PULSE - music and more, with Simon Donohue

LEGAL strife and serious illness left Echobelly singer Sonya Aurora Madan sick to the stomach - and the band on the brink of splitting up.

But as the clouds lifted to reveal their shining new single, the glamorous face of Brit-pop bragged: "I had a saying last year. What doesn't kill you, will always make you stronger."

Echobelly were last in the public eye at the end of an epic tour which left Sonya tired and exhausted.

What was to follow did nothing to make her feel any better.

"I was seriously ill," Sonya told Pulse. "It was just too much of the stressful things going on around me.

"We were signed to Rhythm King, an indie-label funded by Sony.

"They wanted to take us to Arista with them as their show piece band but we wanted to stay with Sony.

"In the end we threatened to split the group so that they would be the proud owners of absolutely nothing. I would have been devastated to do that but there was little else left to do.

"It was a very frustrating time for us. We had almost completed the third album but were in limbo land waiting for it to be released."

The group also found themselves fighting a legal battle against a bass player who claimed he had been part of the early Echobelly line-up, long before the singles King Of The Kerb and Great Things.

"Before we were Echobelly, in the times when you played bottom of the bill, he appeared with the band," Sonya added. "We played about two of those shows with him and he claimed he had been part of Echobelly. It was a complete joke.

"I always knew the record industry was tough but I didn't think it was going to be this mad."

After all the heartache and hassle, Sonya can still speak excitedly about the single The World Is Flat, which is already climbing the charts. She also sings the praises of Brit-pop, which she claims was important for all British music, but believes Echobelly always had something extra to offer.

"Nobody can sing the notes like I sing them," she adds. "We are unique, and although we were part of that Brit-pop thing, I think we always give much more.

"The album will be quite different from The World Is Flat. We had been away for so long they were scared of putting out anything too different.

"Our music is definitely getting darker.

"It opens with a 20 piece orchestra. It's heavy as anything and dark and shining, very exciting."

All of this experience has mellowed "the asian rent-a-quote", despite the departure of founder-member and guitarist Debbie Smith.

The attitude remains but time seems to have taught her to take things less seriously and enjoy life.

Arguably the most glamorous woman in Brit-pop, she even jokes about having tattoos done where the sun doesn't shine.

She adds: "I was an angry young woman. When I started off, being Asian and never having experience in the music industry, I would say what ever came into my head.

"Now I'm amused to think that people see me as glamorous, but very flattered.

"Luckily I'm not not a big enough star for it to get in my way."

Echobelly's third album will be out in October with the band touring extensively to promote it. They play V '97 in Leeds this weekend.

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