The Music Of The 80s - Favorites, Classics And Rarities

[VX200Racer]

tama ba Order = Joy Division --> New Order ---> Electronic

[hitman531ph]

Joy Division --> New Order

 

Electronic was a side project for New Order lead singer Bernard Sumner. It was a collaboration with Johnny Marr (The Smiths) and Neil Tennant (Pet Shop Boys), the same way John and Andy Taylor made a side project called The Power Station. Electronic had a dancefloor hit called "Getting Away With It" in 1989. Let me feature Electronic on the next post.

 

Therefore, Electronic is not a breakaway group from New Order. It was a side project for Bernard Sumner.

 

New Order drifted apart in the ear;y 90s. The result was a split. The group that broke away from New Order was later known as The Other Two (since there were four New Order members) had one hit called "Selfish" in the 90s.

 

So the proper order is

 

Joy Division

New Order ---- Electronic

New Order xxxx The Other Two

[hitman531ph]

ELECTRONIC

 

One of the first supergroups from post-punk Great Britain, Electronic is the on-off project formed by New Order's Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr, former guitarist of the Smiths. The duo released "Getting Away with It" in December 1989, with both Sumner and Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys on vocals. The single just missed the Top Ten in England, but was the end of Electronic for over two years; Sumner and Tennant returned to their respective groups while Marr played on albums by The The and Billy Bragg.

 

Electronic's sophomore single "Get the Message" finally appeared in April 1991, and an eponymous debut album followed in June. The non-album single "Disappointed" was released just over a year later. Sumner then returned to New Order to record their sixth album Republic, while Marr returned to his sideman role with The The and the Pretenders. The duo reunited to record again -- this time with help from former Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos -- and released Raise the Pressure in July 1996. Newly signed to the Koch label, Electronic issued their third full-length Twisted Tenderness four years later

[hitman531ph]

TECHNOTRONIC

 

Towards the end of 1989, a new era of dance music was born through Technotronic. Of the many studio-based dance music projects which dominated the charts during the early '90s, few were so popular, or such an improbable success story, as Technotronic. Emerging from Belgium -- never a musical hotbed in the first place -- the multicultural group helped push the deep bass grooves and insistent beats of house music out of the club scene and into the pop mainstream; ironically, they did so largely by hiding behind the photogenic visage of an African-born fashion model who, it was later revealed, did not even perform on their records. In reality, Technotronic was the brainchild of Jo Bogaert (real name Thomas de Quincy), an American-born philosophy teacher who relocated to Belgium in the late '80s in the hopes of mounting a career as a record producer. Bogaert's intent was to fuse house with hip hop, and towards that aim he sent demos of his work to a variety of rappers, including the Welsh-born MC Eric and a Zairean-born teenager named Ya Kid K (nee Manuela Kamosi), at the time a member of the Belgian rap group Fresh Beat Productions.

 

Technotronic's first single, November 1989's "Pump Up the Jam," was a smash hit across Europe and eventually the U.S. While the record featured the raps of Ya Kid K, she was nowhere to be seen in the accompanying video, which instead featured Zairean-born fashion model Felly lip-synching the lyrics; little did fans realize that not only was Felly nowhere near the studio at the time the single was recorded, in truth she did not even speak a word of English. She was also featured on the cover of Technotronic's debut LP, Pump Up the Jam: The Album, further blurring the lines between truth and fiction; in the end, Bogaert admitted that Felly's services had been engaged purely to establish the group with "an image." When Technotronic toured in support of the 1990 hit "Get Up! (Before the Night Is Over)," Ya Kid K and MC Eric were alone behind the microphone, and Ya Kid K was also rightfully featured in the song's video. The LP Trip On This: The Remixes soon followed, and in 1992 Ya Kid K went solo, albeit with Bogaert still in the producer's seat; her debut album, One World Nation, scored with the hit "Move This," originally a Technotronic cut released as a single after finding success in a cosmetics commercial. The 1995 Technotronic comeback attempt Recall was not a success.

 

The Bugs Bunny-Michael Jordan movie "Space Jam" feature some of the music of Technotronic.

