Tramlines Day 2 2026 @ Hillsborough Park

Rick Astley

Rick Astley was born 6 February 1966 in Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire, England, UK. He came to prominence as a pop musician in the mid to late 80s and swept the nation with his indelible hit “Never Gonna Give You Up”.

Gabrielle

Gabrielle is a singer/songwriter hailing from London, England who was born on April 16th, 1970. Since her debut in 1993 she has been one of the most succesful UK-based soul acts of her generation, with her five albums garnering her two BRIT Awards and an Ivor Novello in 2008.

Lucy Spraggan

2018 for Lucy Spraggan, was a stellar year by anyones standards.

The singer-songwriter has now had 4 top 40 albums and last year sold over 30,000 ticket across her UK and European tours.

She also toured the US and Canada for the first time as a headline artist, winning fans all over both countries.

Her last album "I Hope You Don’t Mind Me Writing" charted at number 12 in the Official UK Album Chart, the second album released under her own label - CTRL Records and was described as ‘a triumph’ by the UK press.

Over the last few years, as well as her sold out headline tours, Lucy also performed at some of the UK’s biggest festivals, including Glastonbury and Isle of Wight Festival.

Recognized as one of the leading lights in the LGBT community, Spraggan has managed to broaden her fanbase into a much wider market recently.

Lucy’s music-writing career began with Don Maclean and Kirsty MacColl as her major influences, embellished with the folk narratives of Peter, Paul and Mary, and taking on the punchy riffs of traditional R and B.

Her name is now synonymous to the melodic middle ground where pop and acoustic folk meet. The toe-tapping interpretations of classic sounds and the harmony-heavy ballads that she pulls from modern rhythm and blues, are hard to forget. Spraggan’s trademark sound is the rattle of rap dropped into sing-along folk-style numbers.

Lucy’s last UK tour was an unprecedented success with shows at iconic venues such as Glasgow Barrowland, Shepherd’s Bush Empire, Nottingham Rock City and Manchester Academy.

Her 5th album “Today was a good day" is due for release worldwide through Cooking Vinyl on April 12th this year and is set to take her already incredible career to new levels.

Inspiral Carpets

Alternative rockers, Inspiral Carpets are from Oldham, Manchester, UK. They were formed in 1983, and gained commercial success with the release of “This is How it Feels “ in March 1990.

Sleeper

[1] Sleeper (formed in 1993) recorded three studio albums: Smart, The It Girl and Pleased To Meet You.

Their breakthrough song, Inbetweener, featured a memorable video with Dale Winton, who was a popular icon among students at the time. The group is closely associated with Britpop; frontwoman Louise Wener was arguably, along with Elastica's Justine Frischmann, the movement's biggest female star. She was even something of a sex symbol. By the time Pleased To Meet You was released in 1997, Britpop was fading, as was the band's audience. After their split (on 30 December 1998) Louise Wener went on to have a successful career as a novelist.

Sleeper also recorded a cover version of the Blondie song Atomic, which was used as a track in the film trainspotting. Their version was quite well-received and the only criticism is that it was too similar to the original.

The It Girl was arguably their finest moment with Lie Detector, Sale of the Century and Statuesque as the defining tracks. It was produced by Stephen Street then famous for his contributions to The Smiths, Morrissey and Blur. It captured the imagination of the Britpop era. Wener admits that they were basically hanging onto the coattails of the bigger bands including the likes of Blur and Oasis.

The original band name for the band was Surrender Dorothy. They took that name from the smoke trail telling Dorothy to surrender in the Wizard of Oz movie.

The band was the inspiration for the phrase "Sleeperbloke", referring to the disparity between the glamorous singer Wener and the other frequently ignored members of the band (who tended to be far more anonymous and stood at the back). The term is still used by music press journalists and musicians, to refer to any person of limited standing within a band or an especially drab and unremarkable individual. Sleeper were said to be amused by the term and even produced an ironic "Sleeperbloke" T-shirt which sold well.

The real-life Sleeperblokes were:

Jon Stewart (born Jonathan David Stewart, 12 September 1967 in Sheffield) — (guitarist)
Diid Osman (b. Kenadiid Osman, 10 April 1968 in Woking) — (bassist)
Andy McClure (b. 4 July 1970 in Liverpool) — (drummer)
Discography
Albums
Smart - Feb 1995, #5
The It Girl - May 1996, #5
Pleased To Meet You - Oct 1997, #7
Singles
Swallow- Jan 1994
Delicious- May 1994
Inbetweener - Jan 1995, #16 (UK Chart)
Vegas - Apr 1995, #33
What Do I Do Now - Oct 1995, #14
Sale of the Century - May 1996, #10
Nice Guy Eddie - Jul 1996, #10
Statuesque - Oct 1996, #17
She's a Good Girl - Oct 1997, #28
Romeo Me - Dec 1997, #39

[2] "Sleeper is a auteur of claustrophobic, sample-based hip-hop production. His work, both as an accomplished musician, and as a respected tattoo and visual artist balances a breadth of spirit with worldly, emotional depth. Finding influence and community in the worlds of classic hip-hop and artistic, experimental rock, Sleeper fills his tracks with sound, leaving an MC with just enough room to create or with the luxury of saying more by saying less. His music is lo-fi with purpose: grainy sounds are used to lend atmosphere to larger, modern electronic sound collages, grimy drums sound out familiar hip-hop patterns beneath thick layers of sound. Sleeper is a craftsman in the truest sense of the word."