Del Amitri is a Scottish

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band formed in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

in 1980. They are best known for their 1990 single " Nothing Ever Happens", which reached No. 11 in the UK, and their 1995 hit " Roll to Me", which reached the top 10 in both Canada and the United States. They have released seven studio albums, five of which have reached the UK top 10. Del Amitri has sold over six million albums worldwide.

History

Band name

Del Amitri's founding member and main songwriter, Justin Currie, explained in 2010 that the band's name "was invented to be meaningless – basically a corruption of the Greek name 'Dimitri'." In 2018, Currie clarified that 'Del Amitri' is a bastardisation of the name of a film producer who appeared in the

closing credits Closing credits, aka end credits or end titles, are a list of the cast and crew of a particular motion picture, television show, or video game. While opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear close to or at th ...

of a film he saw in 1979: "probably Dimitri-something, but we couldn't remember... so eventually through osmosis or maybe

Chinese Whispers Telephone (American English and Canadian English), or Chinese whispers (some Commonwealth English), is an internationally popular children's game in which messages are whispered from person to person and then the original and final messages are ...

'Dimitri' became 'Del Amitri'." Many sources have repeated a claim that the name was chosen because it is

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

for "from the womb", but this is untrue.

Formation and early years (1980-1984)

Del Amitri grew out of Justin Currie's Jordanhill College School band whose original members were Currie (bass and vocals), James Scobbie (guitars), Donald Bentley (guitars) and Paul Tyagi (drums).

''Del Amitri'' (1985)

In 1984, Del Amitri signed a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

with

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British independent record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ell ...

, which released their eponymous debut studio album in 1985.

''Waking Hours'' (1989)

As recording started for what would become Del Amitri's second studio album, the line-up changed. Currie and Harvie invited keyboard player Andy Alston to join the band and fired both guitarist Bryan Tolland and drummer Paul Tyagi. Tolland was replaced in the studio by

Mick Slaven Michael Slaven (born 4 December 1961) is a session guitarist and record producer from Glasgow, Scotland. A former gardener at the University of Glasgow, Slaven became the guitarist for Bourgie Bourgie in the 1980s, and was briefly a member of ...

and Tyagi by the Commotions' Stephen Irvine. However, Slaven and Irvine chose not to join the band full-time and were replaced by David Cummings and Brian McDermott, respectively. Released in 1989, ''Waking Hours'' reached No. 6 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

and gave the band their most successful UK single, " Nothing Ever Happens", which peaked at No. 11. They also gained some mainstream exposure abroad for the first time, as ''Waking Hours'' was a success in several territories with the single "Kiss This Thing Goodbye" flirting with the lower reaches of the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100's

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

. In between ''Waking Hours'' and their next album, the band released the single "Spit in the Rain", which reached No. 21 in the UK.

''Change Everything'' (1992)

The line-up of Currie, Harvie, Alston, Cummings and McDermott proved to be stable and successful. They stayed together to record the follow-up album '' Change Everything'', which was released in 1992 and became the band's biggest chart success, reaching No. 2 in the UK, being held off top spot only by

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of the Motown group Commodores; writing and recor ...

's best-of collection, '' Back to Front''. The single "Always the Last to Know" peaked at No. 13 in the UK, and again provided them with an entry into Top 40 in the US. The video for the song was directed by Oil Factory's Pedro Romhanyi. Their increasing success in the US led to appearances on the television show ''

Late Night with David Letterman ''Late Night with David Letterman'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the first installment of the '' Late Night''. Hosted by David Letterman, it aired from February1, 1982 to June 25, 1993, and was replaced by ...

'' and the

Woodstock '94 Woodstock '94 was an American music festival held in 1994 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original Woodstock festival of 1969. It was promoted as "2 More Days of Peace and Music". The poster used to promote the first concert was r ...

anniversary festival.

''Twisted'' (1995)

'' Twisted'' was released in 1995 and peaked at No. 3 in the UK. Ash Soan joined the band as a permanent member after touring with them on drums starting in 1994; although on the album, drums were played by Chris Sharrock. The single " Roll to Me", only a moderate hit in the UK where it reached No. 22, reached the Top 10 in the US charts; this was a noteworthy achievement during an era when British acts were finding success in the US difficult.

''Some Other Sucker's Parade'' (1997)

Del Amitri's fifth studio album, '' Some Other Sucker's Parade'', was released in 1997 and reached No. 6 in the UK chart. The band found it harder to capitalise on their previous successes in the US, however, and lost out on more airplay at home when their record company took the decision to withdraw the album's planned third single "Medicine" in September 1997, putting out a false press story that the lyrics could be interpreted as a critique of the then recently deceased

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William, ...

. Five years passed before Del Amitri released another album. In 1998, however, they recorded the official anthem for the

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

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squad, " Don't Come Home Too Soon". It reached No. 15 on the charts, becoming their third biggest UK hit and their last Top 20 entry to date. They also released a best of album, '' Hatful of Rain: The Best of Del Amitri'', which was a No. 5 success in the UK Albums Chart and was accompanied by a new track, "Cry to Be Found", which reached No. 40.