[VX200Racer]

Ano rin ba yung side project ng The Cure? Yung may Glove sa song? Hmmmm....refresh my recal hitman

[hitman531ph]

BLACK BOX

 

Riding the trend of the new era of dance music was Black Box in 1989. Leaders of the Italian house music movement of the late '80s, Black Box was primarily comprised of club DJ Daniele Davoli, computer whiz Mirko Limoni and classical clarinetist Valeric Semplici, a trio of studio musicians known collectively as the Groove Groove Melody production team. Acclaimed among the most successful producers in all of Italian dance music, Groove Groove Melody helmed dozens of singles each year at their peak; in 1989 they teamed with singer and model Katrin (born Catherine Quinol) as Black Box, debuting with the single "Ride on Time." Not only was the record a huge hit at home, but it soon crossed over into the British pop charts, landing at the number one spot for six consecutive weeks despite the controversy which erupted in the wake of the discovery that it included uncredited samples of Loleatta Holloway's disco single "Love Sensation." A series of Black Box hits followed, among them "I Don't Know Anybody Else" (a Top Ten smash in the U.S. as well) and "Everybody Everybody," which featured vocals by Martha Wash; the group's debut LP, 1990's Dreamland, was also a success. They returned in 1991 with "Strike It Up," another American Top Ten entry, as well as the Mixed Up! collection; additionally, the Groove Groove Melody team scored with material recorded under a variety of other aliases, among them Starlight ("Numero Uno") and Mixmaster ("Grand Piano"). After a long hiatus, Black Box returned in 1996 with the album Positive Attitude, which went largely unnoticed.

[hitman531ph]

MEL & KIM

 

English-born sisters Mel and Kim Appleby rose to prominence in the late '80s thanks to the producing team of Stock, Aitken & Waterman. In late 1986, Mel and Kim released their debut single, "Respectable." The song combined '80s dance-pop with Stock, Aitken & Waterman's trademark slick production. "Respectable" became a huge international success, helping to launch their debut album F.L.M. up the charts in 1987. Their other singles: "F.L.M.", "I'm the One Who Really Loves You", "That's The Way It Is" and "Showing Out."

 

F.L.M. was to be the sisters' only album. In 1988, Mel was diagnosed with cancer and died of the disease early in 1990. Kim recorded a solo album in the early '90s, but it was not as successful as her work with Mel and Kim

[hitman531ph]

SCRITTI POLITTI

 

Scritti Politti is the primary vehicle for Welsh singer/songwriter Green Gartside. Few figures in pop music can claim Gartside's distinctive credentials: an artist who began in London's subcutaneous underground in the late '70s but ultimately rose to the top of the U.K. pop charts, a serious devotee of linguistic structuralism who can hold his own in a conversation with his friend, arch deconstructionist Jacques Derrida, and a handsome, dreamy-eyed gentleman who has, in the opinion of one critic, "a voice that's eternally 14 years old" yet nonetheless stands six foot six in his stocking feet.

 

Gartside grew up in South Wales, a brainy underachiever and, in his teen years, a member of the Young Communist League. Through the League he met future Scritti Politti bassist Nial Jinks. Gartside earned a scholarship to Leeds Art College, where he made the acquaintance of Scritti's future drummer, Tom Morley. In June 1978 Gartside and Morley dropped out of school and took up a flat in London, and Gartside invited Jinks to come out and join them. Inspired by the example of another little-known English group of that time, Desperate Bicycles, Scritti Politti made their first record when they were barely three months old, hand printing the covers and rubber-stamping the labels themselves. This record, Skank Bloc Bologna, sold a surprising 2,500 copies in this handmade edition. Afterward, Rough Trade took it over, ultimately moving about 15,000 copies of the title. Although listed as a member of the group on records and in photographs, Matthew Kay was the band's business manager and had little to contribute to Scritti Politti's music.

