Cock Robin is an American pop rock band, mostly popular in the 1980s in continental Europe, where it achieved major success with the single "The Promise You Made". The band was founded by singer-songwriter Peter Kingsbery in 1982, disbanded in 1990, and reformed in 2006. Their most successful singles also include "When Your Heart Is Weak", "Just Around the Corner", "Thought You Were on My Side", "Every Moment" and "El Norte".
Cock Robin's eponymous debut album was produced by Steve Hillage. Released in 1985, it had a limited impact in their native country but was an overnight success in Europe, especially in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands, where the singles "When Your Heart Is Weak", "The Promise You Made" and "Thought You Were on My Side" became successful hits (with for example the latter two singles peaking at number 1 and number 4 respectively in Flanders, Belgium),[2] and the album itself a chart-topper. "When Your Heart Is Weak" was the band's only chart single in the U.S., where it reached No.35 in the late summer of 1985. It also became a radio favorite in South Africa in early 1986.
In mid-1987, the band, reduced to the duo of Peter Kingsbery and Anna LaCazio, released a second album, After Here Through Midland, produced by Don Gehman, who had worked with John Mellencamp, among others. As with their debut, Cock Robin's second album attracted much attention in continental Europe, where it reached the Top 5 and scored hits with the singles "Just Around the Corner" (again a European Top 20 hit, from Scandinavia to Italy), "The Biggest Fool of All" and "El Norte".
Two years later, in 1989, the band released their third album, First Love/Last Rites, produced by Rhett Davies of Roxy Music. As with their previous releases, the album fared well in mainland Europe (especially in France), but failed to make an impact in the USA.
On 30 April 1990, while on tour, the band recorded their only live VHS video at the Grand Rex theatre in Paris, France, titled Cock Robin Live in Concert, also known as Live au Grand Rex. The 14-track, 66-minute video is interspersed with a Kingsbery and LaCazio interview. Shortly after the European tour, Kingsbery and LaCazio split. Kingsbery released a string of solo projects (three albums in English, one in French) in France, most notably the hit single "Only the Very Best" (an English version of a Daniel Balavoine song and a Top 10 hit in France and Belgium in 1993),[3] recorded for the Michel Berger and Luc Plamondon concept musical album Starmania, with English lyrics by Tim Rice, in 1992. Anna LaCazio recorded her own solo album, Eat Life, circa 1992–93, but it was only officially released in its entirety for download in 2009.
Recent years
On 20 June 2012, Peter Kingsbery announced there would "be a new tour next Summer 2013 with a new album".[4]
Another Cock Robin remix by Umpff, "Extraordinary Thing", appeared on Mixtape[5] from Mabel the Label in October 2012.
The November 2015 issue of French magazine Topo[6] reported that Anna LaCazio had left Cock Robin in May 2015. Kingsbery relocated to France, and LaCazio remained in the United States to be close to her family.
Kingsbery announced that Coralie Vuillemin was chosen as the band's new female voice. The band released their sixth studio album, Chinese Driver, on 11 March 2016.
A five-track EP was released as download only in April 2017. The first track, "Roman Holiday (The Making Of)", is an original song, whereas the second, "Just Before It Begins", is an original instrumental. The last three tracks, however ("The Long Last Second", "Thought You Were on My Side" and "White Folks"), are reprises of Kingsbery's solo albums or of Cock Robin songs, with new arrangements and vocals by Kingsbery and Vuillemin.[7]
Cock Robin has performed in France, Portugal, Iceland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Luxembourg and Denmark.[citation needed]
On 17 September 2021, the band released a seventh studio album, Homo Alien.
In September 2022, it was announced that they had to withdraw from their planned 2023 tour but hoped to release a new album of original material, called Part of Your Tribe, in conjunction with an autobiographical lyric book of the same, name at some point during the year.[8]
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