Breakfast Club is an American musical group. Their biggest hit single was "
Right on Track", which peaked at no. 7 on the US
''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. The song was remixed for a commercial release in a 12" version for dance and club play by
John "Jellybean" Benitez and became a top 10 hit on the ''Billboard'' Magazine
Hot Dance Club Play
Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as th ...
chart. After 35 years of absence, the band have reformed and have released a new single in 2022 called "Could We Not Stop Dancing?".
History
The group was formed in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
in 1979 and went through several line-ups, including one in which future pop star
Madonna was the drummer. In the early 1980s, the band included Madonna, Angie Smit on bass, and the Gilroy brothers, Dan and Ed, both on guitar (Dan sang lead vocals as well).
Dan Gilroy
Daniel Christopher Gilroy (born June 24, 1959) is an American screenwriter and film director. He is best known for writing and directing '' Nightcrawler'' (2014), for which he won Best Screenplay at the 30th Independent Spirit Awards, and was n ...
was also briefly Madonna's boyfriend, and he eventually allowed her to sing some lead vocals. Madonna ultimately left to form a new band, Emmy and the Emmys.
In the mid-1980s, the band consisted of the Gilroys (with Dan exclusively on vocals, while Ed provided all guitars), Gary Burke (bass), and
Stephen Bray (drums). Both Bray and Burke previously had been Madonna's bandmates in Emmy and the Emmys.
The group signed with
ZE Records
ZE Records was originally a New York-based record label, started in 1978 by Michael Zilkha and Michel Esteban. It was reestablished by Esteban in 2003.
History
Michael Zilkha (b. 1954) is a British-born Oxford graduate of Iraqi descent, the s ...
, first issuing the non-charting single "Rico Mambo" in 1984. They later released an eponymous album in 1987 on
MCA Records
MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group.
Pre-history
MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 w ...
, which spawned the US hit "Right on Track". A majority of their music videos, including "Right on Track", were filmed by Jeff Stein, director of
the Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...
documentary ''
The Kids Are Alright''. They were nominated in the category of Best New Artist at the
Grammy Awards in 1988. Sometime after the first album, Randy Jackson (bass) joined the band, though original bassist Burke also remained in the line-up.
The band's last single was a
cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
of
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...
song "
Drive My Car" for the 1988 feature film ''
License to Drive
''License to Drive'' is a 1988 American teen comedy film written by Neil Tolkin and directed by Greg Beeman in his feature film directorial debut. It stars Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, Heather Graham, Carol Kane, Richard Masur, Michael Manasse ...
''. A second album was recorded circa 1988, but was rejected by MCA and was not issued at the time. Shortly afterwards the band broke up.
Bray co-wrote several big hits with Madonna in the 1980s. Dan Gilroy later starred in ''
Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme'' (1990) and ''
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle'' (1994).
In 2008, ''
The Daily Beast
''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008.
It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...
'' published a previously unreleased tape of the Breakfast Club. The tape included pillow talk between Dan Gilroy and Madonna, as well as several previously unheard songs such as "Tell the Truth", which she says is the first song she ever wrote.
On April 5, 2016, Breakfast Club released a new EP, ''Percolate'', which features songs from the group's unreleased second album. It was the group's first release of new material in almost three decades.
''Madonna and the Breakfast Club''
In 2019, the
docudrama film ''Madonna and the Breakfast Club'' was released on digital and on-demand platforms. Directed by Guy Guido and starring Jamie Auld as Madonna, the film explores Madonna's struggling pre-fame years in New York with the Breakfast Club leading up to her first solo record deal.
Discography
Studio albums
*1987 – ''Breakfast Club'' US #43,
AUS #26
[
]
EPs
*2016 – ''Percolate''
Singles
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Breakfast Club
American new wave musical groups
Madonna
Musical groups established in 1979
Musical groups disestablished in 1988
ZE Records artists
MCA Records artists
Musical groups from New York City