Stephen Duffy

Stephen Anthony James Duffy (born May 30, 1960 in Birmingham ) is a British songwriter , singer and guitarist .

In addition to solo projects, including as Stephen "Tin Tin" Duffy (Hit Kiss Me , 1985), he also worked for Robbie Williams and the Barenaked Ladies . He was a founding member of Duran Duran and is currently the singer of The Lilac Time group .

biography

Early days

Duffy met John Taylor through a workshop at the School of Foundation Studies & Experimental . Together with Taylor's friend Nick Rhodes, they formed the rock / new wave band Duran Duran in 1978 .

Taylor started out as a guitarist, but later switched to bass, Rhodes played synthesizers from the start, and Duffy was a singer, songwriter and bassist.

In 1979 he left school and the band before Duran Duran signed her first major contract with EMI in 1980. He formed the band The Hawks , who released a 4-track album Words of Hope in 1981 . The project was quickly discontinued.

Tin Tin

In 1982 he formed a new band called Tin Tin with John Mulligan and Dik Davis (both were members of the band Fashion ), Andy "Stoker" Growcott (of Dexys Midnight Runners ) and Bob Lamb (producer of UB40 ) . The band signed a contract with WEA Records in the United Kingdom (UK) and released the song Kiss Me , which made it to number 155 in the UK charts. In 1983 Tin Tin signed a deal with Sire Records in the United States and Kiss Me became a hit there. The follow-up single Hold It reached number 55 in the UK charts.

Duffy returned to his homeland after his work in the United States and signed a new contract with Virgin 10 . There he began to work on his album The Ups and Downs (produced by Stephen Duffy, Booker T. Jones , JJ Jeczalik , Nicholas Froome and Stephen Street ) under the name Stephen "Tin Tin" Duffy. The album peaked at number 35 on the UK album charts.

The re-release of Kiss Me took place in 1984 and subsequently She Makes Me Quiver . In late 1984, Duffy recorded Kiss Me for the third time , this time with Froome and Jeczalik. The new version was published in February 1985 and immediately made it to number 4 on the local charts, selling over 250,000 times within three weeks and staying in the UK top ten for five weeks. The next single, Icing on the Cake , started at number 14 in June 1985.

The third single Unkiss That Kiss was released in September 1985 under the name Stephen AJ Duffy. This was the first single from the new album Because We Love You , which was released in the spring of 1986. The second single on the album was I Love You , the third Something Special , which was recorded together with Sandii by Sandii & the Sunsetz and was quite unsuccessful.

Dr. Calculus

Together with Roger Freeman from Pigbag , he was founded in 1986 under the name Dr. Calculus released the album Designer Beatnik . Two singles emerged from the album: Program 7 and Perfume from Spain .

The Lilac Time

In 1986 work began on The Lilac Time's first album, which was released by Swordfish Records in November 1987. In February 1988 there was a re-release by Fontana Records . Three more albums were released by 1991.

solo

After The Lilac Time , Duffy released his own records again. 1993 was recorded together with Nigel Kennedy Music In Color at Parlophone , which included the singles Natalie and Holte End Hotel . In August 1995 Duffy followed with the singles London Girls and Sugar High .

Duffy took part in Project Me Me Me , which also included Alex James from Blur , Justin Welch from Elastica and Charlie Bloor . The project was planned for a single hanging around and was then dissolved again as planned, despite the chart success. I Love My Friends was released in 1998 with the singles 17 and You Are . Also in 1998 he met Steven Page . Together they produced the songs Jane , Alcohol and Call and Answer for the band Barenaked Ladies . They also recorded an album together under the name The Vanity Project .

Virgin brought out the best-of album They Called Him Tin Tin in 1999 with pieces from the 1980s.

The Devils

In 1999 Duffy fell into a tape from his Duran-Duran years 1978-1979, which is why he met Nick Rhodes shortly afterwards . They decided to work together again and re-record the old songs from the tape and released songs from the 1970s paired with modern possibilities of music production. The result was the album Dark Circles , which was released under the name The Devils .

The Lilac Time

Duffy united The Lilac Time with his brother Nick and Michael Giri and new members Claire Worrall and Melvin Duffy. Looking for a Day in the Night was released in 1999 and lilac6 in 2001 . Compendium - The Fontana Trinity , a collection of songs from the first three albums, was released in 2001.

Keep Going was released under the name Stephen Duffy & The Lilac Time in 2003. In 2007 the album Runout Groove was released . At the same time the EP Happy Birthday Peace was released with further new songs. In 2009 a review of Duffy's entire career, the double album Memory and Desire - 30 Years in the Wilderness , was published.