 

At this stage, Scritti Politti's sound was scrappy, taut, and forthrightly experimental in style, utilizing abrupt changes, rhythmic displacements, and gritty and discordant harmonies tempered by Gartside's sweet vocalizing of impenetrably obscure lyrics, vaguely political in sense but temporal and abstract in meaning. Yet there was something catchy about what they were doing that stuck with the listener, and Rough Trade in particular was very excited about it. In quick succession, Rough Trade released the 12" EP 4 A-Sides (also known as Pre-Langue EP) and a four-track single of Scritti Politti's second Peel Session. The band was then added to a U.K. tour featuring Gang of Four and Joy Division, but Gartside was consumed by stage fright and anxiety, leading to his first heart attack at age 23. After completing the tour, Gartside decided to take a year off from music and returned to South Wales to refresh himself.

 

When Gartside returned, it was a with a new Scritti Politti sound, now centered in pop but still retaining the obscure lyrical elements. A demo track, "The Sweetest Girl," was issued on a giveaway cassette in conjunction with an issue of NME, and it soon proved extremely popular in England. While the finished single of "The Sweetest Girl" did not appear for several months, sapping some of the momentum gained by the pre-release, the follow-up album, Songs to Remember, was issued to considerable critical acclaim in September 1981. The album made it to number one on the U.K. independent album chart and number six on the main U.K. pop chart. By this time, however, the band had fallen apart, and the last original member, drummer Tom Morley, departed that November. Gartside once again took time out to review his position, and in the meantime a bidding war began among major labels for his talents.

 

Gartside had spent some time in New York on holiday during the making of Songs to Remember and had met another aspiring Rough Trade songwriter, David Gamson, who in turn introduced him to the drummer from Material, Fred Maher. They began to record as Scritti Politti in 1983 in sessions produced by Nile Rodgers, but Gartside decided, rightly, that Rough Trade didn't have the kind of budget that could support the type of pop music that he was then interested in pursuing. With Gartside and Rough Trade parting ways, the Rodgers-produced sessions never saw the light of day. After negotiating with various labels, including Atlantic Records, Gartside finally settled on an offer made by Virgin. Then he, Gamson, and Maher began slowly recording the group of singles that ultimately made up Cupid & Psyche 85.

 

Cupid & Psyche 85, released in June of 1985, was a landmark album in many respects. No prior pop album had integrated the techniques of sampling and sequencing to such a great degree, and the technology of that time was both expensive to use and barely up to the task Scritti Politti demanded of it. Gartside's typically high-flown verbiage was as evident here as anywhere, but you didn't need to understand what he sang in order to enjoy the music. Certain songs are dialogues between Gartside and a female singer; as such, "A Little Knowledge" is a rare pop song that retains the characteristics of a mini-tragedy. Likewise, the bonus track of "Flesh and Blood," featuring Jamaican rapper Ann Swinton, sounds remarkably fresh and contemporary 20 years on. But the big hits from Cupid & Psyche 85 were "Wood Beez" and "The Word Girl" in the U.K., and "The Perfect Way" in the U.S., which reached number 11 in the Billboard Hot 100 and got heavy rotation on MTV. Not many albums from smack in the middle of the "Big '80s" can be said to possess the quality of timelessness, but Cupid & Psyche 85 most certainly does.

 

The innovative aspects of Cupid & Psyche 85 were not lost on other musicians, who absorbed the technological lessons therein so quickly that few, if any, critics stopped to take note of where these ideas originally came from. After touring and promoting Cupid & Psyche 85, Gartside took some time off to work with other artists, notably Chaka Khan. Scritti Politti returned in 1988 with a new album, Provision, of which the intended hit, "Boom! There She Was," featured the talents of the late Roger Troutman. Provision found favor in the U.K., but had no effect whatsoever in the U.S., and worse, Gartside was personally unhappy with the album. By this time Gartside's stage fright had caused him to abandon live performance altogether, and the only promotional outlet for him was to do a grueling round of local talk shows answering dumb questions from interviewers who hadn't the slightest clue about Gartside or his work. Disgusted with music as a whole, Gartside dropped from sight again, and this time he did so for nearly a decade.

