I was in a cult eighties indie pop band – now I’m an economist and professor

THEY were a collection of academics who came together as a band in the indie boom of the mid eighties.

Talulah Gosh never quite broke through to the mainstream, despite a cult following and airplay on Radio 1 and Channel 4.

But they still put out a collection of much-loved singles before splintering and becoming Heavenly during the 90s.

That band went further than its predecessor, putting out four studio albums over a seven year period but, again, failed to crack the charts, even amid the Britpop explosion.

Its members had a safety net though and have since thrived in the corporate world.

Singer and guitarist Amelia Fletcher CBE, 57, has a doctorate in economics, once had the lofty title of Chief economist and director of mergers at the Office of Fair Trading, and is now Professor of Competition Policy at the University of East Anglia.

The mum-of-two candidly told the Guardian that the bands lacked the belief to achieve stardom and performed for fun rather than riches.

“I basically carried on my education so I could keep doing the band,” she said. “I was studying philosophy and economics at Oxford when I was in Talulah Gosh and can remember asking for quiet rooms so I could do essays after soundchecks.

“Heavenly were even more academic: several of us got firsts. I did a masters, then a doctorate and by the end I was hugely overqualified. At that point I didn’t think that I wanted to be an economist, but the qualifications I had pretty much meant I had to become one. I started in consultancy part-time, but then I got really into it.

“I don’t think any of us quite believed in the band enough to give up our jobs and go for it. My work is quite serious, but my bands are fun. I tried to keep my background quiet because I thought it might compromise my gravitas, but a few people found out.”

The musician is still active, playing in the band Tender Trap.

Her bandmate, guitarist Peter Momtchiloff, was relaxed in his approach to the bands and academia.

He “coasted along” at prestigious Oxford University before meeting Amelia in a record store where he was working and forming Talulah Gosh.

Peter, 61, is now a senior commissioning editor at the Oxford University Press where he specialises in putting out philosophy books.

He has earned the title “the world’s most influential voice in philosophy publishing”, though he jokes it was likely coined by one of his friends.