 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(December 2010) |
The Vels | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Vels |
| Origin | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1980–1987 |
| Labels | Mercury |
| Past members |
|
The Vels was an American new wave and synth-pop band formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1980. The band consisted of lead vocalist and keyboardist Alice Cohen (as Alice Desoto), bassist and guitarist Charles Hanson, and keyboardist Chris Larkin.
The Vels began when Charles Hanson, former member of the 1970s New Orleans punk group, the Normals, invited Chris Larkin and Alice Desoto to join him for a show at the now defunct Love Club in Philadelphia. The band used low tech synthesizers, drum machines, and bass guitar. The Philadelphia Inquirer music critic, Lee Paris was there, and wrote a positive review. The Vels were a prominent fixture on the Philadelphia music scene of the early 1980s. [1] They caught the attention of Mercury Records and signed a recording contract with them.
The Vels' debut studio album, Velocity (1984) was recorded at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas with producer Steven Stanley, known for his work with Tom Tom Club. Chris Larkin had left sometime before their second studio album, House of Miracles (1986) and it was recorded without him, this time with production by Steve Levine, known for his work with Culture Club.
A music video for their song "Look My Way" was filmed in London, and became popular during the early days of MTV.
In 1986, the Vels toured the U.S. as the opening act for British band the Psychedelic Furs, but disbanded in 1987.
Keyboardist and singer, Chris Larkin, died from complications due to pneumonia, on November 21, 2007. [2]
Studio albums
Singles
Talking Heads was an American rock band that formed in 1975 in New York City. The band was composed of David Byrne, Chris Frantz (drums), Tina Weymouth (bass) and Jerry Harrison. Described as "one of the most critically acclaimed bands of the '80s", Talking Heads helped to pioneer new wave music by combining elements of punk, art rock, funk, and world music with an anxious, clean-cut image.
Culture Club are an English pop band formed in London in 1981. The band comprises Boy George, Roy Hay, and Mikey Craig, and formerly included Jon Moss. Emerging in the New Romantic scene, they are considered one of the most representative and influential groups of the 1980s.
Leslie Sebastian Charles,, better known by his stage name Billy Ocean, is a British recording artist who had a string of R&B international pop hits in the 1970s and 1980s. He was the most popular British R&B singer-songwriter of the early to mid- 1980s. After he had scored his first four UK top-20 singles, including No. 2 hits in 1976 and 1977, seven years passed before he accumulated a series of transatlantic successes, including three US number ones. Released in late 1985, his hit "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going" peaked in 1986, reaching No. 1 in the UK and No. 2 in the US. In 1985, Ocean won the Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for his worldwide hit "Caribbean Queen " and in 1987 was nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Male Artist. His 1988 hit "Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car" reached No. 1 in the US and No. 3 in the UK. His 1986 hit "There'll Be Sad Songs " also reached No. 1 in the US.
Daryl Hall and John Oates, commonly known as Hall & Oates, are an American pop rock duo formed in Philadelphia in 1970. Daryl Hall is generally the lead vocalist; John Oates primarily plays electric guitar and provides backing vocals. The two write most of the songs they perform, separately or in collaboration. They achieved their greatest fame from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s with a fusion of rock and roll, soul music, and rhythm and blues.
Bernard Sumner is an English singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is a founding member of the bands Joy Division, New Order, Electronic and Bad Lieutenant. Sumner was an early force in several areas, including the post-punk, synthpop, and techno music scenes, as well as their various related genres, and was an early influence on the Manchester music scene that presaged the "Madchester" movement of the late 1980s centred on Factory Records and The Haçienda club in Manchester.
Anthony Frederick Levin is an American musician and composer, specializing in electric bass, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known for his work with King Crimson and Peter Gabriel. He is also a member of Liquid Tension Experiment, Bruford Levin Upper Extremities (1998–2000) and HoBoLeMa (2008–2010). He has led his own band, Stick Men, since 2010.
Cinderella was an American rock band formed in 1983 in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The band emerged in the mid-1980s with a series of multi-platinum studio albums and hit singles whose music videos received heavy MTV rotation and popularity. Cinderella initially had a glam metal sound throughout the late 1980s before shifting into a more blues rock-based sound during the early to mid 1990s.
The dB's are an American alternative rock and power pop group, who formed in New York City in 1978 and first came to prominence in the early 1980s. Their debut album, Stands for Decibels, is often acclaimed as one of the greatest "lost" power pop albums of the 1980s.