 

Released in 1999, Anomie & Bonhomie marked Gartside and Scritti Politti's return to music, and it shows that he had by no means lost touch with current trends, working with rappers Mos Def and Jimahl and extending the Scritti Politti compass to include a full-blown hip-hop sound. It was a fine comeback effort, but received only a lukewarm response from the public. One can only hope that Gartside can keep at it, as while bands may come and bands may go, there is only one Green Gartside, a popular artist of rare integrity, poetry, and intelligence

[hitman531ph]

KIM CARNES

 

Kim Carnes' distinctively raspy, throaty voice graced one of the biggest hits of the '80s, the Grammy-winning smash "Bette Davis Eyes," which spent nine weeks on top of the Billboard charts in 1981. Carnes was born in Los Angeles on July 20, 1945, and during the '60s began writing songs for other artists while performing in local clubs and as a session vocalist. In 1966, she joined the popular folk group the New Christy Minstrels for a time, later leaving (along with husband/songwriting partner Dave Ellingson) to form the duo Kim & Dave. Thanks in part to her folk-music background, Carnes landed an acting role in the 1967 film C'Mon, Let's Live a Little, a folk-themed musical with a staunchly anti-radical viewpoint.

 

In 1971, Carnes' "Sing Out for Jesus" was recorded by blues legend Big Mama Thornton for the soundtrack of the film Vanishing Point, which also featured Kim & Dave's performance of the song "Nobody Knows." This success landed Carnes a solo deal with Amos, the label on which the soundtrack had appeared. She recorded her first album, Rest On Me, in 1972, but it did nothing, and, frustrated by the predominance of outside writers on the record, Carnes departed, eventually signing with A&M. Her self-titled label debut was issued in 1975 and produced her first chart hit, the self-penned duet with Gene Cotton "You're a Part of Me." 1976's Sailin' and 1979's St. Vincent's Court (her first album for EMI) also produced minor singles, but her big break came in 1980, when former-New Christy Minstrel bandmate Kenny Rogers invited her to duet with him on "Don't Fall in Love With a Dreamer." The song was a hit, and the accompanying concept album Gideon featured nothing but Carnes and Ellingson compositions. Thanks to the exposure, Carnes scored her first solo Top Ten hit later that year with a cover of the Miracles' "More Love," from her album Romance Dance.

 

Carnes seemed poised for success, and took extra pains with her next album, Mistaken Identity. One of the songs selected was "Bette Davis Eyes," a tune co-written in 1974 by Donna Weiss and former folk-rocker Jackie DeShannon (who had appeared with Carnes in C'Mon, Let's Live a Little). Convinced to record the song with an atmospheric new arrangement, Carnes took "Bette Davis Eyes" to the top of the charts for nine weeks; it became the biggest hit of the year, and later won Grammys for Song of the Year and Record of the Year. Despite this major breakthrough, Carnes found it difficult to follow her hit; the subsequent singles from Mistaken Identity failed to make even the Top 20. She scored minor hits with songs from 1982's Voyeur and 1983's Cafe Racers, and in 1985 she became the first artist to be on the charts simultaneously with solo ("Invitation to Dance"), duo ("Make No Mistake, He's Mine," recorded with Barbra Streisand), and trio ("What About Me," with Kenny Rogers and James Ingram) performances. That same year, she scored her last Top 20 hit with "Crazy in the Night," from Barking at Airplanes. 1986's Light House flopped, and for 1988's View from the House, she returned to the folk and country music of her earlier years. With the indifferent response to her continued singing career, Carnes began to concentrate more on her songwriting, still collaborating frequently with Ellingson. She began to place more and more material with major-label country artists, and moved to Nashville in 1994 to be where the action was

[impromptu]

i like PETSHOP BOYS

[Cain N Moko]

MADNESS

 

Along with the Specials, Madness were one of the leading bands of the ska revival of the late '70s and early '80s. As their career progressed, Madness branched away from their trademark "nutty sound" and incorporated large elements of Motown, soul, and British pop. Although the band managed one crossover American hit in 1983, the band remained a British phenomenon, influencing several successive generations of musicians and becoming one of the most beloved groups the country produced during the '80s.

