The Primitives' Tracy Tracy on rubbing elbows with Morrissey and Bjork: If I didn't get into singing, I'd probably have gone into fashion'

"In Spain, the song inserted itself into a much later generation, due to a version recorded by El Canto del Loco in 2002. From what I can remember of it, it was good, yeah, recalls the group's frontwoman Tracy Tracy (real name: Tracy Louise Cattell). A lot of bands have covered it, and you know, for someone to take something and create it in a different way, it's always a compliment, she adds."

"It was all, obviously, very new to us, but it was very exciting, and I've got fond memories of it, she says. We were all very naive and everything that happened, every press release or interview or TV appearance was just like, dream time, really. I was a small girl wanting to sing, and doing those kind of things, she remembers."

"She won't reveal her age in the interview, though it's easy to find out via the internet that she was born in 1967. She does clarify that the rumor she is Australian is completely false, and that she grew up in the British city of Coventry, where The Primitives were founded in 1985. Tracy joined the group after seeing an ad on a library announcement board from a band that was looking for a male singer. She showed up to audition anyway."

The Primitives became widely identified with the opening chords of the 1988 single "Crash," a catchy pop song later covered by many artists, including El Canto del Loco in 2002. Frontwoman Tracy Tracy responds to covers with friendliness and gratitude, seeing reinterpretation as a compliment. The sudden visibility after the single surprised the band, producing naivety, excitement and lasting memories of press and TV. Tracy clarifies that she is British, born in 1967, and grew up in Coventry, where the band formed in 1985. She joined after answering a library notice and auditioning despite the ad seeking a male singer.

Read at english.elpais.com