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Pete Byrne | |
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 Byrne in 2011 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 9 June 1954 Bath, Somerset, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Instrument(s) |
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| Years active | 1976–present |
Peter James Byrne (born 9 June 1954) is an English singer best known for being a member of the pop/new wave duo Naked Eyes. [1]
Along with Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith of Tears for Fears fame, Byrne and his future music partner in Naked Eyes, Rob Fisher, were members of a short-lived British group called Neon.
Naked Eyes enjoyed chart success with their 1983 cover version of "Always Something There to Remind Me". Naked Eyes released additional hits that they wrote themselves, including "Promises, Promises" (1983).
Byrne is also known for an electronica recording of The Rolling Stones' track "Paint It Black". He wrote "I Am the Cute One" [2] for the Olsen twins' video, "Our First Video".
Byrne released a solo album entitled The Real Illusion in 2001; the album featured some of the last tracks he had written with Fisher for a proposed third Naked Eyes album. In 2005, Byrne reformed Naked Eyes and released Fumbling with the Covers (2007). The album consisted of acoustic hits, including reworkings of the band's "Promises, Promises", "When the Lights Go Out" and "Always Something There to Remind Me". Naked Eyes also performed on a US Summer Tour along with Belinda Carlisle, ABC and The Human League.
John J. Mellencamp, previously known as Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for his catchy brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrumentation. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, followed by an induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018.
Dead or Alive were an English pop band that released six studio albums from 1984 to 1995. 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 on the UK top 30. At the peak of their success, the lineup 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.
Peter Jozzeppi Burns was an English singer, songwriter and television personality who formed the band Dead or Alive in 1980 during the new wave era and acted as the band's lead vocalist and principal songwriter. They sold over 17 million albums and 36 million singles worldwide and also gave successful English songwriting and record production trio Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW) their first UK No. 1 hit single. Their first three albums, which Burns wrote, all reached the UK Top 30, with Youthquake reaching the Top 10. In December 2016, Billboard ranked Dead or Alive as the 96th most successful "dance artist" of all time.
Naked Eyes are an English new wave duo that rose to prominence in the early 1980s. The band had four US top 40 singles.
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.
"This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" is a song by new wave band Talking Heads. The closing track of its fifth studio album Speaking in Tongues, it was released in November 1983 as the second and final studio single from the album; a live version would be released as a single in 1986. The lyrics were written by frontman David Byrne, and the music was written by Byrne and the other members of the band, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison.
The Silencers are a Scottish rock band formed in London in 1986 by Jimme O'Neill and Cha Burns, two ex-members of the post-punk outfit Fingerprintz. Their music is characterised by a melodic blend of pop, folk and traditional Celtic influences. Often compared to Scottish bands with a similar sound like Big Country, Del Amitri and The Proclaimers, The Silencers have distinguished themselves with their eclectic sounds, prolific output and continued career. Their first single, "Painted Moon," was a minor international hit and invited critical comparisons to Simple Minds and U2. In 1987 they released their first album A Letter From St. Paul, which included "Painted Moon" and another minor hit, "I See Red." Buoyed by the huge European hit "Bulletproof Heart", the band's third album Dance to the Holy Man is the band's commercial peak to date. Throughout the 1990s, The Silencers saw a popular taste shift away from their songwriter-based style of music toward grunge and electronic music.
"(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" is a song by songwriting team 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 the summer of 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.
The Changeling is a studio album by the English new wave band Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox, released in 1982 by Safari Records. The album peaked at number 6 in the UK where it was certified silver for sales exceeding 60,000 copies. It included the Top 40 single "Brave New World".
Modern is the sixth studio album by English pop punk band Buzzcocks. After the critical success of the band's previous album All Set (1996), the band became disillusioned with trying to be a rock band and set out to become more "modern," thus birthing the project. Recording the album in Chipping Barnet with the band's bassist Tony Barber producing, Modern sees a strong electronic music influence, with electronic instruments and drum machines featuring on the songs, especially those written by Steve Diggle, who wrote five of the album's songs whilst Pete Shelley wrote the other eight songs.
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).
Keep on Dancing was a various artists "hits" collection album released in Australia in 1983 on the EMI record Label. The album spent 3 weeks at the top of the Australian album charts in 1983.
Nicholas Laurence Feldman is an English musician best known for forming the British new wave band Wang Chung in 1980. Feldman was half of the duo Promised Land, which also featured Jon Moss of Culture Club. He was a founding investor in Interactive Ideas and has worked for Warner Brothers, Sony Music and SonyBMG.
"Promises, Promises" was the second hit single for the British new wave group Naked Eyes in 1983. The song went on to become a top-20 hit in the US 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 their 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 in the compilation album Everything and More.
"The Back of Love" is a single which was released by 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 album Porcupine which was released on 4 February 1983.
Book of Love is the debut studio album by American synth-pop and electronic band Book of Love, released on April 1, 1986, by Sire Records.
Wasp is the fifth and final studio album by teen idol Shaun Cassidy, released in 1980. In an attempt to salvage a sinking pop career, Cassidy recruited Todd Rundgren to help "reinvent" his music career. Members of Rundgren's group Utopia also played on the record, and the work had a decidedly "new wave" feel.
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.
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