The Fixx

The Fixx are an English New Wave band. They are one of the few such bands to have enjoyed significant success outside their country of origin (in their case, notably in the United States and Canada) while remaining almost unknown in their home land. The band is best known for their song "One Thing Leads to Another", from their most successful album Reach the Beach in 1983. Their other hits include "Red Skies", "Stand or Fall", "Saved by Zero", "Sign of Fire", "Are We Ourselves?", "Secret Separation", "Driven Out", "How Much Is Enough?" and "Deeper and Deeper", which was featured on the soundtrack of Streets of Fire. "A Letter to Both Sides" appears on the Fletch soundtrack.

Biography

Formation and early years as The Portraits and The Fix (1979-1981)

College friends Cy Curnin on vocals and Adam Woods on drums formed the group in London in 1979, initially calling themselves The Portraits. The pair placed an ad for additional members, and recruited keyboardist Rupert Greenall, guitarist Tony McGrail and bassist Charlie Barret. Under the name The Portraits the band issued two singles for Ariola Records: "Little Women" (1979), and "Hazards In The Home" (1980). Neither single charted.

Later in 1980, McGrail left. At this point, the band added guitarist Jamie West-Oram and changed their name to The Fix. This iteration of the band recorded for 101 Records, releasing their first single ("Lost Planes") in February 1981

. This track, along with several live tracks issued by 101 on various compilations, received some radio exposure on the BBC.

The Fix's raised profile eventually led to the group being offered a contract by MCA Records. Worried about the potential drug-user impilcation of the band's name, MCA insisted on a name change before signing them to the label. A compromise was reached as the band altered the spelling of their name to The Fixx, and a deal was duly inked.

The RCA and MCA years (1982-1991)

Barret left The Fixx just after the recording of their first album, Shuttered Room, in 1982. This album featured the band's initial hits, "Stand or Fall" and "Red Skies", both of which charted in the US and the UK, albeit outside of the top 50. (They would be the band's only charting singles ever in the UK.) The band found particular success in Canada, where "Stand Or Fall" was a top ten hit.

Barret was replaced on bass by Alfie Agius for the Shuttered Room tour. Agius' stay in the band was short-lived, though, as he left during the 1983 recording of their next album Reach The Beach, after having recorded three tracks. Agius is credited as co-writer on all the album's tracks, but the group for this album was officially credited as a quartet (Curnin, Greenall, West-Oram and Woods).

Reach The Beach became (and remains) the group's most commercially successful album. Agius' bass work is featured on the album's first two singles "Saved By Zero" and "One Thing Leads to Another". . Both these singles cracked the US top 40, and "One Thing Leads To Another" became the band's biggest-ever hit (#3 Canada, #4 US, and #33 Australia). Bassist Dan K. Brown performed on one album track, which was also the third US top 40 single from the album: "The Sign of Fire". Brown filled the bass spot in the Fixx for the subsequent tour, and was promoted to full membership status in the band. He stayed with The Fixx until 1994.

The 1984 album Phantoms contained the hits "Are We Ourselves" and "Sunshine In The Shade". Another song from the period, "Deeper And Deeper", was released as the B-side of "Are We Ourselves" (and also appeared in an edited version on the soundtrack for the film Streets of Fire). This track received substantial airplay on US modern rock radio stations.

In 1985 The Fixx recorded the song "A Letter To Both Sides" for the soundtrack of the film Fletch. The next year the released their fourth album Walkabout, containing "Secret Separation" (#1 on Billboard Magazine's "Album Rock" chart) and "Built For The Future". The 1987 album React, containing both live and new studio material, was the group's least successful album so far, leading to the end of their contract with MCA Records.

1988 saw their return with a new album Calm Animals and a new label RCA Records. This album contained another U.S. hit "Driven Out" (another #1 on Billboard's "Album Rock" chart.)

The band resigned to MCA for their next album, 1991's Ink. The album featured "How Much Is Enough?" (#27 Canada, #35 US), their last top 40 hit to date.

