Thompson Twins
Thompson Twins were a British pop band, formed in 1977 in Sheffield.[3] Initially a new wave group, they switched to a more mainstream pop sound and achieved considerable popularity during the early and mid-1980s, scoring a string of hits in the United Kingdom, the United States, and around the world. In 1993, they changed their name to Babble, to reflect their change in music from pop to dub-influenced chill-out. They continued as Babble until 1996, at which point the group permanently broke up.
For the Tintin characters, see Thomson and Thompson.
Thompson Twins
Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England
1977–1993
- Dirty Discs
- Tee
- Arista
- Warner Bros.
- Tom Bailey
- Pete Dodd
- John Roog
- Jon Podgorski
- Andrew Edge
- Chris Bell
- Joe Leeway
- Jane Shorter
- Alannah Currie
- Matthew Seligman
The band's name was based on the two bumbling detectives Thomson and Thompson (who are close doubles not twins) in the English-language version of The Adventures of Tintin (Les aventures de Tintin)[4] At various stages they had up to seven members, but their best known line-up was as a trio from 1982 to 1986. The band became a prominent act in the US during the Second British Invasion, and in 1985 performed at Live Aid in Philadelphia, where they were joined on stage by Madonna.[4]
Career[edit]
Early days[edit]
In 1977, the original Thompson Twins line-up consisted of Tom Bailey (born 18 January 1954, Halifax, West Yorkshire)[5] on bass guitar and vocals, Pete Dodd on guitar and vocals, John Roog on guitar, and Jon Podgorski (known as "Pod") on drums.[1]
Arriving in London with very little money, they lived as squatters in Lillieshall Road, Clapham. Future Thompson Twins member Alannah Currie (born 20 September 1957, Auckland, New Zealand) lived in another squat in the same street, which is how she met Bailey. Their roadie at that time was John Hade, who lived in the same house, and who later became their manager.
As Podgorski had decided to stay in the north, the group auditioned for drummers at the Point Studio in Victoria, London. Andrew Edge joined them on drums for 18 months, and went on to join Savage Progress, who later toured with the Thompson Twins as the support act on the band's 1984 UK tour.
In 1980, the band (now consisting of Bailey, Dodd, Roog and drummer Chris Bell, who had replaced Edge the previous year) released their first single, "Squares and Triangles", on their own Dirty Discs label. A follow-up single, "She's in Love with Mystery", was issued later that year.
Babble released two studio albums, The Stone (1993)[1] and Ether (1996), with songs featured in the films Coneheads (1993) and With Honors (1994).
In the mid-1990s, Currie gave up the music business to set up her own glass-casting studio in Auckland and concentrated on raising her two children. In 2001, she founded and ran the anti-genetic engineering group called MAdGE (Mothers Against Genetic Engineering in food and the environment), and networked thousands of women across New Zealand in a resistance movement, aimed at keeping the biotech industry from using New Zealand as an experimental playground.[12] Currie described this group as a "rapidly growing network of politically non-aligned women who are actively resisting the use of genetically-engineered material in our food and on our land". During that time she designed a billboard to spark a debate on the ethics of genetically modifying cows with human genes to produce a new milk.[21] The billboard, featuring a young woman with four breasts hooked up to a milking machine, caused huge controversy but won several international art awards.[22][23] Bailey and Currie divorced in 2003, and both left New Zealand to live separately in the UK. Currie later married Jimmy Cauty (formerly of the KLF) and now lives and works in London. She is a visual artist who works under the pseudonym "Miss Pokeno",[24] as well as the Armchair Destructivists[25] and The Sisters of Perpetual Resistance.[26] As well as several solo shows in London her work has also been exhibited at both the Guildhall Art Gallery and the Geffrye Museum.[27]
In 1999, Bailey produced and played keyboards on the studio album Mix by the New Zealand band Stellar, and won the Producer of the Year Award at the 2000 New Zealand Music Awards.[28] He has also arranged soundtracks and has provided instrumental music for several films. He continues to make music under the moniker International Observer and has released the studio albums Seen (2001), All Played Out (2005), and Felt (2009).[29] He also performs with the Holiwater group from India.[30] He began performing live again as Thompson Twins' Tom Bailey in 2014 and has since toured the UK, North America and Japan. In 2016 he released his debut solo single, "Come So Far". In 2018 Bailey released his debut solo studio album titled Science Fiction.[31]
After leaving the Thompson Twins in 1986, Leeway briefly dabbled in acting and attempted a solo music career, though neither were successful. As of 2006, he resides in Los Angeles, and works in the field of hypnotherapy. He is on the staff at the Hypnosis Motivation Institute (HMI) in the Los Angeles district of Tarzana, and is also a certified trainer in neuro-linguistic programming.[32]
The earlier members went on to do other things:
Studio albums