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Biography
Infobox musical artist| name = The Dream Academy...| image = The Dream Academy.jpg| caption = L-R: Nick Laird-Clowes, Kate St. John, and Gilbert Gabriel| image_size =| background = group_or_band| origin = London , England| genre = Folk rock , dream pop , New Wave music|New Wave http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-dream-academy-p4133/credits Allmusic.com http://newstalgia.crooksandliars.com/gordonskene/nights-roundtable-dream-academy-1986"They were considered Folk but with New Wave/New Romantic leanings and a bit of synth-pop tossed in"| years_active = 1983–1991| label = Blanco y Negro Records|Blanco y Negro , Reprise Records|Reprise , Warner Bros. Records|Warner Bros. | associated_acts = David Gilmour | website =| current_members =| past_members = Gilbert Gabriel Nick Laird-Clowes Kate St. John The Dream Academy were an England|English folk rock musical ensemble|band , comprising singing|singer / guitarist Nick Laird-Clowes ; multi-instrumentalist (chiefly oboe , Cor anglais|English horn player) Kate St John ; plus keyboardist Gilbert Gabriel . They are most noted for their hit record|hit single (music)|single , " Life in a Northern Town ".
History
Laird-Clowes and Gabriel met each other in the late 1970s whilst the former was in a band called The Act. Their idea was to create a songscape different from the power pop groups popular at the time in the UK, by mixing musical instrument|instruments and sounds that had not been done prominently before, such as String instrument|strings , Woodwind instrument|woodwind s, Percussion instrument|percussion ( timpani ), and synthesizer s. At first, Laird-Clowes and Gabriel called themselves the Politics of Pop.
Laird-Clowes met Kate St John (then of The Ravishing Beauties) at a party, and asked her to join. The trio (music)|trio settled on the name The Dream Academy and shopped their demo (music)|demos for nearly two years. Their work was rejected by every record label before finally landing a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records in 1985.citation needed|date=January 2009 Along the way, they made some close connections with Adam Peters and Pink Floyd 's David Gilmour , a friend of Laird-Clowes, who record producer|produced and/or played on two of their album s and songwriter|co-wrote one song , "Twelve-Eight Angel".
Their first single (music)|single , " Life in a Northern Town " was a worldwide success and sizeable hit record|hit in the United States|U.S. , charting at #7 on the Billboard (magazine)|Billboard Billboard Hot 100|Hot 100 record chart|chart , from an album co-produced by Gilmour.cite web |first= |last= |url=Allmusic|class=artist|id=p4133|pure_url=yes |title=Biography by Jason Ankeny |publisher=Allmusic.com |accessdate=10 January 2009 The song also made number 15 in the UK Singles Chart .cite book| first= David| last= Roberts| year= 2006| title= British Hit Singles & Albums| edition= 19th| publisher= Guinness World Records Limited| location= London| isbn= 1-904994-10-5| page= 168 The single was a tribute to the English people|English singer-songwriter Nick Drake . http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19990326/ai_n14204939 Apprentice to the stars. The Independent , 26 March 1999 It was their only major chart success. Reportedly, their record label initially did not want to release this single.citation needed|date=January 2009 They thought it needed more drum s but Laird-Clowes and Gabriel were staunch in their opinion that it was perfect.citation needed|date=January 2009 They commented on its unique sound, and feeling of a winter snowstorm created almost unintentionally by the recording looping techniques of the time.citation needed|date=January 2009 The song also was initially called "Morning Lasted All Day" but was changed when Paul Simon commented to Laird-Clowes (to whom he was giving guitar lessons) that it was not a good title.citation needed|date=January 2009 The band launched a worldwide promotional concert tour|tour based on the chart success of "Life in a Northern Town" and appeared on the television program mes Saturday Night Live , The Tonight Show , American Bandstand (with Dick Clark (entertainer)|Dick Clark ), MTV (interview with J.J. Jackson (media personality)|J.J. Jackson ), and Top of the Pops . The Dream Academy's eponymous debut album also reached a wide audience in the U.S. Their two subsequent albums did not match the initial success.
They toured once, in 1991. During the same year, Gabriel and St John decided to leave the group to pursue solo (music)|solo musical interests and projects. Laird-Clowes ultimately decided that he could not go on further under the Dream Academy name, and took some time off to travel to Southeast Asia and Africa . Shortly thereafter, he began to work with David Gilmour on lyrics for Pink Floyd's The Division Bell , before recording his solo album under the name Trashmonk. Lately, he has produced and consulted on numerous film soundtrack s and has nearly finished his sophomore Trashmonk album.citation needed|date=January 2009 All three members of the band remain active sound recording and reproduction|recording musician s, each with his or her own career. They are said to have reunited on a forthcoming album, Angels and Fools , by Gabriel's unsigned band, The Believers, on the track " Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want ", a cover version of the song by The Smiths . Gabriel has also had numerous projects since called The Excellent Staircase, Melt21, and The Daze.
"Life In A Northern Town" also formed the basis of a dance music|dance remix by Dario G entitled "Sunchyme", released in 1997 to commercial success in Europe .
http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/dream_academy/artist.jhtml VH1 artist page
DEFAULTSORT:Dream Academy, The Category:English rock music groups Category:English folk musical groups Category:British folk music groups Category:British New Wave musical groups Category:Musical groups established in 1983 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1991 Category:Warner Bros. Records artists Category:Reprise Records artists Category:Musical groups from London Category:Musical trios
ca:The Dream Academy de:The Dream Academy ja:????·????? pt:The Dream Academy sv:The Dream Academy
