The Emerald Express

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The Emerald Express was a British string group that was active in the early 1980s with the band Dexys Midnight Runners , with whom they recorded the international hit Come On Eileen . It consisted of Helen O'Hara (of The Blue Ox Babes ), Steve Brennan and Roger MacDuff.

history

The Emerald Express was formed in 1982 from the string player Helen O'Hara, who was part of the second project The Blue Ox Babes founded by Kevin Archer , Steve Brennan and Roger MacDuff. They joined the band Dexys Midnight Runners, founded and directed by Kevin Rowland and Archer that same year. Together they played the album Too-Rye-Ay , from which the single The Celtic Soul Brothers was released in 1983 and Come On Eileen shortly thereafter .

Come On Eileen became an international hit, which in April 1983 was a number one hit in the British charts and on the United States' Billboard Hot 100 . The song Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile) , a cover version of a Van Morrison song, was released shortly afterwards under Kevin Rowland & Dexy's Midnight Runners and rose to number 5 in the UK charts.

After the success of the album and the single Come On Eileen , the horns "Big" Jim Paterson, Paul Speare and Brian Maurice separated from the Dexys Midnight Runners and founded The TKO Horns . The Dexys Midnight Runners took two years off and in 1985 released the album Don't Stand Me Down with a reduced number of copies , in which no member of The Emerald Express was involved except Helen O'Hara.

Discography

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
Come on Eileen
  DE 6th 09/20/1982 (27 weeks)
  AT 9 10/15/1982 (8 weeks)
  CH 1Template: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / NR1 link 11/14/1982 (10 weeks)
  UK 1Template: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / NR1 link 07/03/1982 (18 weeks)
  US 1Template: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / NR1 link 01/22/1983 (23 weeks)

The Emerald Express has not released any albums or singles of its own, all releases were made with Dexys Midnight Runners.

Albums

Singles

  • 1983: The Celtic Soul Brothers
  • 1983: Come on Eileen

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b band history of the Dexys Midnight Runners on the official homepage; Retrieved February 18, 2015.
  2. ^ A b Jon Kutner: Dexys Midnight Runners & The Emerald Express. In: 1000 UK Number One Hits (Google eBook); Retrieved February 18, 2015.
  3. ↑ Sources for chart placements: DE / AT / CH / UK , accessed on June 16, 2015.
  4. ↑ Top Pop Singles 1955-2006 by Joel Whitburn , Record Research 2007, ISBN 978-0-89820-172-7