The post-major label years (1992-present)

The group was dropped again by MCA in 1992, and from this point on recorded for a series of independent labels.

Dan K. Brown was replaced on bass in 1994 by Chris Tait. This line up recorded 1998's Elemental and the 1999 album 1011 Woodland. This last album consisted of re-recordings of previous hits and album tracks.

Tait was then replaced by Gary Tibbs, formerly of Roxy Music, The Vibrators, and Adam and the Ants.

In 2002, The Fixx performed a cover version of Nancy Sinatra's 1960s classic "These Boots are Made for Walking" for a special album called When Pigs Fly, which featured unique remakes of songs from the 1960s through the 1990s.

In 2003, the band released their ninth studio album, Want That Life.

Long-time bassist Dan K. Brown re-joined the band in 2008, replacing Tibbs. The Fixx regularly tour the U.S., and recently celebrated 25 years of making music together, accompanied by the release of the 2 CD set Twentyfifth Anniversary Anthology compilation. Cy Curnin can often be found on stage with a glass of wine in his right hand and an egg shaker in the left.

The Fixx are recording their 10th studio album due for release in 2010.

Discography

Studio Albums

Shuttered Room (1982) #106 US, #54 UK, #77 AUS
Reach the Beach (1983) #8 US, #91 UK, #9 CAN
Phantoms (1984) #19 US, #15 CAN
Walkabout (1986) #30 US
Calm Animals (1988) #72 US
Ink (1991) #111 US
Elemental (1998)
1011 Woodland (1999) (re-recordings and new live versions of the band's past hits, somewhat of a compilation)
Want That Life (2003)

Live albums

React (1987) #110 US (Also includes three original studio songs and a remake of "Red Skies")
In Concert (King Biscuit Flower Hour) (1995)
Real Time Stood Still (1997)
Stand or Fall (2004) (European reissue of 'In Concert (King Biscuit Flower Hour)'

Compilation albums

Greatest Hits - One Thing Leads To Another (1989)
Missing Links (1994) (Previously unreleased tracks and remixes)
Ultimate Collection: The Fixx (1999)
Elemental + 1011 Woodland (1999) (German 3CD large jewel-cased reissue of both albums)
20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of the Fixx (2000)
Extended Versions (2000) (selected tracks from '1011 Woodland' - NOT the original extended versions)
Happy Landings and Lost Tracks (2001) (alternate takes from the Elemental sessions)
Then And Now: The Fixx (2002) (selected tracks from 'Elemental' and '1011 Woodland')
Stage One (2004) (New versions of hits and album tracks. Exclusively sold at live shows)
Twentyfifth Anniversary Anthology (2005)

Singles

§: Originally appearing on the "Streets of Fire" soundtrack, "Deeper and Deeper" can now also be found on the reissue of "Reach The Beach".
‡: The official Billboard web database has some errors in it and differs from the original print issues, including listing "Are We Ourselves?" as having peaked at #2 on the rock chart when in fact it spent two weeks at #1.
O: The 2000 "One Thing Leads To Another" remix was listed as #4 on the Top 5 Dance/Clubplay Breakouts List. This list features tracks with future potential to hit the Top 50 and can be considered a Bubbling Under chart for the Top 50.

Sources:

Australian charts at australian-charts.com (see pre 1989 chart thread at [1] )
Canadian charts archived at [2]
US charts: All information taken from Billboard Magazine Archive Print Issues.

In popular culture

"One Thing Leads To Another" appears in an episode of the TV series Knight Rider.
"One Thing Leads To Another" appeared in the popular videogame Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, playing on Pop radio station Flash FM.
"One Thing Leads To Another" was featured in an advertisement for the television show Lie to Me.
Cy and Jamie both appear in Tina Turner's "Better Be Good to Me" music video, which is produced by Rupert Hine, who worked on early The Fixx albums.
"Saved By Zero" appears in a national American television commercial for Toyota.
Samantha, the lead character in the 2009 Horror film The House of the Devil listens to "One Thing Leads To Another" on her walkman.

Signed Music Artists

Biography