Til Tuesday (often stylized as til tuesday) was an American new wave band formed in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, United States. The band, consisting of

Aimee Mann Aimee Elizabeth Mann (born September 8, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter. Over the course of four decades, she has released more than a dozen albums as a solo artist and with other musicians. She is noted for her sardonic and literate lyr ...

(lead vocals, bass), Robert Holmes (guitar), Joey Pesce (keyboards), and Michael Hausman (drums), was active from 1982 to 1989. They are best known for their 1985 hit single " Voices Carry".

History

'Til Tuesday first gained fame six months after its formation when it won Boston's WBCN Rock & Roll Rumble in 1983. Their original composition " Love in a Vacuum" (credited to all members of the group) received a fair amount of airplay on the station, and the group was eventually signed to Epic Records. "Love in a Vacuum" was re-recorded for the Epic debut album, 1985's '' Voices Carry''; however, the breakthrough song turned out to be the title track. The "Voices Carry" single peaked at number eight on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and is said to have been inspired by an argument between Mann and Hausman, who had broken off a relationship before the album's release. According to producer

Mike Thorne Mike Thorne (born 25 January 1948) is an English record producer, arranger, composer, engineer, and musician. He started playing the piano at the age of 10. After studying physics at Hertford College, Oxford, in the late 1960s he worked as a ta ...

on his Stereo Society web site, "The title track was originally written and sung by Aimee as if to a woman.... The record company was predictably unhappy with such lyrics." The band became an early

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

staple with the " Voices Carry" video, which depicts an domineering boyfriend trying to convert Mann to his upper-class lifestyle; she finally lashes out at him during a concert, standing up from her seat in the audience and removing her cap to reveal her signature spiky, rat-tailed hair. The group won that year's

MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist The MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist has been given out since the first annual MTV Video Music Awards in 1984. Until 2006, the award was named Best New Artist in a Video. In 2007 its name was changed to Best New Artist, as the category un ...

. By the 1986 follow-up ''

Welcome Home A welcome is a kind of greeting designed to introduce a person to a new place or situation, and to make them feel at ease. The term can similarly be used to describe the feeling of being accepted on the part of the new person. In some context ...

'', Mann was beginning to write more of the songs herself and the band was moving away from the slick new wave sound of their debut. But while critical reaction was generally strong, the #26 placing for the lead single, " What About Love", was a commercial disappointment, especially after the top-ten success of "Voices Carry". Even more problematic, the album just barely sneaked into the U.S. top 50, also a letdown after the #19 placing for their debut. After the album's release Pesce left the band and was replaced by Michael Montes. At about the same time, Mann's two-year relationship with singer-songwriter

Jules Shear Jules Mark Shear (born March 7, 1952) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He wrote the Cyndi Lauper hit single " All Through the Night" and The Bangles' hit "If She Knew What She Wants", and charted a hit as a performer with "Stead ...

, whom she had been dating since the release of the ''Voices Carry'' album, came to an end. This breakup somewhat informed the band's final album, 1988's '' Everything's Different Now'', particularly in the song "J for Jules", though Mann insisted that not every song on the LP was about the relationship. Shear collaborated with

Matthew Sweet Sidney Matthew Sweet (born October 6, 1964) is an American alternative rock/ power pop singer-songwriter and musician who was part of the burgeoning music scene in Athens, Georgia, during the 1980s before gaining commercial success in the 199 ...

on the album's title track; it also featured " The Other End (Of the Telescope)", a collaboration between Mann and

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in 2020, and has twice been nom ...

on which Costello provides a guest vocal. Holmes and Montes played on every track of the album, but left before its release; for live dates, Til Tuesday was now a duo of Mann and Hausmann, supported by session musicians. While critical praise continued to flow, ''Everything's Different Now'' album peaked at No. 124 in the U.S., while the lead single " (Believed You Were) Lucky" (co-written with Shear) reached number 95. 'Til Tuesday essentially broke up after the release of ''Everything's Different Now''. However, for a short time Mann continued to tour under the 'Til Tuesday name with various session players (including guitarists

Jon Brion Jon Brion is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and composer. He performed with the Excerpts, the Bats, 'Til Tuesday and The Grays (band), the Grays before becoming an established producer and film score comp ...

and Clayton Scoble) while legal problems with the band's label Epic prevented her from beginning work on a solo record for several years.

Personnel

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of th ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

, acoustic guitar (1982–1989) * Robert Holmes –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...

(1982–1989) *Joey Pesce – keyboards,

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

(1982–1987) * Michael Hausman –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

(1982–1989) * Michael Montes – keyboards (1987–1989)

Touring members

– guitar, bass guitar *Clayton Scoble – guitar *Dave Darby – bass guitar

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

* '' Coming Up Close: A Retrospective'' (1996, Epic)

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Til Tuesday 1982 establishments in the United States Musical groups established in 1982 1989 disestablishments in the United States Musical groups disestablished in 1989 American new wave musical groups Musical groups from Boston Aimee Mann Epic Records artists American alternative rock groups Female-fronted musical groups