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The Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 100 million records worldwide and were listed as the most successful duo in UK music history in the 1999 edition of '' The Guinness Book of Records''. Pet Shop Boys have achieved 42 top 30 singles, including 22 top-10 hits on the UK singles chart, including four UK number-ones: " West End Girls" (also number one on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100), " It's a Sin", a synth-pop version of "Always on My Mind", and "Heart". Other hit songs include a cover of " Go West", and their own " Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)", and " What Have I Done to Deserve This?" in a duet with Dusty Springfield. With five US top 10 singles in the 1980s, they are associated with the Second British Invasion. Pet Shop Boys have won three Brit Awards and have been nominated for Grammy Awards. At the 2009 Brit Awards in London, they receive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neil Tennant
Neil Francis Tennant (born 10 July 1954) is an English singer, songwriter and music journalist, and co-founder of the synth-pop duo the Pet Shop Boys, which he formed with Chris Lowe in 1981. He was a journalist for '' Smash Hits'', and assistant editor for the magazine in the mid-1980s. Tennant coined the phrase imperial phase to describe the period in which a musical artist is regarded to be at their commercial and creative peak simultaneously. This observation was initially self-referential, made as the Pet Shop Boys had achieved commercial success with four British number one hits (" West End Girls", " It's a Sin", "Heart", and "Always on My Mind"), had received critical praise for their first three albums and had expanded their creative horizons through innovative collaborations in the visual and performing arts. Biography Early life Neil Francis Tennant was born in the town of North Shields, approximately 8 miles east of Newcastle upon Tyne, to William W. Tennant (1923� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astralwerks
Astralwerks (or Astralwerks Records) is an American record label primarily focused on electronic music that is now owned by Universal Music Group. Its material is distributed via Capitol Music Group in the United States. The label was founded in 1993 and, in its early years, featured prominent British acts like The Future Sound of London, Fatboy Slim and The Chemical Brothers. In recent years, its roster has expanded to include acts like Halsey, Marshmello, Porter Robinson, Illenium, Zhu and numerous others. In 2018, Astralwerks' headquarters were moved from its original home of New York City to Los Angeles. History Astralwerks was founded in New York City in July 1993 by Brian Long as an electronic and dance imprint of Caroline Records. Long had previously helped curate an electronic music compilation that was released on Caroline called ''Excursions in Ambience''. Caroline's parent company, Virgin Records, sold the label to Thorn EMI soon after Astralwerks' foundation. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heart (Pet Shop Boys Song)
"Heart" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their second studio album, '' Actually'' (1987). It was released as the album's fourth and final single on 21 March 1988 by Parlophone. The song topped the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in April 1988, becoming the duo's fourth and final number one single to date in the United Kingdom. The music video was filmed in Slovenia; it was directed by Jack Bond and starred Ian McKellen as a vampire. Background and composition The genesis of the song goes back to the recording sessions for the duo's first album '' Please'' (1986) at Advision Studios. Neil Tennant wrote the opening verse on the way to the studio, and Chris Lowe composed the music on the piano. They were inspired by the song " I Like You" by Phyllis Nelson, which was mixed by Shep Pettibone. Originally, the duo had considered offering "Heart" to hi-NRG singer Hazell Dean, and they also thought it suited Madonna, but they ultimately kept it for themsel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Always On My Mind
"Always on My Mind" is a Sentimental ballad, ballad written by Wayne Carson, Johnny Christopher, and Mark James (songwriter), Mark James, first recorded by Brenda Lee and first released by Gwen McCrae (as "You Were Always on My Mind") in March 1972. Lee's version was released three months later in June 1972. The song has been a crossover hit, charting in both the country and western and Pop music, pop categories. Elvis Presley's recording was the first commercially successful version of the song. AllMusic lists more than 300 recorded releases of the song in versions by dozens of performers. While Lee's version reached no. 45 on the US country chart in 1972, other performers reached the Top 20 on the country and/or pop charts in the United States and elsewhere with their own versions: Elvis Presley (1972, US country; UK pop Top Ten); John Wesley Ryles (1979, US country) and Willie Nelson's Grammy Award-winning version (1982, US/Canada country number one; US/Canada pop Top Ten) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
It's A Sin
