text: Heather Marguerita Small  (born 20 January 1965) is a British soul singer and lead vocalist of the band M People. Her subsequent debut solo studio album, Proud, was released in 2000.
  Early life
  Small was born in London and raised on a council estate in Ladbroke Grove, West London.
  Career
  1987–1998: Hot House and M People
  Small joined her first group, Hot House, as a singer while she was still a teenager. She was the studio singer voice of the re-recorded version of "Ride on Time" by Black Box. She had a chance meeting with Manchester DJ, Mike Pickering, formerly of Quando Quango, which led to sales of over 10 million albums worldwide with the group M People. They had considerable success with songs such as "Moving On Up", "One Night in Heaven" and "Search for the Hero".