced in October 2025.

Members

Records

Songs

John Parish, Steve Albini, Nick Cave, Thom Yorke, Flood

Where to go next

Official

Reference

Discography and data

Writing and criticism

Interviews

Live performance archives

Film and video

Sources

  1. PJ Harvey, Wikipedia
  2. PJ Harvey discography, Wikipedia
  3. PJ Harvey, pjharvey.net
  4. I Feel Like I've Just Begun, The Quietus (2011-01-10)
  5. Beyond the music: inside PJ Harvey's archive, Victoria and Albert Museum (2026-06-29)
  6. Let England Shake, Pitchfork (2011-02-15)
  7. PJ Harvey: Rid of Me (Sunday Review), Pitchfork (2018-09-16)
  8. PJ Harvey: Dry (Sunday Review), Pitchfork (2016-08-14)
  9. Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, Pitchfork (2000-10-31)
  10. White Chalk (master release), Discogs
  11. The Hope Six Demolition Project (master release), Discogs