The origins of Madness lie in a ska group known as the Invaders, which was formed by Mike Barson, Chris Foreman, and Lee Thompson in 1976. By 1978, the band had changed their name to Morris and the Minors and had added Graham "Suggs" McPherson, Mark Bedford, Chas Smash, and Dan Woodgate to the group. Later in 1978, they changed their name to Madness, in homage to one of their favorite Prince Buster songs. The following year, Madness released their debut single, a tribute to Prince Buster entitled "The Prince," on Two-Tone. The song was a surprise success, reaching the British Top 20. Following its success, the band signed a record contract with Stiff Records and released another Prince Buster song, "One Step Beyond," which climbed to number seven.

 

Madness quickly recorded their debut album, also titled One Step Beyond, with producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley. Released toward the end of the year, the album peaked at number two in Britain and it stayed on the charts for well over a year. At the beginning of 1980, the band's third single, "My Girl," peaked at number three. For the next three years, the group had a virtually uninterrupted run of 13 Top Ten singles, during which time they were one of the most popular bands in Britain, rivaled only by the Jam in terms of widespread popularity. Where the Jam appealed to teenagers and young adults, Madness had a broad fan base, reaching from children to the elderly. Which didn't mean their music was diluted -- they continued to expand their sound, both musically and lyrically.

 

In the spring of 1980, Madness released the Work Rest and Play EP, which reached number six on the strength of the EP's lead song, "Night Boat to Cairo." Also during the spring, One Step Beyond was released in the United States, where it peaked at 128. Madness' second album, Absolutely, was released in the fall of 1980. The record peaked at number two on the British charts, but it stalled at number 146, in the U.S. Sire dropped the band after the commercial disappointment of Absolutely, leaving Madness without an American record contract for several years.

 

Back in England, Madness continued to gain momentum, as the group began playing matinee shows on their tours so children under 16 years old could attend the concert. In the fall of 1981, the band released their third album, Seven, which peaked at number five. In January of 1982, Madness hit number four with a cover of Labi Siffre's "It Must Be Love." In March, their streak of Top Ten hits was interrupted when "Cardiac Arrest" stalled at number 14 on the charts, due to radio's reluctance to play the tune. The band bounced back a few months later with "House of Fun," their first number one single. That same month, the hits compilation, Complete Madness, reached number one.

 

Madness returned in the late summer of 1982 with The Rise and Fall, their full-fledged shift to pop. Like their previous albums, it was a British hit, reaching the Top Ten, but it also contained the seeds of their brief American success with the Top Five British single "Our House." The single was released in America on the group's new label, Geffen, and it received heavy airplay from MTV. The music-video television network had previously played the videos for "House of Fun," "It Must Be Love," and "Cardiac Arrest" when the band's albums were unreleased in the United States, thereby setting the stage for "Our House" to become a massive hit. With "Our House," Madness had MTV exposure coincide with a record release for the first time, which sent the single into the American Top Ten in the summer of 1983. The success of the single brought the U.S. compilation album, Madness, to number 41. Madness managed one more American Top 40 hit that fall, when "It Must Be Love" peaked at number 33.

 

At the end of 1983, Mike Barson -- the band's key songwriter -- left the group to settle down with his wife. Although Madness was able to stay near the top of the charts with their first post-Barson release, "Michael Caine," the band's fortunes began to decline over the course of 1984. Upon its release in the spring, Keep Moving hit number six on the British charts; in America, the record reached number 109. In June, the group released its final single for Stiff Records, "One Better Day," which peaked at number 17. In the fall, Madness formed their own record label, Zarjazz. Madness released "Yesterday's Men," their first recording on Zarjazz, in September of 1985, nearly a year after the label's formation. The record peaked at number 18 and its parent album, Mad Not Mad, reached number 16 upon its October release. Their chart decline continued early in 1986, when their cover of Scritti Politti's "Sweetest Girl" peaked at number 35. For most of 1986, the group was quiet. In September, Madness announced they were disbanding. Two months later, their farewell single, "Waiting for the Ghost Train," was released, charting at number 18.

