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Use British English|date=August 2011Use dmy dates|date=August 2011Infobox musical artist | name = Dexys| image =| caption =| image_size = | background = group_or_band| alias =| origin = Birmingham , England| genre = Pop music|Pop , Soul music|soul , Rock music|rock , New Wave music|New Wave | years_active = 19781986, 2003present| label = Oddball, EMI Records|EMI , Windsong, Mercury Records|Mercury | associated_acts = The Killjoys (UK band)|The Killjoys , The Bureau , The Blue Ox Babes | website = URL| http://www.dexys.org| current_members = Kevin Rowland Mick Talbot Jimmy Paterson Pete Williams| past_members = Alan Whetton Billy Adams Al Archer Mickey Billingham Geoff Blythe Pat Brooker Steve Brennan Vincent Crane Andy "Stoker" Growcott John Edwards (musician)|John "Rhino" Edwards Giorgio Kilkenny Andy Leek Robert Noble Helen O'Hara Pete Saunders|Peter Saunders Seb Shelton Paul Speare Steve Spooner Simon Walker Steve Wynn Dexys (formerly Dexys Midnight Runners ) are a British pop group with soul music|soul influences, who achieved their major success in the early to mid 1980s. They are best known for their songs " Come On Eileen " and " Geno (song)|Geno ", both of which went No.& nbsp;1 on the UK Singles Chart .
Kevin Rowland (vocals, guitar, at the time going under the pseudonym Carlo Rolan)Gimarc, George (2005) ''Punk Diary: The Ultimate Trainspotter's Guide to Underground Rock 19701982'', Backbeat Books, ISBN 0-87930-848-6 and Al Archer|Kevin "Al" Archer (vocals, guitar), both previously of The Killjoys (UK band)|The Killjoys , founded the band in 1978 in Birmingham , England, naming the band after Dexedrine, a brand of dextroamphetamine popularly used as a recreational drug among Northern Soul fans at the time. The "midnight runners" referred to the energy the Dexedrine gave, enabling one to dance all night. "Big" Jim Paterson (trombone), Geoff "JB" Blythe (saxophone, previously of Geno Washington 's Geno Washington & The Ram Jam Band|Ram Jam Band ), 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 was released on the independent Oddball Records, was named "single of the week" by Sounds (magazine)|Sounds , and reached number 40 in the British charts, but the next single, " Geno (song)|Geno " about Geno Washington , and released on EMI Records|EMI was a British Number One in 1980. It featured the band's newest recruits, Andy Leek (keyboards) and Andy "Stoker" Growcott (drums). At age 11, Rowland had been taken by his brother to see Washington perform live. The success of the song prompted Washington to make a return to live performance, and also saw the departure of Leek, who gave his reasons for leaving as " Really hating being famous all of a sudden... Just because I've been on Top of the Pops doesn't mean I should get any more respect. I didn't want people asking for my autograph all of the time."Record Mirror 10th May 1980 The band at this time dressed in donkey jacket s or leather coats and woolly hats, and had a look described as "straight out of Robert DeNiro|DeNiro 's Mean Streets ". Rowland said of the band's sound and look in January 1980: "we didn't want to become part of anyone else's movement. We'd rather be our own movement". Image was very important to the group, with Rowland commenting "We wanted to be a group that looked like something...a formed group, a project, not just random".Reynolds, Simon (2005) Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 19781984 , Faber & Faber, ISBN 0-571-21570-X, p. 293296
19801982: Searching for the Young Soul Rebels
The band's debut LP, Searching for the Young Soul Rebels , was released in July 1980. The album's sleeve featured a photograph of a Belfast Catholic boy carrying his belongings after being forced from his home in 1969 Northern Ireland riots|the sectarian clearances of 1969 , the Irish-descended Rowland explaining "I wanted a picture of unrest. It could have been from anywhere but I was secretly glad that it was from Ireland". Of the album's title, Rowland said "I don't know...I just liked the sound of it, really". After the next single, "There, There, My Dear", was a hit, Rowland insisted on choosing the uncommercial "Keep It Part Two (Inferiority Part One)" for the following single. It was a failure, and most of the band members quit, angered over continual personality problems with Rowland, including Rowland's policy of not speaking to the music press (Rowland imposed a press embargo in July 1980, and would instead take out ads in the music papers explaining the band's position). This was a response to some less than complimentary opinions from some music press writers; The '' NME|NME's Mark Cordery accused the band of "emotional fascism" and described their music as a perversion of soul music with "no tenderness, no sex, no wit, no laughter".
