Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler, David Knopfler, John Illsley and Pick Withers. The band was active from 1977 to 1988 and again from 1990 to 1995.
The Boomtown Rats are an Irish rock/new wave band originally formed in Dublin in 1975. Between 1977 and 1985, they had a series of Irish and UK hits including "Like Clockwork", "Rat Trap", "I Don't Like Mondays" and "Banana Republic". The original line-up comprised six musicians; five from Dún Laoghaire in County Dublin; Gerry Cott, Simon Crowe (drums), Johnnie Fingers (keyboards), Bob Geldof (vocals) and Garry Roberts, plus Fingers' cousin Pete Briquette (bass). The Boomtown Rats broke up in 1986, but reformed in 2013, without Fingers or Cott. Garry Roberts died in 2022. The band's fame and notability have been overshadowed by the charity work of frontman Bob Geldof, a former journalist with the New Musical Express.
Michael Stock is an English songwriter, record producer, musician, and member of the songwriting and production trio Stock Aitken Waterman. He has been responsible for over a hundred top-40 hits in the UK, including 16 Number One's and is recognised as one of the most successful songwriters of all time by the Guinness World Records. As part of Stock Aitken Waterman in the 1980s and 90s, he holds the UK record of 11 number one records with different acts. In the UK Singles Chart he has written 54 top-ten hits including 7 number ones.
Shakatak is an English jazz-funk band founded in 1980 by Bill Sharpe, Nigel Wright, Roger Odell and Keith Winter. An initial white label release, "Steppin", caught attention by Passion records label owner Les McCutcheon and Northern Soul DJ Kev Roberts. The band's name was created by them and derived from the name of a record store in Soho, London called "Record Shack".
The Style Council were an English pop band formed in Woking in 1982 by Paul Weller, the former lead vocalist, principal songwriter and guitarist with the rock band the Jam, and keyboardist Mick Talbot, previously a member of Dexys Midnight Runners, the Bureau and the Merton Parkas. Weller started the project to escape the restrictions of the Jam, and to explore a more arty, European, jazzier direction, which encompassed pop, hip hop, and soul.
Barbara Ruth Dickson is a Scottish singer and actress whose hits include "I Know Him So Well", "Answer Me" and "January February". Dickson has placed fifteen albums on the UK Albums Chart from 1977 to date, and had a number of hit singles, including four which reached the top 20 on the UK Singles Chart. The Scotsman newspaper has described her as Scotland's best-selling female singer in terms of the numbers of hit chart singles and albums she has achieved in the UK since 1976.
Pauline Matthews, better known by her stage name Kiki Dee, is an English pop singer. Known for her blue-eyed soul vocals, she was the first female singer from the UK to sign with Motown's Tamla Records.
Strawberry Switchblade were a Scottish pop duo formed in Glasgow in 1981 by Jill Bryson and Rose McDowall, best known for their song "Since Yesterday" from 1985, and their flamboyant clothing with bows and polka-dots.
Matt Bianco are a British band formed in 1983, performing sophisti-pop, jazz-funk and Latin-flavoured music. From around mid- to late-80s, the group scored a number of internationally charting singles, including "Get Out of Your Lazy Bed", "Whose Side Are You On?", "Half a Minute", "Yeh Yeh" and "Don't Blame It on That Girl".
Too Tough to Die is the eighth studio album by the American punk rock band Ramones. It was released on October 1, 1984, and is the first Ramones record to feature Richie Ramone on drums. With ex-member Tommy Ramone producing, the recording process was similar to that of the band's 1976 self-titled debut album. Likewise, the record's style—both lyrically and compositionally—saw the band returning to their roots. The photograph on the album cover, which features silhouettes of the band members, resulted from a "lucky accident" after photographer George DuBose's camera malfunctioned.
Ocean Rain is the fourth studio album by the English post-punk band Echo & the Bunnymen. It was released on 4 May 1984 by Korova and reached number four on the UK Albums Chart, number 87 on the United States Billboard 200, number 41 on the Canadian RPM 100 Albums and number 22 on the Swedish chart. Since 1984 the album has been certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry. Ocean Rain includes the singles "The Killing Moon", "Silver" and "Seven Seas".
Andrew Fairweather Low is a Welsh guitarist and singer. He was a founding member and lead singer of 1960s pop band Amen Corner, and in recent years has toured extensively with Roger Waters, Eric Clapton and Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings.
Diane Catherine Sealy, known as Dee C. Lee or Dee C Lee, is a British singer. Born to Saint Lucian parents, she grew up in south-east London. Early in her career, she was a member of the British band Central Line under the aliases Dee Sealy in 1981 and Dee C. Lee in 1983. She was a backing singer for Wham!, then released her first solo single, "Selina Wow Wow", in 1984. She started working with the Style Council in 1984, while continuing as a solo artist.
Jude Anthony Cole is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and talent manager from Carbon Cliff, Illinois. He began his career as part of Moon Martin's backing group the Ravens, and joined the English power pop band the Records in 1980, by the age of 19. After his work on their album Crashes (1980), he signed with Reprise Records to pursue a solo recording career and released his eponymous debut studio album (1987), which was followed by four subsequent releases—A View from 3rd Street (1990), Start the Car (1992), I Don't Know Why I Act This Way (1995), and Falling Home (2000). Afterward, he outsourced his work onto management, production, and songwriting for the alternative rock band Lifehouse. Cole was credited on most of their singles throughout the 2000s, including "You and Me," "First Time," "Whatever It Takes" and "Halfway Gone" — each became hit songs on the Billboard Hot 100, Mainstream Top 40, Adult Top 40, and Adult Contemporary charts.
Climax Blues Band are a British blues rock & pop band that has released 22 albums. "Couldn't Get It Right" reached No. 10 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1977. "I Love You" peaked on the Billboard chart at No. 12 in 1981.
"Do It Again" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys that was released as a standalone single on July 8, 1968. It was written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love as a self-conscious callback to the group's earlier surf image, which they had not embraced since 1964. Love and Wilson also share the lead vocal on the song.
Flintlock were a 1970s pop group from Essex, England. Its members were Derek Pascoe, Mike Holoway, Jamie Stone, John Summerton and Bill Rice.
Don't Suppose is the debut solo album by the English singer Limahl, formerly lead singer of the British band Kajagoogoo, released in 1984 by EMI Records.
Animal Nightlife was a British group in the 1980s. It consisted of Andy Polaris on vocals, Leonardo Chignoli on bass, Steve Brown on guitar, Billy Chapman on saxophone and Paul Waller on drums.
Nevada were a British folk/progressive rock band and a spin-off from Renaissance, featuring Annie Haslam on vocals and Mick Dunford on guitar. Their Christmas single, "In the Bleak Midwinter", reached the lower edges of the UK singles chart in 1983.