 

After staying dormant for a year and a half, the group reunited at the beginning of 1988 as a quartet called the Madness, releasing its comeback single, "I Pronounce You," in March. The Madness featured Chris Foreman, Lee Thompson, Chas Smash, and Suggs, and was augmented by the Specials' keyboardist Jerry Dammers and Steve Nieve (keyboards) and Bruce Thomas (bass) of the Attractions. "I Pronounce You" reached number 44 on the U.K. charts and its accompanying album stiffed upon its spring release. The group disbanded for a second time that fall.

 

A Colgate commercial came out with their own set of lyrics but patterned after the music of Madness called "Baggy Trousers".

 

In the summer of 1992, the original lineup of Madness reunited to perform two outdoor concerts at London's Finsbury Park. The group dubbed the event Madstock and released a recording of the shows on Go! Records. Madstock became an annual event for the next four years -- every summer the band would reunite and headline an outdoor festival at Finsbury Park. Suggs launched a solo career in 1995 with The Lone Ranger, which performed respectably in the U.K. charts. In 1996, Madness played the final Madstock and announced they planned not to reunite for future concerts, but by 1998 they were back on the road, with a Los Angeles date recorded for release as Universal Madness the following year. The group also reunited with original producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley to record their first new material in over a decade

[Cain N Moko]

OINGO BOINGO

 

Although Oingo Boingo was often compared to Devo throughout their career (due to both bands' affinity for quirky new wave, goofy stage acts, and most obviously, peculiar yet intriguing band names), Oingo Boingo never obtained the mainstream success that Devo did. But the band did manage to obtain a large and devoted fan base, especially in their hometown of Los Angeles, CA. Oingo Boingo started not as a traditional group per se, as they were originally put together in the '70s by movie director Richard Elfman, who needed music for a whacked-out, John Waters-esque flick he was working on, called Forbidden Zone. Enlisting his younger brother Danny Elfman (vocals, guitar), Steve Bartek (guitar), and Johnny "Vatos" Hernandez (drums), the group originally went by the name Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo before shortening it to Oingo Boingo. Tired of sitting around and waiting for the movie's completion, the group began playing out in the L.A. area, where they built a substantial following with the punk/new wave set (as their lineup would often multiply for performances). But Oingo Boingo had a step or two ahead of the local bands, both musically and visually, as Danny Elfman had spent several years in France working with a theater group and studying orchestra, which reflected in Oingo Boingo's hodgepodge of styles.

 

The soundtrack to Forbidden Zone was finally issued in 1980, which proved to be a wild, musical roller coaster ride and gave Oingo Boingo their first appearance on record. But by the time a four-track release, 10 Inch EP, was issued the same year (on IRS Records), the group had focused their sound and approach drastically. A recording contract with A&M Records followed shortly thereafter, resulting in some of the early '80s finest new wave releases, 1981's Only a Lad (whose title track received plenty of airplay on the influential L.A. rock radio station KROQ), 1982's Nothing to Fear, and 1983's Good for Your Soul, the latter of which spawned a popular early MTV video hit for "Nothing Bad Ever Happens." Like their live shows, Oingo Boingo's recordings featured a hefty amount of additional members lending a hand, but despite it all, Danny Elfman remained the group's leader and focal point (Elfman even found the time to issue a solo album, So Lo, in 1984). A switch to MCA immediately paid off for the group, as they scored the biggest hit of their career with 1985's Dead Man's Party (eventually earning gold certification in the U.S.), made a cameo appearance in the hit Rodney Dangerfield comedy Back to School, and scored a moderate hit with the theme song to John Hughes' teen comedy Weird Science. But despite their commercial success, Oingo Boingo was unable to sustain it, as such further releases as 1987's Boi-ngo, 1988's Boingo Alive, 1990's Dark at the End of the Tunnel, and 1994's Boingo failed to storm the charts, yet managed to retain the group's cult following.

