External links
| International | |
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| Artists | |
| People | |
The Kane Gang | |
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| Origin | Seaham, England |
| Genres |
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| Years active | 1982–1991 |
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| Past members |
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The Kane Gang are an English pop trio formed in Seaham in 1982. [3] The group comprised Martin Brammer, Paul Woods and Dave Brewis. [4] They scored several UK and US hits in the 1980s. [5] Named alluding to the movie Citizen Kane , the trio recorded for the record label Kitchenware, which was also home to Prefab Sprout. The group announced a comeback on 14 August 2024. [6]
Vocalists Martin Brammer [7] (born 13 May 1957, [8] Seaham, County Durham) and Paul Woods, with multi-instrumentalist Dave Brewis, formed the trio in 1982, after meeting while in small local bands, and signed to a small record label, which led to a deal with London Records in 1984. [3]
Their debut album, The Bad and Lowdown World of the Kane Gang (released in the US as Lowdown), was released the following year. [3] It spawned two UK hit singles: "Closest Thing to Heaven" (No. 12) and a cover of the Staples Singers' "Respect Yourself" [9] (No. 21). The latter was also a hit in Australia, reaching No. 19. The album was produced by Pete Wingfield, and featured P. P. Arnold and Sam Brown as backing vocalists. [3] [10]
The band's next album, Miracle, was released in 1987 and spawned two US hit singles: "Motortown" (No. 36 US / No. 45 UK) and another cover – this time of Dennis Edwards' "Don't Look Any Further" [9] (No. 64 US / No. 52 UK). The latter hit No. 1 on the US Dance Charts. [11]
Woods left the band in 1991 to attempt a solo career. [3] Woods and Brewis also worked on an album which was never released.
It was announced that the Kane Gang would reunite for a gig at Sunderland's The Fire Station music venue on 2 November 2024. [12]
The Kane Gang performed the music for the "Ooh Gary Davies... On Your Radio" jingle for BBC Radio 1. [13] As was the fashion around that time, bands would adapt songs to provide the radio station with a jingle, and embed the hook of the track in the public's consciousness. The Gary Davies jingle was based on their track "Smalltown Creed" [13] (from the LP The Bad and Lowdown World of the Kane Gang). The same track was used as the basis for the theme tune of long-running Children's BBC television programme Byker Grove , which launched the careers of Ant & Dec (as PJ & Duncan) and Donna Air. [14]
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [15] | AUS [16] | US [11] | ||
| The Bad and Lowdown World of the Kane Gang |
| 21 | 65 | — |
| Miracle |
| 41 | 82 | 115 |
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| The Miracle of the Kane Gang |
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Hot 100 [11] | US Adult [11] | US Dance [11] | AUS [16] | UK [15] | ||
| 1983 | "Brother Brother" | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1984 | "Smalltown Creed" | — | — | — | — | 60 |
| "Closest Thing to Heaven" | — | — | — | 57 | 12 | |
| "Respect Yourself" | — | — | — | 19 | 21 | |
| 1985 | "Gun Law" | — | — | — | — | 53 |
| 1987 | "Motortown" | 36 | 12 | — | 87 | 45 |
| "What Time Is It?" | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "Don't Look Any Further" | 64 | — | 1 | — | 52 | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | ||||||
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