Archer eventually formed The Blue Ox Babes , while Blythe, Spooner, Williams, Stoker and Mick Talbot (ex- The Merton Parkas , who had recently joined on keyboards) left to form The Bureau . Paterson stayed with Rowland, who added Billy Adams (musician)|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 a handful of singles in 1980 and 1981, and adopting a new look that included hooded tops, boxing boots, and pony tails. Along with the new image, Rowland brought in a fitness regime, which included working out together and running as a group, Rowland commenting "The togetherness of running along together just gets...that fighting spirit going". The group would also take part in group exercise sessions before performances, and Alcoholic beverage|drinking before shows was strictly forbidden.
By the time "Plan B" was released, the band were in dispute with EMI , claiming that as their contract option had not been picked up by the company, they were no longer under contract, and they asked, without success, that EMI not release the single. In March 1981, an ad appeared in which Rowland stated that the previous members of the band had "hatched a plot to throw Kevin out and still carry on under the same name". It also cited Rowland's suggestion that "they might learn new instruments" as a reason for their displeasure. The ad announced that Dexys had been working on a new live venture, "The Midnight Runners Projected Passion Revue". "Show Me" was released in summer 1981 and reached No.& nbsp;16 in the UK. It was followed by a session for Richard Skinner 's BBC Radio 1 show in which the band previewed tracks that would be reworked later on Too-Rye-Ay . "Liars A to E" was released in October 1981, after which Rowland took the band in a new direction.
19821985: Too-Rye-Ay
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 hybrid of soul and Celtic folk, the new sound accompanied by a new look, with the band attired in Overall|dungarees , scarves, leather waistcoats, and what was described as "a generally scruffy right-off-the-farm look", or "a raggle-taggle mixture of Gypsy (term)|gypsy , rural Irish and John Steinbeck|Steinbeck Okie ".Raggett, Ned "Allmusic|class=album|id=r35271/review|pure_url=yes Too-Rye-Ay Review", Allmusic , Macrovision Corporation Rowland said of the new image: "These are my best clothes. Again it just feels right for the music. Everybody else is dressing up sort of straight-laced and we come in wearing these and it's like, y'know here we are, a bit of hoedowning is even possible".
The first single, "The Celtic Soul Brothers", reached number 45 on the UK chartsBritish Hit Singles & Albums (Guiness World Records) but the follow-up, " Come On Eileen ", became a Number One hit not only in the UK, but also in the United States, where it became the biggest-selling single of 1982. Sales in the UK alone amounted to over 1.2& nbsp;million copies.
The follow-up " Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile) ", a cover of a Van Morrison tune, also reached the top 5 in the UK singles chart. The band sang this song on the UK comedy The Young Ones (TV series)|The Young Ones . When the band performed this single on the BBC TV music show Top of the Pops, instead of a picture of Jackie Wilson , the American soul singer, the band performed in front of a photo of Jocky Wilson , the Scottish darts player. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2006/06_june/20/totp.shtml Press Office - BBC says fond farewell to Top of the Pops. BBC. Retrieved on 2012-05-09.
Feeling that their role in the group had diminished following the arrival of the fiddles, the brass section of Paterson, Speare and Maurice left.Record Mirror 3 July 1982 They later formed The TKO Horns , in which Maurice was replaced by original Dexy Geoff Blythe, and most famously recorded an albums with Elvis Costello in 1983 and Howard Jones (musician)|Howard Jones in 1985. Kilkenny was replaced by John Edwards (musician)|John "Rhino" Edwards on bass and Billingham left to join General Public . 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, Dexys returned in 1985 with the 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). In an interview with HitQuarters Gatfield later described the recording process as "very long and painful".cite web |url= http://www.hitquarters.com/index.php3? page=intrview/opar/intrview_Nick_Gatfield_Interview.html |title=Interview With Nick Gatfield |publisher= HitQuarters |date=8 Oct 2007 |accessdate=30 Jun 2010
The new album brought another new look, with the band pictured on the sleeve wearing ties, pin-striped suits, and with neatly combed hair, what Rowland described as "so clean and simple; it's a much more adult approach now".
Some reviewers were highly critical,Thompson, Dave "Allmusic|class=album|id=r35273/review|pure_url=yes ''Don't Stand Me Down Review", Allmusic , Macrovision Corporation yet writing in the Melody Maker , Colin Irwin (journalist)|Colin Irwin described it as "quite the most challenging, absorbing, moving, uplifting and ultimately triumphant album of the year".cite journal|last=Irwin|first=Colin|title=Stand And Deliver|journal=Melody Maker|date=7 September 1985|year=1985|month=September
Rowland at first refused to issue any singles from the album, and by the time a 3 minute edit of the 12 minute "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 ).
