Thompson Twins

Thompson Twins were an English pop band, formed in 1977 in Sheffield. 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.

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 (). on bass guitar and vocals, Pete Dodd on guitar and vocals, John Roog on guitar, and Jon Podgorski (known as "Pod") on drums.

Arriving in London with little money, they lived as squatters in Lillieshall Road, Clapham. Future Thompson Twins member Alannah Currie 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. A follow-up single, "She's in Love with Mystery", was issued later that year.

Line-up changes

thumb|Thompson Twins, 1982

In 1981, the line-up became Bailey, Dodd, Roog, Bell and two new members: former band roadie Joe Leeway on congas and percussion, and Jane Shorter on saxophone. This line-up recorded the debut Thompson Twins studio album A Product Of... (Participation), documented in the film Listen to London (1981). Currie, who had been associated with the band for a few years, played and sang on their debut studio album, but was not yet a full member.

After their debut studio album, the band's line-up shifted yet again. Saxophonist Jane Shorter left and was replaced by Currie (who also played percussion), and bassist Matthew Seligman, a former member of the Soft Boys and the Fallout Club, joined; and an album titled In the Name of Love (consisting mainly of tracks from Set, with two others from A Product Of... (Participation)) was released in the US to capitalize on the song's popularity. It entered the US Billboard 200. When "In the Name of Love" (and its parent studio album Set) failed to make a substantial impact in the UK record charts, this plan was abandoned. However, at the same time, manager Hade convinced Bailey, Leeway and Currie to downsize the Thompson Twins to a core of the three in April 1982.

International success

The band broke into the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100 chart at the beginning of 1983 with "Lies" and "Love On Your Side", which became the band's first UK Top 10 single. They then released their third studio album, Quick Step & Side Kick (called simply Side Kicks in the US), and "Watching" (UK No. 33). During 1983, the band had the opening spot on the Police's concert tour in the US.

Following the band's reduction to a trio, designer Andy Airfix created a logo consisting of outlines of their heads and respective hairstyles. It was voted fourth best out of 13 candidates by Classic Pop Magazine in May 2022.

"Hold Me Now" was released in late 1983. The song was an international chart success, peaking at No. 4 in the UK where it became the band's biggest seller earning a gold disc, and reached No. 3 in the US in the spring of 1984 becoming their biggest American hit. and "You Take Me Up" (UK No. 2, their highest UK singles chart placing Other singles included a new version of the album track "Sister of Mercy" (UK No. 11), and "The Gap" (though this was not released in the UK). The band embarked on a world tour in support of the album, which had also made the US top ten.

thumb|Thompson Twins performing in [[Lakeland, Florida|Lakeland, Florida, 1986.]]

A brand new single, "Lay Your Hands on Me", was released in the UK in late 1984 and reached No. 13 on the UK Singles Chart. A second planned tour of the UK in 1985 was also scrapped due to the promoter declaring bankruptcy.

Duo

Leeway left the band in 1986, and the remaining duo of Bailey and Currie carried on making music for another seven years. The album was a commercial flop. It spent only one week on the UK Albums Chart at No. 90 and yielded no further chart singles. In 1990, Bailey and Currie contributed the song "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" to the Cole Porter tribute album Red Hot + Blue produced by the Red Hot Organization. In 1991, Bailey and Currie were married in Las Vegas, US and the following year moved to New Zealand. In 1992, the Thompson Twins contributed the song "Play with Me" to the soundtrack of the Ralph Bakshi film Cool World; Bailey alone contributed a second track, "Industry and Seduction". The following year, the duo teamed up with engineer Keith Fernley and changed their band name to Babble. They released two studio albums: The Stone (1993) and Ether (1996). The billboard, featuring a young woman with four breasts hooked up to a milking machine, caused huge controversy but won several international art awards. 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", as well as the Armchair Destructivists and The Sisters of Perpetual Resistance. As well as several solo shows in London her work has also been exhibited at both the Guildhall Art Gallery and the Geffrye Museum.

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. 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). He also performs with the Holiwater group from India. 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.

After leaving the Thompson Twins in 1986, Leeway briefly dabbled in acting and attempted a solo music career, though neither were successful. , 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.