''Can You Do Me Good?'' (2002)

The album '' Can You Do Me Good?'' was released in the spring of 2002. Both the album and the single "Just Before You Leave", reached the Top 40. The band then went on hiatus.

Reunion tours (2014, 2018)

On 18 August 2013, during an interview with

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in Britain for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekday brea ...

on his

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

programme, Currie hinted at a Del Amitri reunion. A UK tour was subsequently announced. As part of the tour, the band played to 8,000 people in the

SSE Hydro The OVO Hydro is a multi-purpose indoor arena located within the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow, Scotland. The arena was initially named The Scottish Hydro Arena after its main sponsor Scottish Hydro Electric. During construction, Scottish ...

, Glasgow on 24 January 2014. A live album, called ''Into the Mirror'', was released following the tour. Del Amitri reformed again in July 2018, playing eight dates in seven UK cities. Their live set included a new song, "You Can't Go Back", and a cover of

Twenty One Pilots Twenty One Pilots is an American musical duo from Columbus, Ohio. Initially a band, the group was formed in 2009 by lead vocalist Tyler Joseph along with Nick Thomas and Chris Salih, who both left in 2011. Since their departure, the line-up h ...

' hit song, " Heathens". In July 2018, Currie said that a new group album and further activity was possible.

''Fatal Mistakes'' (2021)

On 2 March 2020, drummer Ash Soan revealed that work on Del Amitri's seventh studio album had begun at Vada Studios in Cookhill,

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

. On 8 April, Justin Currie confirmed that the band finished recording the album "the night before the UK-wide lockdown" began on 24 March, and that they expected to tour in January 2021, following a one-off free show in December 2020 for

NHS Scotland NHS Scotland, sometimes styled NHSScotland, is the publicly–funded healthcare system in Scotland and one of the four systems that make up the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. It operates 14 territorial NHS boards across Scotland ...

workers. On 5 May via a short video clip, the band announced that they had signed to

Cooking Vinyl Cooking Vinyl is a British independent record label, based in Acton, London, England. It was founded in 1986 by former manager and booking agent Martin Goldschmidt and his business partner Pete Lawrence. Goldschmidt remains the current owner an ...

. In November 2020, the band announced new single "Close Your Eyes and Think of England" and released the album title ''Fatal Mistakes.'' The album was released by Cooking Vinyl on 28 May 2021 alongside bonus album ''Outtakes & B-side'' (the latter of which is available for a limited period with the parent album). In its first week of release, ''Fatal Mistakes'' landed at No. 5 on the

UK Album Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Offici ...

, marking the band's sixth album to reach the UK Top 10. Del Amitri announced a tour in support of ''Fatal Mistakes'' will begin in September 2021'','' concluding with a hometown show at Glasgow on 20 December 2021. Del Amitri 27

Del Amitri announced through their

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

that a new documentary on the band had been made entitled "You Can't Go Back". The film is set to premiere on British TV channel

Sky Arts Sky Arts (originally launched as Artsworld) is a British free-to-air television channel offering 24 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, films, documentaries and music (such as opera perfor ...

on September 4.

''Every Night Has a Dawn'' (2022)

On 12 December 2022, Justin Currie and Ian Harvie appeared at the launch of the

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

disc ''Every Night Has a Dawn'' at the

Glasgow Film Theatre The Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) is an independent cinema in the city centre of Glasgow. It occupies a purpose-built cinema building, first opened in 1939, and now protected as a category B listed building. History and architecture Predecesso ...

where they took part in a Q&A session following the showing of excerpts of the film which was recorded live at the

Barrowland Ballroom The Barrowland Ballroom (also known as ''Barrowland'' and ''The Barras'') is an entertainment venue, dance hall and music venue located in the Calton district in Glasgow, Scotland. A prominent feature of the music scene in Glasgow, the venue ...

in Glasgow on the third night of a tour finale on 11 June 2022.

Simple Minds Tour (2024)

The band joined the

Simple Minds Simple Minds are a Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in Glasgow in 1977, becoming best known internationally for their song "Don't You (Forget About Me)" (1985), which topped the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Billboard Hot 100, Hot 100 ...

2024 World Tour, for the UK and European legs, with dates between 15 March in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

to 29 March in

plus European shows in Luxembourg, Holland, Denmark, Germany, France and Italy.

Members

;Current members * Justin Currie – lead vocals, bass, acoustic guitar (1980–2002, 2013–present) * Iain Harvie – guitar, backing vocals, occasional bass (1982–2002, 2013–present) * Andy Alston – keyboards, accordion (1989–2002, 2013–present) * Ashley Soan – drums, percussion (1994–1997, 2013–present) *

Kris Dollimore Kris Dollimore (born 2 January 1966) is an English rock guitarist, who is best known for being a founding member of the Godfathers as well as a member of the Damned and Del Amitri. He also performs and records as a solo artist. Biography Kri ...

