Del Amitri

Del Amitri
Del Amitri in May 2002
General information
Genre (s)	Pop rock
founding	1980
Website	www.delamitri.com
Founding members
Vocals , bass , guitar	Justin Currie
guitar	Donald Bentley (until 1982)
guitar	James. M. Scoobie (until 1982)
Current occupation
Vocals, bass, guitar	Justin Currie
Vocals, guitar	Ian Harvie (since 1982)
Keyboard , accordion	Andy Alston (since 1989)
Drums	Ashley Soan (since 1994)
guitar	Kris Dollimore (since 1997)
former members
Drums	Paul Tyagi (1981-1989)
guitar	Bryan Tolland (1982-1987)
guitar	Mick Slaven (1987-1989)
Drums	Brian McDermott (1989-1994)
Drums	David Cummings (1989-1995)
Drums	Ashley Soan (1994-1997)
guitar	John McLoughlin (1995-1997)
guitar	Kris Dollimore (1997-2002)
Drums	Mark Price (1997-2002)

Del Amitri is a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in 1980 by singer and songwriter Justin Currie and guitarist Iain Harvie . There are various assumptions about the meaning of the band name, including the assumption that it is simply a pleasant sequence of syllables that the band members liked. In the blurb of one of the albums it says: But if you ask what the name means - expect violence! ("But if you ask what the band name means - expect violence!")

Career

The band is known for catchy melodies, well thought-out arrangements and touching, often melancholy lyrics, but above all for the penetrating, melancholy voice of the front man. As a duo, Currie and Harvie made their first single recording with Sense Sickness in 1982 and released it through a local indie label . They expanded the band to include guitarist Bryan Tolland and drummer Paul Tyagi and made a name for themselves with performances. The label Chrysalis noticed her and in 1985 released her debut album with the band name as the title, a loud, aggressive work in which only the voice of the lead singer stood out. With their country folk orientation of new wave music, they did not get enough approval from critics or buyers, the album flopped and the label dropped them again.

Then Tolland and Tyagi left the band. With David Cummings as guitarist and Brian McDermott as drummer and Andy Alston as keyboardist, Del Amitri made a fresh start and financed a tour of the United States . There they found a new label with A&M . Their breakthrough came in 1989 with their second album, Waking Hours . In the US it made it to the top 100 of the album charts , in the UK it reached the top 10 and received a platinum award . Kiss This Thing Goodbye and Nothing Ever Happens were two hits from the album that also made them internationally known.

The second A&M album Change Everything was no longer as successful overseas in 1992, but it reached number 2 in the UK charts and was also in the charts in other European countries, including Germany and Switzerland. The included song Always the Last to Know was her most successful international hit. With their next album, Twisted , which, like its predecessor, achieved gold status in the UK, they were able to seamlessly build on their success in 1995 and with the song Roll to Me they even made it into the top 10 of the US single charts .

The 1997 album Some Other Suckers Parade was successful in itself, but it did not manage to produce a radio-grade single and therefore lagged behind its predecessors. The following year, the first best-of album came out with their most successful singles. Hatful of Rain reached # 5 in their homeland, making them platinum for the second time. In addition, a compilation of the single B-sides appeared under the title Lousy with Love , which did not make it into the charts. The song Tell Her This was also heard in the second season of the American television series Scrubs as the closing melody.

At the end of the 1990s, A&M became part of the Universal group and Del Amitri came to Mercury . Her next album of new material called Can You Do Me Good? appeared only after a five-year break in 2002. For the first time, they clearly missed the top 10 in Great Britain and, beyond that, only entered the charts in Germany. Only one single was released and Just Before You Leave barely made it into the Top 40. Not long after that, the band was dropped from their record company and Currie and Harvie then "put them into prolonged sleep" (Currie).

