Fried are a musical duo made up of US soul singer Jonte Short, and ex-The Beat and Fine Young Cannibals guitarist David Steele. David Steele looked for a singer for his new project away from The Beat and Fine Young Cannibals for five years. He finally met Jonte Short in 2001 at the New Orleans Jazz Festival and they decided to collaborate. Steele and Short worked together on songs that Steele had already written, and they also wrote new ones together. The duo decided to name themselves Fried, after Southern U.S. cooking, and started recording in New Orleans and London.