"It's a Sin" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their second studio album, '' Actually'' (1987). Written by Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant, the song was released on 15 June 1987 as the album's lead single. It became the duo's second number-one single on the UK Singles Chart, spending three weeks atop the chart. Additionally, the single topped the charts in Austria, Denmark, Finland, West Germany, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Zimbabwe, while reaching number nine on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It remains one of Pet Shop Boys' most popular songs with 40 million streams in the UK. Background "It's a Sin" was written in 1982 at Ray Roberts' studio in Camden, where Lowe and Tennant worked on songs in their early years. Their original demo was one of the songs Tennant brought to his meeting with New York record producer Bobby Orlando. Pet Shop Boys made another demo with Orlando in 1984, but it was never released. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billboard Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), online streaming, and radio airplay in the U.S. A new chart is compiled and released online to the public by ''Billboard''s website on Tuesdays but post-dated to the following Saturday, when the printed magazine first reaches newsstands. The weekly tracking period for sales is currently Friday–Thursday, after being changed in July 2015. It was initially Monday–Sunday when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991. This tracking period also applies to compiling online streaming data. Radio airplay is readily available on a real-time basis, unlike sales figures and streaming, but is also tracked on the same Friday–Thursday cycle, effective with the chart dated July 17, 2021. Previously, radio was tracked Monday–Sunday and, before Ju ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West End Girls
"West End Girls" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. Written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, the song was released twice as a single. The song's lyrics are concerned with class and the pressures of inner-city life in London which were inspired partly by T. S. Eliot's poem ''The Waste Land''. It was generally well received by contemporary music critics and has been frequently cited as a highlight in the duo's career. The first version of the song was produced by Bobby Orlando and was released on Columbia Records' Bobcat Records imprint in April 1984, becoming a club hit in the United States and some European countries. After the duo signed with EMI, the song was re-recorded with producer Stephen Hague for their first studio album, ''Please (Pet Shop Boys album), Please''. In October 1985, the new version was released, reaching number one in the United Kingdom and the United States in 1986. In 1987, the song won Best Single at the Brit Awards, and Best Internat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Top 30
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. "Top 40" or "contemporary hit radio" is also a radio format. History According to producer Richard Fatherley, Todd Storz was the inventor of the format, at his radio station KOWH in Omaha, Nebraska. Storz invented the format in the early 1950s, using the number of times a record was played on jukeboxes to compose a weekly list for broadcast. The format was commercially successful, and Storz and his father Robert, under the name of the Storz Broadcasting Company, subsequently acquired other stations to use the new Top 40 format. In 1989, Todd Storz was inducted into the Nebraska Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame. The term "Top 40", describing a radio format, appeared in 1960. The Top 40, whether surveyed by a radio station or a publicati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Guinness Book Of Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listing world records both of human achievements and the extremes of the natural world. Sir Hugh Beaver created the concept, and twin brothers Norris and Ross McWhirter co-founded the book in London in August 1955. The first edition topped the bestseller list in the United Kingdom by Christmas 1955. The following year the book was launched internationally, and as of the 2025 edition, it is now in its 70th year of publication, published in 100 countries and 40 languages, and maintains over 53,000 records in its database. The international franchise has extended beyond print to include television series and museums. The popularity of the franchise has resulted in ''Guinness World Records'' becoming the primary international source for catal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Synth-pop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic music, electronic, art rock, disco, and particularly the Krautrock of bands like Kraftwerk. It arose as a distinct genre in Japan and the United Kingdom in the post-punk era as part of the New wave music, new wave movement of the late 1970s. Electronic musical synthesizers that could be used practically in a recording studio became available in the mid-1960s, and the mid-1970s saw the rise of electronic art musicians. After the breakthrough of Gary Numan in the UK Singles Chart in 1979, large numbers of artists began to enjoy success with a synthesizer-based sound in the early 1980s. In Japan, Yellow Magic Orchestra introduced the TR-808 rhythm machine to popular music, and the band ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recordings in January 1948, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most important American labels, specializing in jazz, R&B, and soul by Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave, Ruth Brown and Otis Redding. Its position was greatly improved by its distribution deal with Stax. In 1967, Atlantic became a wholly owned subsidiary of Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, now the Warner Music Group, and expanded into rock and pop music with releases by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Led Zeppelin, and Yes. In 2004, Atlantic and its sister label Elektra were merged into the Atlantic Records Group. Craig Kallman is the chairman of Atlantic. Ahmet Ertegun served as founding chairman until his death on December 14, 2006, at age ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