– guitar, backing vocals, occasional bass (1997–2002, 2013–present) ;Former members * Donald Bentley – guitar, backing vocals (1980–1982) * James Scobbie – guitar, backing vocals (1980–1982) * Paul Tyagi – drums, percussion (1981–1988) * Bryan Tolland – guitar, backing vocals (1982–1987) *

– guitar, backing vocals (1988–1989) * Brian McDermott – drums, percussion (1989–1994) * David Cummings – guitar, backing vocals (1989–1995) * Jon McLoughlin – guitar, backing vocals (1996–1997, died 2005) *

Mark Price William Mark Price (born February 15, 1964) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. The last coaching job he held was as head coach of the Charlotte 49ers men's basketball, Charlotte 49ers. As a four-time NBA All-Star and ...

– drums, percussion (1997–2002) ;Timeline ImageSize = width:900 height:400 PlotArea = left:150 bottom:100 top:0 right:50 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1980 till:01/03/2023 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:vocals value:red legend:Lead_vocals,_bass,_acoustic_guitar id:guitar value:green legend:Guitar,_backing_vocals id:drums value:orange legend:Drums,_percussion id:keyboards value:purple legend:Keyboards,_accordion id:lines value:black legend:Albums Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:1980 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1980 LineData = at:01/07/1985 color:black layer:back at:01/07/1989 color:black layer:back at:09/06/1992 color:black layer:back at:28/02/1995 color:black layer:back at:24/06/1997 color:black layer:back at:08/04/2002 color:black layer:back at:30/04/2021 color:black layer:back BarData = bar:Justin text:"Justin Currie" bar:Donald text:"Donald Bentley" bar:James text:"James Scobbie" bar:Iain text:"Iain Harvie" bar:Bryan text:"Bryan Tolland" bar:Mick text:"Mick Slaven" bar:David text:"David Cummings" bar:Jon text:"Jon McLoughlin" bar:Kris text:"Kris Dollimore" bar:Paul text:"Paul Tyagi" bar:Brian text:"Brian McDermott" bar:Ashley text:"Ashley Soan" bar:Mark text:"Mark Price" bar:Andy text:"Andy Alston" PlotData= width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Justin from:01/01/1980 till:31/08/2002 color:vocals bar:Justin from:01/09/2013 till:end color:vocals bar:Donald from:01/01/1980 till:31/12/1981 color:guitar bar:Iain from:01/01/1982 till:31/08/2002 color:guitar bar:Iain from:01/09/2013 till:end color:guitar bar:James from:01/01/1980 till:31/12/1981 color:guitar bar:Bryan from:01/01/1982 till:31/12/1987 color:guitar bar:Mick from:01/01/1988 till:28/02/1989 color:guitar bar:David from:01/07/1989 till:31/10/1995 color:guitar bar:Jon from:01/10/1996 till:28/06/1997 color:guitar bar:Kris from:01/07/1997 till:31/08/2002 color:guitar bar:Kris from:01/09/2013 till:end color:guitar bar:Paul from:01/01/1981 till:31/12/1988 color:drums bar:Brian from:01/07/1989 till:31/03/1994 color:drums bar:Ashley from:01/06/1994 till:28/02/1997 color:drums bar:Ashley from:01/09/2013 till:end color:drums bar:Mark from:01/07/1997 till:31/08/2002 color:drums bar:Andy from:01/01/1989 till:31/08/2002 color:keyboards bar:Andy from:01/09/2013 till:end color:keyboards

Discography

Studio albums

* ''

del Amitri Del Amitri is a Scottish alternative rock band formed in Glasgow in 1980. They are best known for their 1990 single "Nothing Ever Happens" which reached No. 11 in the UK, and their 1995 hit "Roll to Me", which charted in the top 10 in both Can ...

'' (1985) * ''

Waking Hours ''Waking Hours'' is the second studio album by Scottish alternative rock band Del Amitri, released in July 1989 by A&M Records. It reached number 6 in the UK Albums Chart and featured one of the band's most famous songs, " Nothing Ever Happens", ...

'' (1989) * '' Change Everything'' (1992) * '' Twisted'' (1995) * '' Some Other Sucker's Parade'' (1997) * '' Can You Do Me Good?'' (2002) * '' Fatal Mistakes'' (2021)

Compilation albums

* '' The Best of Del Amitri: Hatful of Rain'' (1998) * '' Lousy with Love: The B-Sides'' (1998) * ''20th Century Masters – The Best of Del Amitri'' (2003) * ''The Collection: Best of Del Amitri'' (2007)

Live albums

* ''Into the Mirror: Del Amitri Live in Concert'' (2014) * ''Every Night Has a Dawn'' (2022)

References

External links

*
Currie's official website
* * * {{Authority control Musical groups from Glasgow Scottish pop rock music groups Scottish power pop groups Scottish alternative rock groups Musical groups established in 1980 Musical groups disestablished in 2002 Musical groups reestablished in 2013 A&M Records artists Chrysalis Records artists Cooking Vinyl artists Mercury Records artists Articles which contain graphical timelines