From January 22nd (Glasgow) to February 7th, 2014 (at the Apollo Hammersmith in London), Currie and Harvie played 13 gigs in Scotland and England. The name of the tour was The A to Z of Us . On October 20, 2014, the double CD Into the Mirror , Del Amitri's first live album, was released. The album contains 23 tracks and was released on the self-founded label Heard Through a Wall (named after the first track on the first album). In 2020 recordings for a seventh studio album took place at Vada Studios, Worcestershire.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		DE	CH	UK	US
1985	Del Amitri	-	-	-	-	Label: Chrysalis
1990	Waking hours	-	-	UK6th platinum (45 weeks)UK	US95 (19 weeks) US	Label: A&M
1992	Change everything	DE86 (2 weeks) DE	CH37 (3 weeks) CH	UK2 gold (20 weeks)UK	US178 (3 weeks) US	Label: A&M
1995	Twisted	DE69 (7 weeks) DE	CH36 (4 weeks) CH	UK3 gold (37 weeks)UK	US170 (8 weeks) US	Label: A&M
1997	Some Other Suckers Parade	DE81 (1 week) DE	CH46 (2 weeks) CH	UK6 (6 weeks) UK	US160 (1 week) US	Label: A&M
1998	The Best Of Del Amitri - Hatful of Rain	-	-	UK5 platinum (14 weeks)UK	-	Greatest hits album label: A&M
2002	Can You Do Me Good	DE89 (1 week) DE	CH74 (2 weeks) CH	UK30 (4 weeks) UK	-	Label: Mercury
2014	Into the mirror	-	-	UK75 (1 week) UK	-	Live album label: Heard Through a Wall

More albums

• Lousy with Love - The B-Sides ( compilation , 1998)
• 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection (Best-of-Album, 2003)
• Collection (compilation, 2007)

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		DE	UK	US
1989	Kiss This Thing Goodbye Waking Hours	-	UK43 (8 weeks) UK	US35 (11 weeks) US	Authors: Justin Currie , Iain Harvie, Mick Slaven Top position UK and chart entry US only 1990 after republication
1989	Stone Cold Sober Waking Hours	-	UK90 (2 weeks) UK	-	Author: Justin Currie
1990	Nothing Ever Happens Waking Hours	-	UK11 (9 weeks) UK	-	Author: Justin Currie
	Move Away Jimmy Blue Waking Hours	-	UK36 (6 weeks) UK	-	Authors: Justin Currie, Iain Harvie
	Spit in the Rain Hatful of Rain	-	UK21 (6 weeks) UK	-	Author: Justin Currie
1992	Just like a Man Change Everything	DE56 (10 weeks) DE	UK25 (4 weeks) UK	US30 (17 weeks) US	Authors: Justin Currie, Iain Harvie
	Be My Downfall Change Everything	-	UK30 (4 weeks) UK	-	Author: Justin Currie
1993	When You Were Young Change Everything	-	UK20 (3 weeks) UK	-	Author: Justin Currie
1995	Here and Now Twisted	-	UK21 (4 weeks) UK	-	Authors: Justin Currie, Iain Harvie
	Driving with the Brakes On Twisted	-	UK18 (5 weeks) UK	-	Author: Justin Currie
	Roll to Me Twisted	-	UK22 (4 weeks) UK	US10 (36 weeks) US	Author: Justin Currie
	Tell Her This Twisted	-	UK32 (2 weeks) UK	-	Author: Justin Currie
1997	Not Where It's At Some Other Sucker's Parade	-	UK21 (4 weeks) UK	-	Author: Justin Currie
	Some Other Sucker's Parade Some Other Sucker's Parade	-	UK46 (2 weeks) UK	-	Authors: Justin Currie, Jon McLoughlin
1998	Don't Come Home Too Soon Hatful of Rain	-	UK15 (7 weeks) UK	-	Author: Justin Currie
	Cry to Be Found Hatful of Rain	-	UK40 (2 weeks) UK	-	Authors: Justin Currie, Iain Harvie
2002	Just Before You Leave Can You Do Me Good?	-	UK37 (2 weeks) UK	-	Authors: Justin Currie, Iain Harvie

More singles

• Sense Sickness / The Difference Is (08/1983)
• Sticks and Stones Girl / This King Is Poor (07/1985)
• Hammering Heart / Lines Running North (10/1985)

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: Germany - Switzerland - UK - USA
2. ↑ ^{a b} US singles: Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-2006. Billboard Books, New York 2007, ISBN 0-89820-172-1 / US albums: The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7
3. ↑ Gold / platinum database of the BPI (Great Britain)

Web links

• Official website
• Justin Currie's MySpace page
• Del Amitri at Allmusic (English)
• Del Amitri on Music VF
• Del Amitri at Discogs (English)