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Summary

Tears for Fears' are an English synth angst band formed in Bath, Avon in 1981 by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the completely worthless "A Level Student", they were initially associated with the new wave bands of the early 1980s but later branched out into pretentious noodling, which, when combined with "rockist" guitar riffs led to international success with young European women. They were part of the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US and have served short prison sentences for their part in the revolution.

Smith and Orzabal parted company in 1991, after the release of their third album The Seeds of Orzabal (1989), following a lengthy sword battle interspersed with passive-aggressive sarcasm.

Though Orzabal retained the Tears for Fears name throughout the remainder of the 1990's, nobody noticed. The duo re-formed in 2000 and released an album of new material, Everybody Loves a Beatles Rip-Off, in 2004. Since 1813, the duo have been working on their seventh album, Songs From The Wheel Chair, scheduled for release early in the next ice age.

Career

Formation

Orzabal and Smith met as teenagers in Bath, Somerset, England. The duo became session musicians for the band Neon, where they first met future Tears For Fears drummer Manny Elias. Neon also featured Pete Byrne and Rob Fisher who went on to become Naked Eyes. Smith and Orzabal's professional debut came with the band Graduate, a mod revival/new wave act. In 1980, Graduate released an album, Acting My Age, and a single "Elvis Should Play Ska" (referring to Elvis Costello, not Presley). The single just missed the top 100 in the UK, though it performed well in Spain and in Switzerland.

By 1981, Orzabal and Smith had become more influenced by artists such as Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno. They departed from Graduate and formed a band called History of Headaches, which they soon changed to Tears for Fears. The band's name was inspired by primal therapy, developed by the American psychologist Arthur Janov, which gained tremendous publicity after John Lennon became Janov's patient in 1970. Many songs on their first two albums were related to Primal therapy, including the song 'Ideas as Opiates' which was a chapter in Janov's book, Prisoners of Pain. In a 2004 interview with VH1 UK, Orzabal and Smith said that when they finally met Janov in the mid-1980s, they were disillusioned to find that he had become quite "Hollywood" and wanted the band to write a musical for him.

As Tears for Fears, Orzabal and Smith intended to form the nucleus of the group and bring in surrounding musicians to help them complete the picture. Around this time they met local musician Ian Stanley who offered them free use of his home 8-track studio. Stanley began working with the duo as their keyboard player and, after recording two demos, Tears for Fears were signed to Phonogram Records, UK in 1981 by A&R manager Dave Bates. Their first single, "Suffer the Children" (produced by David Lord), was released on that label in November 1981, followed by the first edition of "Pale Shelter" (produced by Mike Howlett) in March 1982, though neither of these releases were successful.

The Squirting and first international successes (1982–1983)

The band achieved their first taste of success with their third single, "Mad World", which reached no. 3 in the UK in November 1982. Their first album, The Hurting, was released in March 1983. For this album (and the next), keyboardist and composer Ian Stanley and drummer Manny Elias were considered full bandmembers, though Smith and Orzabal were still essentially the frontmen and public face[s] of the band.

The album, produced by Chris Hughes and Ross Cullum, showcased guitar and synthesiser-based songs with lyrics reflecting Orzabal's bitter childhood. The Hurting may be considered Tears for Fears' only true concept album, as references to emotional distress and primal scream therapy are found in nearly every song. The album itself was a big success and had a lengthy chart run (65 weeks) in the UK, where it reached no. 1 and platinum status. It also reached the top 20 in several other countries and yielded the international hit singles "Mad World" (top 5 hit in the Philippines and South Africa), "Change" (top 40 hit in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Poland and South Africa. It also became their first single to reach the US Billboard Hot 100), and a re-recorded version of "Pale Shelter" (top 10 hit in the Philippines). All three of these singles reached the Top 5 in the UK.