19862003: Rowland solo and failed reunions
Rowland became a solo singer 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 Dexys 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 interpretations of "classic" songs called My Beauty in 1999, which received virtually no radio airplay and sold poorly. The demise of Creation Records, shortly after the album's release, meant that the planned follow-up album, which would have featured Dexys, was never made. In March 2010 Rowland said that signing to Creation was "definitely a mistake". http://www.davehaslam.com/control.php? _command=/DISPLAY/170/42//6000/30003 Dave Haslam, Author and DJ Official Site. Davehaslam.com. Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
2003-Present: Reunion and ''One Day I'm Going To Soar
In April 2003, a new six-piece incarnation of the group, with the name shortened to simply Dexysfact|date=May 2012, announced that they would be embarking on a tour. A greatest hits album, ''Let's Make This Precious , was released in September 2003, and a successful tour took place in October and November. Two newly recorded songs, "Manhood" and "My Life in England", appeared on the album and were touted as new singles. Despite airplay on national radio, neither was officially released as a commercial single.
During a June 2005 interview on BBC Radio 2 , Kevin Rowland announced that Dexys were "back in the studio" and seeking a record deal for a new album. A new track, "It's OK Johanna", appeared on the band's MySpace site in 2007, and in January 2008, Rowland told Uncut (magazine)|Uncut magazine further details about the album, saying in part: "I'm in the process of demo-ing the songs ... I don't know when it will be ready or who will play on the record. I want to get everything 100 percent right, and know that it's the best I can do and every note is there for a reason ... The only way I can be satisfied is to make the record I'm hearing in my head on my own terms."
In February 2012, Rowland officially stated the existence of a fourth studio album for the band, with the name shortened to Dexys.Cashmere, Paul (2011) " http://www.noise11.com/news/dexys-midnight-runners-return-after-27-years-20120211 Dexys sicMidnight Runners Return After 27 Years", noise11.com, 11 February 2012, retrieved 2012-04-09 The band also released a preview of "Now", the album's first track. The album is entitled '' One Day I'm Going To Soar , and the release date is set for 4 June 2012." http://www.nme.com/news/dexys-midnight-runners/61969 Dexys Midnight Runners to release first new album in 27 years", NME , 10 February 2012, retrieved 2012-04-09 The first single from the album is She Got A Wiggle , released 28 May 2012." http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/may/10/dexys-triumphant-return-soul-rebels Dexys: triumphant return of the soul rebels", The Guardian , 10 May 2012, retrieved 16-05-2012
Awards
1983 BRIT Awards Best British single (for " Come On Eileen ")
Discography
Studio albums
Year
Album details
Peak chart positions
Certifications http:/ / www.bpi.co.uk/ certifiedawards/ search.aspxhttp:/ / www.cria.ca/ cert_db_search.php Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA): Gold & Platinum. Cria.ca. Retrieved on 25 August 2011. ( List of best selling music artists
UK http:/ / www.everyhit.com/ UK Top 40 Chart Archive, British Singles & Album Charts. everyHit.com (16 March 2000). Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
NZ http:/ / charts.org.nz/ search.asp? cat=a& search=Dexys+Midnight+Runners New Zealand charts portal. charts.org.nz (19 September 1982). Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
SWE http:/ / swedishcharts.com/ search.asp? search=dexys+midnight+runners& cat=a Swedish Charts Portal. swedishcharts.com. Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
NOR http:/ / norwegiancharts.com/ search.asp? search=dexys+midnight+runners& cat=a Norwegian charts portal. norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved on 25 August 2011.
http://www.davehaslam.com/control.php? _command=/DISPLAY/170/42//6000/0 Extensive interview, March 2010, Kevin Rowland discussing Dexys Midnight Runners
http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/realmedia/radio/kevin_rowland.ram A BBC audio interview with Kevin Rowland recorded on 1 October 2003 (This is a RealAudio file, you will need a compatible media player (application software)|media player to play this file)
Dexys Midnight RunnersUK best-selling singles (by year) 19701989 Category:Musical groups established in 1978 Category:British New Wave musical groups Category:Music in Birmingham, West Midlands Category:Musical groups from Birmingham, West Midlands Category:Brit Award winners
