80s | Musicosity

80s

Geoffrey Williams

Born - West London, UK Influences - music of the 1960s and 70s including Sam Cooke, Motown (Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, et al), Sly & The Family Stone, Aretha, Otis Redding & the music of Stax, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, Desmond Dekker, Toots & The Maytals, Jimmy Cliff, etc. Accomplishments:
- written songs for/with Michael Jackson, Dusty Springfield, Eternal, Billy Mann, Color Me Badd, Shaun Escoffery

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Bon Jovi

Bon Jovi is a hard rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Fronted by lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi (born John Francis Bongiovi, Jr.), the group originally achieved large-scale success in the 1980s. Bon Jovi formed in 1983 with lead singer Jon Bon Jovi, guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, bassist Alec John Such, and drummer Tico Torres. Other than the departure of Alec John Such in 1994 (which pared the lineup down to a quartet), the lineup has remained the same for the past 27 years.

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Gary Numan

One of the founding fathers of synth pop, Gary Numan's influence extends far beyond his lone American hit, “Cars,” which still stands as one of the defining new wave singles. That seminal track helped usher in the synthpop era on both sides of the Atlantic, especially his native England, where he was a genuine pop star and consistent hitmaker during the early ’80s. Even after new wave had petered out, Numan’s impact continued to make itself felt; his dark, paranoid vision...

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Joy Division

Joy Division were a post-punk band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester, UK. The band dissolved in May 1980 after the suicide of its lead singer, Ian Curtis. Much of their popularity/reputation arguably resulted from frequent playings on air by iconic DJ John Peel, but it is easy now to overlook the impact that the first album, Unknown Pleasures, had on post-punk music at the time, as reference the number of prominent bands that cited this album as an influence. The remaining members reformed as New Order and they have gone on to achieve much critical and commercial success.

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The Human League

The Human League are an English synthpop band formed in 1977. Originally a minimal post-punk synthesiser-based group from Sheffield, UK, they became one of the most successful new wave acts of the 80s. The only consistent band member is vocalist and songwriter Phil Oakey. The band's best known configuration was their 1980-1985 lineup of Phillip Oakey (vocals), Joanne Catherall (vocals), Susanne Sulley (vocals), Phillip Adrian Wright (keyboards), Jo Callis (guitar, keyboards) and Ian Burden (bass).

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Marc Almond

Marc Almond (born Peter Mark Sinclair Almond on 9 July 1957 in Southport, Lancashire, (now in the county of Merseyside, England) is a popular English singer, songwriter and recording artist, who originally found fame as half of the seminal synthpop/new wave duo Soft Cell. Marc Almond has had a long and varied career spanning almost 30 years. During this time, after a career with Soft Cell and Marc and the Mambas, he has collaborated with an extremely wide range of artists including Antony and the Johnsons, Jools Holland, Siouxsie Sioux, Nick Cave, P.

Grace Jones

Grace Jones (born Grace Mendoza on May 19, 1948, in Spanish Town, Jamaica) is a model, singer and actress. Raised in Syracuse, New York, she found success in the 70s as a model, working in New York and Paris (where she shared an apartment with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange), before rising to public prominence as a singer and personality. Jones secured a record deal with Island Records, which resulted in a string of club hits.

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Van Halen

Van Halen is an international hard rock band formed in the early-1970s, originally called Mammoth (before being called Van Halen, one of the band's ideas for a name was Rat Salade). The band's first studio album, "Van Halen", released in 1978 is widely regarded as a milestone in rock music. With this first release, the band, featuring David Lee Roth on vocals, Michael Anthony on bass, and Dutch-born Edward Van Halen on guitars (and also keyboards later) and brother Alex Van Halen on drums, established itself as a leader in the emerging and commercially successful U.

Artist Type: 

Sunnyboys

Sydney band Sunnyboys remain one of the most highly regarded and best-loved bands of the Australian post-punk era. Fronted by the enigmatic and youthful singer/songwriter and guitarist Jeremy Oxley, the band breathed some freshness and vitality into the Sydney music scene in the early 80s.

Essentially Sunnyboys wore their influences on their sleeve - The Remains, The Flamin' Groovies, The Kinks and The Beatles with a dash of Detroit muscle thrown in for good measure. They produced melodic power pop classics and were rewarded with an immediate positive response.

Between 1980 and 1984 they released their self-titled EP (1980) and 3 albums: "Sunnyboys" (1981), "Individuals" (1982) and "Get Some Fun" (1984).

However, Jeremy Oxley's battle with schizophrenia plagued the band and Sunnyboys announced their break-up in June 1984. Their farewell tour produced the album "Real Live" which was recorded over two nights in Sydney (29th and 30th June).

In 1985, the French label Closer combined The Sunnyboys' first two albums as a double set entitled "Days Are Gone" for the European market.

In late 1987, Jeremy Oxley attempted to revive Sunnyboys with a new line-up. The new band signed a deal with RCA and released an album entitled "Wildcat" (produced by ex-Sherbet keyboard player, Garth Porter). The album failed to convince old Sunnyboys fans and the band broke up again in 1990.

In July 1991, Mushroom released the compilation album "Plays The Best" and the original line-up reunited for a national tour.

Also "Shakin' - Live 1991" (1993, live cd + "Sunnyboys" EP) has been released by Phantom and "This Is Real" (2004, double-CD, Singles/Live/Rare) by Feel Presents.

The band:
Jeremy Oxley - Guitar, vocals
Peter Oxley - Bass
Richard Burgman - Guitar
Bill Bilson - Drums

For more info see the band's MySpace profile and this. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.