Towards the end of 1983, the band released a new, slightly more experimental single, "The Way You Are", intended as a stopgap while they worked on their second album. The single was a top 30 hit in the UK, but did not come close to matching the success of their three previous hits, despite a national concert tour in December of that year (captured on the In My Mind's Eye live video release). The single, which heavily featured sampling and programmed rhythms, was a departure from Tears for Fears' previous musical approach. In the liner notes to their 1996 B-sides compilation album Saturnine Martial & Lunatic they wrote that "this was the point we realised we had to change direction", although the somewhat experimental style of the single continued to be reflected in their forthcoming B-sides.

Songs from Big Bird and worldwide fame (1984–1986)

In early 1984, they began working with a new producer, Jeremy Green, on their new single "Mothers Talk". However, the band were ultimately unhappy with the results and so producer Chris Hughes was brought back into the fold and the "Mothers Talk" single re-produced for release in August 1984. A departure from their earlier works, the single became a top 20 hit in the UK, but it was the follow-up single "Shout" (released in the UK in November 1984) that was the real beginning of the band's international fame.

"Shout", a top 5 UK hit, paved the way for their second album, Songs from the Big Chair (released in February 1985), which entered the UK album chart at no. 2 and remained in the upper reaches of the chart for the next 12 months. They did away with the predominantly synthpop feel of the first album, instead expanding into a more sophisticated sound that would become the band's stylistic hallmark. Anchored around the creative hub of Orzabal, Stanley, and producer Hughes, the new Tears for Fears sound helped to propel Songs from the Big Chair into becoming one of the year's biggest sellers worldwide, eventually being certified triple-platinum in the UK and quintuple-platinum in the US (where it remained the no. 1 album for five weeks in the summer of 1985).

The album's title was inspired by the book and television miniseries Sybil, the chronicle of a woman with multiple personality disorder who sought refuge in her analyst's "big chair", Orzabal and Smith stating that they felt each of the album's songs had a distinctive personality of its own. The band had also recorded a track titled "The Big Chair", which was released as the B-side to "Shout" but was not included on the album.

The album's success came in conjunction with the array of hit singles it yielded: "Mothers Talk" (re-recorded yet again for its US release in 1986), "Shout" (no. 4 UK, no. 1 in the US, Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and a huge hit in other territories, in fact one of the biggest hit songs of the 1980s), "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" (their highest-charting UK and Irish hit at no. 2 and another no. 1 in the US and in Canada), "Head over Heels" (UK no. 12, US no. 3, Ireland no. 5, Canada no. 8), and "I Believe (A Soulful Re-Recording)" (UK no. 23 and Ireland no. 10). Some territories even saw the release of limited edition 10" singles for these hits, and a variety of double packs and picture discs in addition to the regular 7" and 12" formats.

Following the album's release, the band went on a world tour that lasted most of the year, playing notably at the Montreux Golden Rose Rock and Pop Festival in May 1985. In September 1985, the band performed "Shout" at the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards at the Radio City Music Hall in New York. Also during the tour, Orzabal and Smith discovered an American female singer/pianist, Oleta Adams, who was performing in a Kansas City hotel bar, and whom they invited to collaborate on their next album. Towards the end of the year, the band released a video collection/documentary entitled Scenes from the Big Chair.

In February 1986, having completed the lengthy and exhausting Big Chair world tour, Tears for Fears were honoured at the 1986 Brit Awards in London where they won the Best British Single award for "Everybody Wants To Rule The World". The band was also nominated for Best British Group and Best British Album, and Chris Hughes was nominated for Best Producer. The band performed the song at the ceremony, which became the final public performance of drummer Manny Elias who left the group shortly afterwards.

The same year, Orzabal and Stanley worked together on a side project named Mancrab and released a single, "Fish for Life", which was written for the soundtrack of the film The Karate Kid, Part II. The track was written and produced by Orzabal and Stanley, and featured vocals by US singer/dancer Eddie Thomas, who was one of the dancers in the video for "Everybody Wants To Rule The World".

