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The Cure, one of the most popular and acclaimed Pop-Rock band of the
last two decades, was formed in 1976 in Crawley, ENGLAND, as The Easy
Cure by the 17-years-old frontman singer+guitarist Robert Smith, with
schoolmates bassist Michael Dempsey, guitarist Porl Thompson and drummer
Laurence 'Lol' Tolhurst.
They began writing their own songs and recording a demo featuring "Killing
An Arab" and "10:15 Saturday Night".
In early 1978 Thompson had left the group, which renamed itself The Cure,
in December the three-piece issued their first official debut record,
"Killing An Arab" and the group's debut full-length album, "Three
Imaginary Boys", was released in May of 1979, it entered the top
50 of The U.K. Albums chart; followed, that same year, two singles, "Boys
Don't Cry" and "Jumping Someone Else's Train", during 1980
"Boys Don't Cry" was a minor success in the States, the album
"Three Imaginary Boys" was reworked and renamed "Boys Don't
Cry", around the same time Dempsey was replaced by Simon Gallup on
bass and keyboardist Matthieu Hartley joined the group.
"Seventeen Seconds", which arrived in the spring of 1980, became
a top 20 hit in The U.K. Albums chart, its single, "Forest",
was a modest commercial success in the States and in their homeland.
After the first U.S. and Australian tours the band released 1981's "Faith"
which gained the same notoriety of its predecessor.
The follow-up, "Pornography", was issued in May of 1982, it
ranked in the top 10 of The U.K. Albums chart; after this, a period of
instability in the line-up followed, Hartley left the band and Gallup
was fired; Smith and Tolhurst continued releasing three top 20 U.K. Electro-Pop
hit singles: "Let's Go To Bed", "The Walk" and "The
Love Cats".
In 1984 Robert Smith released a bizarre album titled "The Top",
on which he played all of the instruments except for drums.
The next year, The Cure, completely revitalized, returned with Robert
Smith on vocals+guitar, Porl Thompson on guitar, Lol Tolhurst on keyboards,
Simon Gallup on bass and Boris Williams on drums; they recorded "The
Head On The Door", their breakthrough commercial LP which crashed
into the top 10 in U.K. chart and broke The Billboard Top 200 reaching
the #59 spot, the single "In Between Days" has cracked The Billboard
Hot 100 and entered the top 20 on The National U.K. Singles chart, another
single cut, "Close To Me", scored similar commercial success.
In 1986 was released the retrospective compilation "Standing On The
Beach: The Singles", which went gold in the States and reached the
#4 in British chart.
In 1987, The Cure issued an ambitious double-album entitled "Kiss
Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me", it peaked at #35 on Billboard's Top 200 chart
and saw a marked increase in sales in Europe thanks to the singles "Why
Can't I Be You?", "Catch", "Hot Hot Hot!!!" and
"Just Like Heaven".
Two years later the band returned with their eighth album, around this
time Roger O'Donnell replaced Tolhurst, on keyboards; "Disintegration"
hit #3 in U.K. Albums chart and reached the #12 on The Billboard 200 chart
spawning their biggest U.K. hit single to date, "Lullaby", plus
"Lovesong" which rose to #2 on both The Billboard Hot 100 and
Modern Rock Tracks charts, "Fascination Street" topped The Modern
Rock chart and "Pictures Of You" ranked in the top 20 in the
same chart.
When the group returned to England, after the 1989's world tour named
The Prayer Tour, O'Donnell left and was replaced by Perry Bamonte; The
Cure recorded a new single, "Never Enough", for the 1990 remix
compilation, "Mixed Up", the set debuted at #14 The Billboard
200 chart; the single took off peaking at #1 on Modern Rock chart.
Two years later the band issued "Wish" which was hailed as The
Cure's best work to date, in a few weeks went to #1 on Official U.K. Albums
chart, later peaked at #2 on Billboard's Top 200 and generated two Modern
Rock Tracks chart topper, "High" and the transatlantic multi-platinum
smash "Friday I'm In Love" plus "A Letter To Elise"
which hit #2 spot in the same chart.
Porl Thompson left the band in 1993, the keysman Roger O'Donnell re-joined
and Bamonte switched on guitar, subsequently Williams split in 1995 and
the group entered the studio with the new drummer Jason Cooper working
on "Wild Mood Swings", this album has never failed to reach
the top 20 in U.S. chart spawning another two Modern Rock Tracks top 20
hits: "Mint Car" and "The 13th".
The next year saw the release of "Galore", the second singles
retrospective featured the new song "Wrong Number", the track
climbed into the top 10 of The Modern Rock chart.
The band resurfaced with an album of new material in early 2000, "Bloodflowers"
peaked at #16 in U.S. Top 200 chart and its main single, "Maybe Someday",
ranked in the top 10 of Billboard's Modern Rock chart.
In late 2001, they released, "Greatest Hits", featuring 16 of
their most popular singles of their entire career plus two new songs including
the hit "Cut Here".
In mid-2004 The Cure returned in action with the release of the eponymous
13th album, the first on Geffen Records, it climbed into the top 10 of
The Billboard Top 200 chart.
The Cure biography is an exclusive of 100xr.com
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