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The Synth-Pop duo Eurythmics formed in London, ENGLAND, in 1980 from
the ashes of The Tourists, a New Wave band in which Dave Stewart played
guitar and his girlfriend, Annie Lennox, was the singer; The Tourists
released three albums, scored a U.K. top 10 hit with the cover of Dusty
Springfield's "I Only Want To Be With You" and disbanded in
1980; Lennox and Stewart's romance ended as well but they decided to continue
performing together under the name Eurythmics.
That same year, the two began recording in Cologne, Germany, Eurythmics'
debut album, "In The Garden", which was issued through RCA Records
in autumn 1981.
Following the commercial fiasco of their first LP, Lennox and Stewart
returned with their breakthrough set in early 1983, "Sweet Dreams
- Are Made Of This -", the title-track of which
was a transatlantic smash, the single hit #1 on the U.S. Pop chart, reached
the #16 on Mainstream Rock chart and in their native England peaked at
#2 on the Official Singles chart; the album eventually soared to #3 in
Britain, peaked at #15 on The Billboard Top 200 chart, selling over 10
million copies worldwide, with a further American Top 40 entry and U.K.
top 10 hit in "Love Is A Stranger".
Before the year was out, Eurythmics released another effort, "Touch",
which shot to #7 on The Billboard 200 list and rocketed to #1 on the U.K.
Albums chart; it produced three American Top 40 hits including the #4
"Here Comes The Rain Again", "Who's That Girl?" and
"Right By Your Side"; all of those singles also charted in the
top 10 in Britain.
In September 1984, the duo were approached by Virgin Films and asked if
they would be willing to record the soundtrack to Michael Radford's interpretation
of George's Orwell "1984"; the album was not billed as an Original
Motion Picture Soundtrack and was released in the fall of 1984 to little
attention and even less acclaim, "1984 - For The Love Of Big Brother"
barely sneaked into the top 100 on American Billboard 200 Albums list
and made a mid-chart appearance in U.K. with only one British top 10 hit
single, "Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four)".
Eurythmics delivered their proper fourth studio album, "Be Yourself
Tonight", in May 1985; the first single, "Would I Lie To You?",
was an instant smash, hitting #5 and #2 respectively on The Billboard
Hot 100 and on The Mainstream Rock Tracks charts, it was quite successful
in U.K. where reached the #17 spot on the National Pop chart but the follow-up
single, "There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)", achieved
a career-best peak of #1 on the country's single tally as well as an equally
respectable #22 on The Billboard Hot 100. The album, which peaked at #9
in U.S. and at #3 in U.K. selling nearly 10 million units worldwide, boasted
an array of guest artists such Stevie Wonder, Elvis
Costello and Aretha Franklin who duetted with Annie Lennox on the
British top 10 hit single "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves",
the track also achieved #18 on The Billboard Hot 100; the final single,
"It's Alright (Baby's Coming Back)", reached the #12 on the
U.K. Pop chart.
The follow-up to "Be Yourself Tonight" was released just a year
later, July 1986; "Revenge" was another multi-million seller
and another British top 3 hit, in the States it was moderate hit reaching
the #18 on The Billboard 200 chart; "Missionary Man" was the
main American single, it rose to the top slot on The Mainstream Rock chart,
peaked at #14 on The Billboard Hot 100 and earned them a Grammy for Best
Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group; two singles, "When Tomorrow Comes"
and "The Miracle Of Love", charted in the U.K. top 30 and "Thorn
In My Side" had nudged higher to #5.
The duo's sixth studio record, "Savage", was released in the
fall of 1987, it didn't halt their commercial decline; in the U.S. the
album failed to enter the top 40 on The Billboard 200 and generated only
one Mainstream Rock Top 40 single with "I Need A Man"; in the
U.K. "Savage" hit #7 on the Official Albums chart but failed
to generate a substantial hit single.
Two years later "We Too Are One" shot to #1 on the British Albums
chart spawning four U.K. top 30 singles: "Revival", "The
King And Queen Of America", "Angel" and "Don't Ask
Me Why", the latter of which peaked at #12 on The Modern Rock Tracks
and hit #40 on The Billboard Hot 100 taking the album into the top 40
as well.
At this point, Lennox and Stewart decided to put Eurythmics on hiatus,
the guitarist+composer & producer put together a new band, Dave Stewart
& The Spiritual Cowboys, releasing the soundtrack to a fairly unknown
film, "Lily Was Here" which was followed by two more studio
albums throughout the early '90s.
May 1991 saw the release of the Eurythmics' retrospective compilation
simply titled "Greatest Hits", the set shot to #1 on the U.K.
Albums Sales chart.
After the birth of her first daughter, Lola, Annie Lennox returned to
the music scene in 1992 with her debut solo album, "Diva". Three
years later both Stewart and Lennox released solo albums, but as the century
came to a close they reconvened to record a new Eurythmics album, "Peace";
the duo's first album in ten years quickly rose to #4 in U.K. upon its
October 1999 release, while the lead single, "I Saved the World Today",
reached the #11 on the National Pop Singles chart; in America "Peace"
peaked at #25 on The Billboard 200 list and its main single reached the
#12 and #40 spots respectively on The Modern Rock chart and on The Billboard
Hot 100; the second single, "17 Again", which was a huge club
favorite, helped the album go double-platinum.
Lennox delivered her third solo album, "Bare", in mid-2003.
Eurythmics released in October 2005 a new single titled "I've Got
A Life"; this is one of the two new songs on the duo's greatest-hits
set "Ultimate Collection".
Eurythmics biography is an exclusive of 100xr.com
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