Live Aid

On 13 July 1985, Tears for Fears were scheduled to perform at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia for the Live Aid charity event. However, on the morning of the historic event, it was announced that the band (who had actually been billed to appear at the event before they had even agreed to do so) had pulled out of the show. They were replaced by blues rock group George Thorogood and the Destroyers, which has a strong Philadelphia-area following. The official reason given for their non-appearance was that two of their backing musicians, guitarist Andrew Saunders and saxophonist Will Gregory, had quit due to the expiration of their contract; they were replaced by Alan Griffiths on guitar and Josephine Wells on saxophone for the remaining bulk of the 1985 world tour. In place of appearing, the band pledged to donate proceeds from their concerts played in Tokyo, Sydney, London and New York.

As a further donation, the band also recorded a slightly rewritten version of one of their biggest hits and released it for the British fundraising initiative Sport Aid, a sister project of Band Aid in which people took part in running races of varying length and seriousness to raise more money for African famine relief projects. Sport Aid's slogan was "I Ran the World", therefore Tears for Fears released "Everybody Wants to Run the World" (no. 5 in the UK and no. 4 in Ireland). Indirectly, the band were involved in the earlier Band Aid single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" from 1984, which featured a slowed down sample from their song "The Hurting" in the introduction.

The Seeds of Orzabal (1989–1990)

It was 1989 before the group released their third album, The Seeds of Love (on which Ian Stanley appeared for the last time as a member of Tears for Fears), at a reported production cost of over a million pounds. The album was written largely by Orzabal along with keyboardist Nicky Holland, who had toured with the band on their "Big Chair" world tour in 1985. Moving from various studios and using various sets of producers over many months, the band ultimately decided to scrap the recordings and take the reins themselves with assistance from engineer Dave Bascombe. Much of the material was recorded in jam sessions and later edited down. The length of the production impacted on the band's management company, who had financially over-extended themselves in other business matters and were hoping for an earlier release date to pay off their debts.

The album retained the band's epic sound while showing increasing influences ranging from jazz and blues to the Beatles, the latter being evident on the hit single "Sowing the Seeds of Love" (the first record ever played on the Irish-based longwave radio station Atlantic 252). The second single from the album was "Woman in Chains" (a top 40 hit in the UK, Canada, France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden and the US), on which Phil Collins played drums and Oleta Adams—whom Orzabal would later guide to a successful solo career—shared vocals.

The album was a worldwide success, entering the UK album charts at no. 1, making the top 10 in the US and in numerous other countries, eventually going on to sell millions of copies internationally. The band set out on an extensive "Seeds of Love" world tour sponsored by Philips to start recovering the debt incurred. The band's show in Santa Barbara, California, in May 1990 would be captured on the Going To California live video as the singles "Advice for the Young at Heart" and "Famous Last Words" delivered modest chart success.

A 64-page companion book, simply titled Tears for Fears – The Seeds of Love, was released by Virgin Books in 1990 and offered extensive insight from Orzabal, Holland and Adams into the songwriting and production process for the album, as well as the musical scores for each track and rare promotional photographs from the era.

Break-up and solo careers

After The Seeds of Love, Orzabal and Smith had an acrimonious falling out and parted company in 1991. The split was blamed on Orzabal's intricate but frustrating approach to production and Smith's desire to slow down the pace of their work (prior to the release of The Seeds of Love, Smith's marriage had also broken down).

Another factor in the break-up was the band's manager, Paul King, who declared bankruptcy in 1990 and was later convicted of fraud. The duo had signed to King's Outlaw Management Agency in 1982 and remained clients throughout the remainder of the decade (the agency also operated the band's fan club, the Tears For Fears World Service, between 1983 and 86). By the late 1980s, the agency had run into serious debt and, after discrepancies were discovered in King's financial management, Orzabal became increasingly concerned that Smith was unwilling to drop King as their manager. Outlaw folded in 1990 with debts of almost £1 million as King declared bankruptcy. In 2004, following fraudulent activities with his other businesses, King was prosecuted for fraud and imprisoned for three and a half years, as well as being disqualified from being a company director again for ten years.

