M People is an English house music act from Manchester, who formed in 1990 and achieved success throughout most of the 1990s. The name M People is from the initials of Mike Pickering, who formed the group. Pickering had been a member of Factory Records dance act Quando Quango, but became more noted as one of the original DJs at The Haçienda. Paul Heard was a member of acid jazz band, Ace of Clubs and Shovell had previously been in the collective Natural Life. The original plan had been to have a roster of different singers for different songs but having been spotted by Pickering and Heard, Heather Small became the distinctive vocalist of the group. She had been in the English soul band Hot House, which had released a number of critically acclaimed records without scoring any major success.