It was not until 2015 that another album was released after a long break with No Sad Songs . The band now consists only of Stephen and Nick Duffy and Claire Duffy (née Worrall), who has now become the wife of Stephen Duffy. The couple live in Cornwall .

Robbie Williams

Duffy co-wrote the Robbie Williams singles Radio and Misunderstood , which are featured on Williams' Greatest Hits . In October 2005, Intensive Care was co-written and co-produced in full by Duffy. Because of the great success he was hired as musical director for the following Williams tour. For the first time, Duffy became known to the general public. The collaboration with Williams ended after the tour, however, not least because Duffy married Claire Worrall, the keyboard player for the Robbie Williams Band , who had previously been in a relationship with Williams .

Discography

The Hawks

• Words of Hope (1981) Five Believers (Single)

Tin Tin

• Kiss Me (1982) WEA
• Hold It (1983) WEA (UK # 55)
• Kiss Me (US Remix) (1984) WEA, UK: silver

Stephen "Tin Tin" Duffy

Albums

• The Ups and Downs (1985) (10 Records) (UK # 35)
• Because We Love You (1986) (10 Records)
• They Called Him Tin Tin (1998) Virgin-VIP

Singles

• She Makes Me Quiver (1984) (10 Records)
• Kiss Me (1985) (1985) (10 Records) (UK # 4)
• Icing On the Cake (1985) (10 Records) (UK # 14)
• Unkiss That Kiss (1985) (10 Records)
• I Love You (1986) (10 Records)
• Something Special (1986) (10 Records) (Stephen Duffy & Sandii)
• I Love You / Wednesday Jones (1986) (10 Records) (double-7 ")
• Kiss Me (1989) (re-issue on Old Gold)

Dr. Calculus

Albums

• Designer Beatnik (1986) (10 Records)

Singles

• Programs 7 (1985) 10
• Perfume From Spain (1986) 10

The Lilac Time

• The Lilac Time (1987 - Swordfish Records limited release)
• The Lilac Time (1988 - Fontana Records reissue)
• The Lilac Time (1988 - Mercury Records US release with different track listing & extras)
• Paradise Circus (1989)
• & Love For All (1990)
• & Love For All (1990) - Japanese release with obi strip
• Astronauts (1991)
• Astronauts (1991) - German Creation release
• Astronauts (1998) - Japanese release, with seven extra tracks
• Looking For a Day In the Night (1999)
• Looking For a Day In the Night (1999) - Japanese release with 1 extra track
• The Lilac Time (1999) - Japanese reissue of 1988 UK CD
• Paradise Circus (1999) - Japanese reissue of 1989 CD
• Compendium - The Fontana Trinity (2001) - 2 CD set of songs from first three albums
• lilac6 (2001)
• lilac6 (2001) - Japanese 2-CD set with 4 live tracks
• Keep Going (2003 - titled Stephen Duffy and the Lilac Time )
• Astronauts + (2005) UK Edition of 1998 Japanese 19 track version
• The Lilac Time (2006) - UK Mercury Reissue of 1988 UK CD with extra tracks & Radio Sessions
• Paradise Circus (2006) - UK Mercury Reissue with extra tracks & instrumentals
• & Love For All (2006) - UK Mercury Reissue with extra tracks & Radio Sessions
• Runout Groove (2007 - titled Stephen Duffy and the Lilac Time)
• Memory & Desire - 30 Years in the Wilderness (2009 - titled Stephen Duffy and the Lilac Time)
• No Sad Songs (2015)

Stephen Duffy

Albums

• Music In Colors (1993) Parlophone

Singles

• Natalie (1993) Parlophone

Duffy

Albums

• Duffy (1995) Indolent
• I Love My Friends (1998) Cooking Vinyl
• I Love My Friends / Blown Away (2019) Needle Mythology (re-release with bonus CD of selected demos)

Singles

• London Girls (1995) Indolent
• Sugar High (1995) Indolent (UK # 79)
• Starfit (1996) Summershine
• Needle Mythology (1996) Indolent
• 17 (1997) Indolent
• 17 (1998) Cooking Vinyl
• You Are (1998) Cooking Vinyl

Me Me Me

• Hanging Around (1996) Indolent (UK # 19)

The Devils

• Dark Circles (2002) Tape Modern

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.deutschlandfunk.de/corsogespraech-meine-platten-waren-schon-ganz-schoen-duester.807.de.html?dram:article_id=316113
2. ↑ Music Sales Awards: UK