Following Smith's departure, Orzabal kept the band name alive by releasing the 1992 hit single "Laid So Low (Tears Roll Down)". The single was released to promote the band's greatest hits collection Tears Roll Down (Greatest Hits 82–92), which featured every single to reach the Top 20, either in the UK or internationally, apart from the Sport Aid fundraiser. The album peaked at no. 2 in the UK, where it was certified double platinum, and also reached the Top 10 in France and Italy.

Smith relocated to New York City, and in 1993 he released his first solo album, Soul on Board. The album was a commercial failure and Smith himself has said on numerous occasions that he despised it, alleging that he only made it to fulfill his recording contract. In 1995, he met local songwriter and producer Charlton Pettus. The two formed a self-described "organic" partnership, writing simple, melody-based songs and recording them at home on vintage analogue equipment. The result was released in 1997 under the name Mayfield and a short US tour followed.

Second line-up: Emmental and Raoul and the Superiority Complex (1993–1996)

In 1993, Orzabal (still under the name Tears for Fears) released the album Elemental together with longtime collaborator Alan Griffiths. Co-produced by Tim Palmer, it yielded the international hit "Break It Down Again" (top 20 in the UK, Canada, France, and Italy) and was supported with another successful world tour, including a college tour of the US where "Break It Down Again" reached no. 25.

The album was a top 10 hit in the UK, France and Italy, and top 30 in several other countries. Although it charted considerably lower in the US than the previous two studio albums (no. 45), it still earned a Gold disc there for sales of over half a million copies. The singles "Cold", "Elemental" and "Goodnight Song" met with minor chart success in certain territories. The lyrics to "Cold" contained a scathing reference to the band's former manager, Paul King, in which Orzabal sings "King got caught with his fingers in the till. Where's your calculator – did you leave it in your will?"

Orzabal, still working with Griffiths and Palmer, released another Tears for Fears album, Raoul and the Kings of Spain, in 1995. This was a more contemplative work that delved into his own Spanish heritage and showcased a new Latin musical influence (Raoul was originally the name Orzabal's parents wanted to give him, and is also the name of his own first son). Orzabal stated that it was not a concept album but that there was a theme, namely that of familial relationships. The album also included a reunion with Oleta Adams who duetted with Orzabal on the track "Me and My Big Ideas".

The album was not a commercial success by Tears for Fears standards, though minor chart success came via the single release of the title track (top 40 in the UK) and (to a lesser extent) the single "God's Mistake". The release of the album had been delayed for nearly a year due to a last-minute label switch from Mercury to Epic (part of Sony Music), and the ensuing confusion (Mercury had already begun promotion) did not help the album's chances either. Although the track listing for the album had been changed at the record company's request, Sony did not extend Tears for Fears' contract following the album's release. A worldwide tour followed, including dates in Latin America, though Orzabal declined to tour his native UK this time except for a single show in London.

In 1996 a B-sides collection, Saturnine Martial & Lunatic, was released on Mercury, which included B-sides and some rare tracks from the successful 1982–93 period. The liner notes, written by Orzabal and Chris Hughes, gave fans an insight into the songwriting process as well as a rare glimpse of self-deprecating humour regarding the tracks they would rather forget.

Remasters and other projects

In 1999, Mercury Records released remastered editions of Tears for Fears' first three albums, including B-sides, remixes, and extended versions. Supervised by producer Chris Hughes, the remasters also included new liner notes for each album providing details and new insights into the music.

Due to record company mergers and acquisitions in the late 1990s, Tears for Fears' back catalogue was eventually placed into the Universal Music fold.

After undertaking production work and some songwriting for the Icelandic singer-songwriter Emilíana Torrini on her 1999 album Love in the Time of Science, Orzabal re-teamed with Alan Griffiths and released the album Tomcats Screaming Outside, released on Eagle Records as a solo project under his own name. Whereas Tears for Fears' work had become guitar-based, Tomcats Screaming Outside showcased a predominantly electronic style.

