This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1983.
Bow Wow Wow are an English new wave band, created by manager Malcolm McLaren in 1980. McLaren recruited members of Adam and the Ants to form the band with then 13-year-old Annabella Lwin on lead vocals. They released their debut EP Your Cassette Pet in 1980 and had their first UK top 10 hit with "Go Wild in the Country" in 1982. The band's music was characterized by a danceable new wave sound that drew on a Burundi beat provided by Dave Barbarossa on drums, as well as the subversive, suggestive, and sometimes exuberant lyrics sung and chanted by their teenage lead vocalist.
Dead or Alive were an English pop band who released seven studio albums from 1984 to 2000. The band formed in 1980 in Liverpool and found success in the mid-1980s, releasing seven singles that made the UK Top 40 and three albums in the UK Top 30. At the peak of their success, the line-up consisted of Pete Burns (vocals), Steve Coy (drums), Mike Percy (bass), and Tim Lever (keyboards), with the core pair of Burns and Coy writing and producing for the remainder of the band's career due to Percy and Lever exiting the group in 1989. Burns died in 2016; with the death of Coy in 2018, the band ended.
The Motels are an American new wave band from Berkeley, California, that is best known for the singles "Only the Lonely" and "Suddenly Last Summer", each of which peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, in 1982 and 1983, respectively. In 1980, The Motels song "Total Control" reached No. 7 on the Australian chart, and their song "Danger" reached No. 15 on the French chart.
Wang Chung are an English new wave band, formed in London in 1980 by Nick Feldman, Jack Hues and Darren Costin. The name Wang Chung is Chinese, meaning "yellow bell" in English, and is the first note in the Chinese classical music scale. The band found their greatest success in the US, with five top 40 hits there, all charting between 1983 and 1987, including "Dance Hall Days", "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" and "Let's Go!".
Animotion is an American synth-pop band from Los Angeles, California, best known for the songs "Obsession", "Let Him Go", "I Engineer", and "Room to Move". Formed in 1983 from the remnants of a retro science-fiction band called Red Zone, they signed a record deal with Mercury Records in 1984 and released four studio albums.
Smokie are an English rock band from Bradford, Yorkshire. The band found success at home and abroad after teaming up with Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn. They have had a number of lineup changes and were still actively touring in 2024. Their most popular hit single, "Living Next Door to Alice", peaked at No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart and, in March 1977, reached No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as going to No. 1 on the Australian singles chart. Other hit singles include "If You Think You Know How to Love Me", "Oh Carol", "Lay Back in the Arms of Someone", and "I'll Meet You at Midnight".
Burning Bridges is the debut studio album by English new wave band Naked Eyes, released on 16 March 1983 by EMI and EMI America Records. The album was released in the United States and Canada as Naked Eyes with two tracks demoted to B-sides. The track "Always Something There to Remind Me" was released as a single and reached No. 59 on the UK Singles Chart and US No. 8 in July 1983 before "Promises, Promises" reached US No. 11 and "When the Lights Go Out" US No. 37. The album was released for the first time on CD in 2012 by Cherry Red Records.
Fascination Records is a United Kingdom-based record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as an imprint of Polydor Records. The label was launched in spring of 2006, and is managed by former TOTP Magazine editor Peter Loraine.
Climie Fisher were a British pop duo formed by vocalist Simon Climie and former Naked Eyes keyboardist Rob Fisher. In 1987–88, they had two international hit singles: "Rise to the Occasion" and "Love Changes (Everything)".
Graduate were an English new wave and mod revival musical group formed in 1978, in Bath, England. They were only mildly successful, and broke up by 1981. They are today best known as being the initial recording vehicle for future Tears for Fears members Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, who found international fame in the 1980s and 1990s.
Simon Climie is an English songwriter, musician and record producer. He is best known as the former lead singer of the UK duo Climie Fisher.
"(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" is a song written by American songwriting duo Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Originally recorded as a demo by Dionne Warwick in 1963, "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" first charted for Lou Johnson, whose version reached No. 49 on the Billboard Hot 100 in mid-1964. Sandie Shaw took the song to No. 1 in the UK that same year, while the duo Naked Eyes had a No. 8 hit with the song in the US two decades later in 1983.
Fuel for the Fire is the second album by British duo Naked Eyes, released in 1984. The band had top 40 success with the first single off the album, "(What) In the Name of Love", produced by Arthur Baker, which reached No. 39 in the US on the Billboard Hot 100, and in a remix by Baker, No. 35 on the Dance chart. The album peaked at No. 83 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart.
Rob Fisher was an English keyboardist and songwriter from Cheltenham, England, who achieved chart success as a member of the new wave band Naked Eyes and, later, Climie Fisher. He attended Lord Wandsworth College in Hampshire, where he was a member of a band called Cirrus with Nick Ryall and Ray Coop (bass).
Peter James Byrne is an English singer best known for being a member of the pop/new wave duo Naked Eyes.
"Promises, Promises" is a song by British new wave band Naked Eyes, released in 1983 as the second single from their debut album Burning Bridges. The single went on to become a top-20 hit in the U.S. that October, peaking at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, albeit after it was re-recorded with some lyrics different from the original UK single. It was the follow up to their earlier hit "Always Something There to Remind Me" by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, which was a top-ten hit in the U.S. in mid-1983. Madonna performs background vocals on the Jellybean 7" and 12" mixes of the song. These versions weren't released until 2001 on the compilation album Everything and More.
"The Back of Love" is a single which was released by the English rock band Echo & the Bunnymen on 21 May 1982. It reached number nineteen on the UK Singles Chart the same month. It was subsequently added to the band's third studio album Porcupine which was released on 4 February 1983.
Neon were an English new wave band active in the early 1980s. All members went on to have successful careers in other bands, notably Naked Eyes and Tears for Fears.
