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(1982) Dexy's Midnight Runners are a British New
Wave and Northern Soul band who achieved their
major success in the early-mid 1980s. Kevin
Rowland (vocals, guitar) and Kevin 'Al' Archer
(vocals, guitar) founded the band in 1978 in
Birmingham, England, naming the band after
Dexedrine, a recreational drug popular amongst
Northern Soul fans at the time. Big Jim Paterson
(trombone), Geoff 'JB' Blythe (saxophone), Steve
'Babyface' Spooner (alto saxophone), Pete Saunders
(keyboard), Pete Williams (bass) and Bobby 'Jnr'
Ward(drums) formed the first line-up of the band
to record a single, 'Dance Stance' (1979). The
song only reached number 40 in the British charts,
but the next single, 'Geno' -- about Geno
Washington -- (featuring new recruits, Andy Leek
(keyboards) and Andy 'Stoker' Growcott (drums))
was a British Number One in 1980.
The band members were disappointed with their
share of the profits, and soon stole the master
tapes of Searching for the Young Soul Rebels,
their debut LP, in order to renegotiate the deal.
The album was released later in 1980 and became a
massive success. After the next single, 'There
There My Dear' was a hit, Rowland insisted on
choosing the uncommercial, 'Keep It, Part Two' for
the following single. It was a failure, and most
of the band members quit, angered over continual
personality problems with Rowland. Archer
eventually formed The Blue Ox Babes, while Blythe,
Williams, Stoker and Mick Talbot (ex-Merton
Parkas, who had recently joined on keyboards) left
to form The Bureau. Paterson stayed with Rowland,
who added Billy Adams (guitar/banjo), Seb Shelton
(drums, formerly of Secret Affair), Micky
Billingham (keyboard), Brian Maurice (alto
saxophone), Paul Speare (tenor saxophone) and
Steve Wynne (bass), releasing 'Plan B', 'Show Me'
and 'Liars A to E' in 1981 without much success.
Rowland then recruited fiddle players, Helen
O'Hara (from Archer's new group, the Blue Ox
Babes), Steve Brennan and Roger MacDuff, known
collectively as 'The Emerald Express'. With the
addition of new bass player, Giorgio Kilkenny this
line-up recorded Too-Rye-Ay in 1982, a Celtic folk
and soul hybrid. The first single, 'The Celtic
Soul Brothers', was mildly successful but 'Come on
Eileen' soon followed, and became a Number One hit
in both the UK and the United States. Feeling that
their role in the group had diminished following
the arrival of the fiddles, the brass section of
Paterson, Speare and Maurice left to form The TKO
Horns, while Kilkenny was replaced by Johnny
Edwards on bass and Billingham left to join
General Public. With the singles, 'Jackie Wilson
Said (I'm In Heaven When You Smile)' (a Van
Morrison cover) and 'Let's Get This Straight (From
The Start)' maintaining their popularity, the
group continued to tour until 1983 with a nucleus
of Rowland, Adams, O'Hara and Shelton augmented by
other musicians.
After a two year break, Dexy's returned in 1985
with the critically-acclaimed album, Don't Stand
Me Down, featuring Rowland, Adams, O'Hara and
Nicky Gatfield together with various seasoned
performers including Vincent Crane (ex-Atomic
Rooster), Julian Littman and Tim Dancy (who had
been Al Green's drummer). Rowland at first refused
to issue any singles from the album, and by the
time 'This Is What She's Like' was released, it
was too late to save the album from commercial
failure. The group disbanded the following year
after a brief return to the charts with the
single, 'Because Of You' (which was used as the
theme tune to a British sitcom, 'Brush Strokes'),
and Rowland became a solo artist with the release
of 1988's poorly-received album, The Wanderer.
Despite spending much of the 1990s suffering from
financial problems and drug addiction, Rowland
made plans to reform Dexy's together with Big Jim
Paterson, although these resulted in no more than
a solitary TV performance in 1993. Returning once
more as a solo performer, Rowland signed to
Creation Records, releasing an album of cover
versions called My Beauty in 1999, which sold
poorly. The demise of Creation meant that the
planned follow-up album which would, once again
have featured Dexy's Midnight Runners was never
made. However, in April 2003 the group announced
that they would be reforming for a tour and a new
greatest hits album.
Tags : 80s Dexy's Midnight Runners Come On Eileen |