 

But during the mid- to late '80s, Elfman struck up a friendship with director Tim Burton and began contributing music to Burton-directed movies on a regular basis, first with the major comedy hit Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, and then later Beetlejuice, Big Top Pee Wee, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Mars Attacks!, Sleepy Hollow, and the remake of Planet of the Apes, among others. In return, Elfman became one of Hollywood's most in-demand film composers, providing music for countless films and TV programs (receiving Grammy, Golden Globe, Emmy, and Oscar nominations for his work). With Elfman primarily focusing on film composing by this point, Oingo Boingo was laid to rest in 1995 after a farewell performance at L.A.'s Universal Amphitheatre, which was issued a year later as a CD and video, appropriately titled Farewell. A pair of Oingo Boingo collections surfaced during the '90s, 1992's Best O' Boingo and 1999's double-disc Anthology, as were a pair of anthologies of Elfman's film scores: 1990's Music for a Darkened Theater, Vol. 1: Film & Television Music and 1996's Music for a Darkened Theater, Vol. 2: Film & Television Music

[Cain N Moko]

GARY WRIGHT

 

Most closely associated with his atmospheric 1976 smash "Dream Weaver," singer Gary Wright was born April 26, 1943 in Creskill, NJ; a former child actor who appeared on Broadway in a production of Fanny, he fronted a number of local rock bands during his high school years before turning his attention to psychology, completing his studies in Berlin at Frei University. In 1967, Wright's band, the New York Times, opened for Traffic, bringing him to the attention of Island Records honcho Chris Blackwell, who in turn introduced the singer to the members of the band Art; relocating to London, Wright joined the band, soon renamed Spooky Tooth and later emerging among the UK's premier hard rock outfits. When Spooky Tooth temporarily disbanded in 1970, Wright jumped ship to form Wonderwheel, concurrently playing keyboards on George Harrison's All Things Must Pass; the two eventually became close friends and collaborators, together taking a trip to India which inspired the mystical themes of Wright's subsequent solo efforts. He returned to Spooky Tooth in 1973, but when the band again dissolved the following year he returned to his solo career, scoring his greatest success with 1975's The Dream Weaver; both the title track and "Love Is Alive" reached number two on the Billboard pop charts, and the album -- one of the first created solely via synthesizer technology -- achieved platinum status. Follow-ups including Light of Smiles, 1977's Touch and Gone, and 1979's Headin' Home failed to repeat The Dream Weaver's success, however, and in 1981 Wright notched his final chart hit with "Really Wanna Know You," from The Right Place. From there he composed a series of film scores, including 1985's Fire and Ice, which topped the German charts; Wright's first solo album in seven years, Who Am I, featured contributions from Indian classical greats Lakshmi Shankar and L. Subramanium. In 1991, he remade "Dream Weaver" for the soundtrack of the hit film comedy Wayne's World, and in 1995 issued his first world music effort, First Signs of Life. Human Love followed five years later

[Cain N Moko]

GINO VANNELLI

 

Gino Vannelli learned to play the drums early in life and studied music theory at McGill University. He formed an R&B band with two brothers, but later began recording solo material for RCA in 1970. He became popular four years later when A&M released his hit single "People Gotta Move," from the Powerful People album (re-titled People Gotta Move).

 

Many albums followed, including Storm at Sunup (1975), Gist of Gemini (1976), A Pauper in Paradise (1977), Brother to Brother (1978), Nightwalker (1981), Black Cars (1985), Big Dreamers Never Sleep (1987), Inconsolable Man (1990) and Live in Montreal (1992).

 

His biggest hit came in 1978 with the song "I Just Wanna Stop" from Brother to Brother. A follow-up single "The Wheels of Life" also did well. Another hit single "Living Inside Myself" from 1981's Nightwalker fared just as well.

 

His 1985 effort Black Cars under EMI Records was less successful and came up with only two minor hits "Hurts To Be in Love" and the title track. Big Dreamers Never Sleep and Inconsolable Man went unnoticed. Then Vannelli released a concert album in the early 90s called Live in Montreal.

 

After a five-year absence from the studio, Vannelli returned in 1995 with Yonder Tree; Slow Love followed three years later

[Cain N Moko]

AL CORLEY

 

Al Corley missed the US Top 40 with his 1984 track "Square Rooms" from the album of the same title. It was more successful in Europe, Japan and the Philippines. His follow-up single "Cold Dresses" did much worse. While it got some radio airplay, it did not take long before it was scrapped from radio playlists. No other albums or singles followed.