The earlier members went on to do other things:

Dodd and Roog formed a band called Big View (with Edge on drums) and recorded a single called, "August Grass", which was released on Point Records (owned by Merton, the Thompson Twins publisher) in 1982. Dodd is now living back in Chesterfield working as a freelance journalist – and has released his own History of Rock album billed as Peter & the Wolves. Dodd still sees Podgorski on a regular basis. Dodd and John Roog play in a band called "The Flow"
Roog lives in Chesterfield, and was previously in a senior position in Tower Hamlets Adult Services, and the London Borough of Lambeth, until his retirement in 2011. He now plays in a band with Pete Dodd called the Flow.
Seligman worked for a law firm in London and has played in the Soft Boys reunions as well as releasing his own studio albums. He had moved to Sendai, Japan with his Japanese wife and their daughter and, in 2009, contributed to the Thomas Dolby studio album A Map of the Floating City. In 2012, he collaborated with Jan Linton on the CD Sendai, a fundraiser for reconstruction after the 11 March Tōhoku earthquake. Seligman died in 2020 of complications from COVID-19.
Bell moved from London to Bath, and played in or for Spear of Destiny, Gene Loves Jezebel and Hugh Cornwell of the Stranglers.
Booth helped Chinese music artists in production and development. She is now a consultant and executive producer at RIBA since 9 February 2022.

Tom Bailey solo shows

thumb|Bailey performing Hold Me Now, Northcote Theatre, October 2022.

Bailey performed Thompson Twins songs live for the first time in 27 years on 17 August 2014 at Temple Island Meadows, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, for the Rewind South Festival.

In 2014, Bailey also took part in the Retro Futura Tour in the US, along with Howard Jones, Midge Ure, China Crisis and Katrina Leskanich formerly of Katrina and the Waves.

He continues to tour internationally, under the moniker "Thompson Twins' Tom Bailey," performing in the UK and also in North America in 2016.

In 2016, Bailey received the Classic Pop magazine's 'Best Live Show' award.

In 2018, Bailey toured the US with the B-52's and Culture Club, dubbed The Life Tour.

On 3 September 2022, Bailey performed the entire 'Into the Gap' studio album for the first time ever along with his band consisting of Alice Offley (bass guitar and backing vocals), Charlotte Raven (keyboards and cello) and Paulina Szczepaniak (drums and percussion) collectively known as 'The Sisters of Mercy' in Aylesbury, UK (at the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre) to a sold out audience.

This performance also featured a surprise full live performance of Thompson Twins hit "We Are Detective". Bailey had produced a reimagined purely instrumental version of the song that had served as the band's walk-on music for live performances since 2014, but this was the first time the full song appeared as part of the actual set since Bailey's return to performing Thompson Twins material. Alice Offley performed Alannah Currie's vocal parts, in addition to playing bass.

Awards and nominations

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

! scope="col" | Award

! scope="col" | Year

! scope="col" | Nominee(s)

! scope="col" | Category

! scope="col" | Result

! scope="col" class="unsortable"|

! scope="row" rowspan=3|Pollstar Concert Industry Awards

| 1985

| rowspan=3|Thompson Twins

| Favorite New Headliner of the Year

| rowspan=2|1986

| Most Creative Tour Package

| rowspan=2|

| Most Creative Stage Set

Personnel

Members

Classic line-up

Tom Bailey – bass, guitar, keyboards, vocals (1977–1993)
Joe Leeway – congas, percussion, keyboards, vocals (1981–1986)
Alannah Currie – drums, percussion, vocals (1981–1993)

Other members

Pete Dodd – guitar, vocals (1977–1982)
John Roog – guitar (1977–1982)
Jon Podgorski – drums (1977–1978)
Andrew Edge – drums (1978–1979)
Chris Bell – drums (1979–1982)
Jane Shorter – saxophone (1981)
Matthew Seligman – bass (1981–1982)
Michael White – guitar (Briefly in the extended line-up 1982)

Discography

Studio albums

A Product Of... (Participation) (1981)
Set (1982)
Quick Step & Side Kick (1983)
Into the Gap (1984)
Here's to Future Days (1985)
Close to the Bone (1987)
Big Trash (1989)
Queer (1991)

Bibliography

The Thompson Twins – An Odd Couple (The Official Biography) by Rose Rouse. Virgin Books, 1985.
Thompson Twin – An '80's Memoir by Michael White. Publisher: Little, Brown (4 May 2000).