Alien Sex Fiend are an English gothic rock band, formed in London, England in 1982. The current lineup of the band consists of Nik Fiend and Mrs Fiend. Five of the group's albums and 12 of their singles reached top 20 positions in the UK indie charts in the period up to 1987.
Rough Cutt is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles who released two studio albums on Warner Bros. Records in the mid-1980s. Rough Cutt never achieved the commercial success enjoyed by many other Los Angeles bands of that time but various members went on to success in other groups, including Jake E. Lee with Ozzy Osbourne, Amir Derakh with Orgy, Paul Shortino with Quiet Riot, and Craig Goldy and Claude Schnell with Dio.
Melvyn Desmond Collins is a British saxophonist, flautist and session musician.
Lionheart is a British hard rock band formed in late 1980, originally featuring singer Jess Cox, guitarist Dennis Stratton, guitarist/keyboardist Steve Mann, and bassist/vocalist Rocky Newton, and drummer Frank Noon. The band split up in 1986 but reformed in 2016 with a line-up featuring Stratton, Mann, Newton, plus vocalist Lee Small and Clive Edwards on drums.
Robert Andrew Hyman is an American singer, songwriter, keyboard and accordion player, producer, arranger and recording studio owner, best known for being a founding member of the rock band The Hooters.
Alice Cohen also known by the stage name Alice Desoto, is a New York City-based American singer, songwriter, musician and fine artist. She has performed as the lead vocalist for two major label bands, the Vels and Die Monster Die. The Vels were the more commercially successful of the two, with their 1984 single "Look My Way" peaking at No. 72 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Cohen has also pursued a solo career and has released six studio albums since 2008.
Velocity is the debut studio album by American new wave and synth-pop band the Vels, released in 1984 by Mercury Records and PolyGram. It was principally recorded at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, with producer Steven Stanley, known for his work with Tom Tom Club, whereas "Secret Garden" was produced by their A&R representative Peter Lubin at Park South Studios in New York City. When reflecting on the recording of the album, lead vocalist Alice Cohen said, "the whole Compass Point thing was great. We were unassuming Philly folks, living in cheap apartments, suddenly in this amazing studio in the Bahamas. It was very surreal." While the album itself failed to chart, it featured two songs that charted on the U.S. Billboard Dance Club Songs chart, with "Hieroglyphics" peaking at No. 30 and "Look My Way" peaking at No. 39. "Look My Way" also peaked at No. 72 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, their only showing on that chart.
House of Miracles is the second and final studio album by American new wave band the Vels, released in 1986 by Mercury Records and it was performed as a duo of Alice Cohen and Charles Hansen following the departure of founding member Chris Larkin. It was recorded at Studio Miraval in Correns, France with producer Steve Levine, best known for his work with Culture Club. House of Miracles like their debut studio album, Velocity (1984), failed to chart. "Girl Most Likely To" was the only single released from the album but it also did not chart and the band broke up a year after the album was released. The track "Souvenirs" had been written for the Bangles but that failed to materialise and it was instead recorded for this album.
20/20 was an American power pop band based in Hollywood, California. They were active from 1977 to 1983 and reunited during the mid-1990s to the late 1990s. In the mid-1970s, Steve Allen and Ron Flynt played together in Tulsa. Allen and Flynt were graduates of Nathan Hale High School, and both attended Oklahoma State University, where Flynt earned a degree in music. Allen decided to move to Los Angeles in 1977 after fellow Tulsa natives Phil Seymour and Dwight Twilley met with success. Once in Los Angeles, Allen met with Mike Gallo (singer/songwriter/keyboardist/drummer), who had already conceived of the idea and name for the band. Gallo first started writing with Allen, and later auditioned Allen's friend from Tulsa, Ron Flynt, for 20/20. The three-piece band signed with Greg Shaw's Bomp! Records in 1978 to record a single. Between the release of the single, and their first LP on Portrait Records, Chris Silagyi joined the band as a keyboardist.
Franke and the Knockouts was an American pop rock band, formed in New Jersey, United States, and fronted by singer/songwriter Franke Previte.
Robert Tench is a British vocalist, guitarist, sideman, songwriter and arranger.
"Look My Way" is a song by American new wave and synth-pop band the Vels, released as both a 7" and 12" single from their debut studio album, Velocity (1984). Produced by Steven Stanley, the single was released by Mercury Records exclusively in the U.S and Australia. The single peaked at No. 39 on the U.S. Billboard Dance Club Songs chart and at No. 72 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
| International | |
|---|---|
| Artists | |