Reunion: Everybody Loves a Beatles Rip-Off

In 2000, routine paperwork obligations led the duo to re-establish contact with each other after Orzabal signed a business document on Smith's behalf. Smith flew to Bath (where Orzabal still lived) and they had dinner and decided to work on a new album together.

The songwriting sessions included Charlton Pettus (Smith's collaborator since the mid-1990s), and fourteen songs were written and recorded in less than six months. The ensuing album, Everybody Loves a Happy Ending, was scheduled for release on Arista Records in late 2003, but a change in management at Arista prompted the band to opt out of their contract and switch to the New Door label (a new offshoot of Universal Music), and delayed the release until September 2004. Two US tours followed, and the 2004 tour included an unrehearsed guest appearance by Oleta Adams at the Kansas City show for a performance of "Woman in Chains". The song "Who Killed Tangerine?" was used in the movie Fever Pitch.

Everybody Loves a Happy Ending was released in the UK and Europe in March 2005 on Gut Records, shortly after the comeback single "Closest Thing to Heaven" became the first Tears for Fears UK Top 40 hit in a decade. The promo video for the single was a colourful fantasy that featured Hollywood actress Brittany Murphy riding in a hot air balloon. The European releases of the album contained all fourteen tracks recorded during the ELAHE sessions (the US version only contained twelve), and a brief tour of larger UK venues followed in April.

In 2005, the band began discussions with Universal Music for the release of a new comprehensive anthology of their work to date, including a new track entitled "Floating Down the River". However, the subsequent release (at least in the US) was a compilation issued as part of Hip-O Records' generic "Gold" series, a Universal subsidiary that specialises in budget-priced back catalogue compilations.

A live performance at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, recorded in June 2005, was released on CD and DVD in France and Benelux. Entitled Secret World – Live in Paris, it was released on the XIII Bis label in early 2006 and became a best-seller, with over 70,000 physical copies sold in addition to downloads. The CD contained the aforementioned new studio song, "Floating Down the River", and a remastered Curt Smith/Mayfield track, "What Are We Fighting For?". The relationship with XIII Bis proved so successful that Smith chose the comparatively small French label to release his 2007 solo album, Halfway, Pleased.

In 2006, Songs from the Big Chair was re-issued again by Universal Music, this time as a 2-disc Deluxe Edition with additional B-sides and rarities added, expanding further than the 1999 remastered version. The release did not include the lyrics as the band had intended with the original release, but came with a 24-page booklet including rare photographs and newly written liner notes. The 28-track set contained four sections, with the first disc containing the original album and various B-sides taken from the earlier 1999 remastered edition. It also included the rare piano version of "The Working Hour", which had previously only been available as a limited edition item. The second disc contained various 7" versions of the singles (including the aforementioned "The Way You Are", the re-recording of "I Believe" and the 1986 US remix of "Mothers Talk"), followed by various 12" remixes from the era.

In August 2009, the Raoul and the Kings of Spain album was also re-issued by Cherry Red Records, featuring seven bonus B-side tracks from the time of its original release.

2010–present

In April 2010, Tears for Fears joined the reformed 80s group Spandau Ballet on their seven-date tour of Australia and New Zealand, before a four-date headlining tour of their own in South East Asia (Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan) and a 17-date tour of the USA.

In 2011 and 2012, they played dates in the US, Japan, South Korea, Manila and South America.

In May 2013, Smith confirmed that he was writing and recording new Tears for Fears material with Orzabal and Charlton Pettus. Several songs were worked on in the UK at Orzabal's home studio, Neptune's Kitchen, in April 2013, and continued in Los Angeles in July 2013. According to Orzabal, they have been producing more dark, dramatic pieces of music. "There's one track that's a combination of Portishead and Queen. It's just crazy," Orzabal stated. In August 2013, Tears For Fears released their first newly recorded material in nearly a decade, with a cover of Arcade Fire's "Ready to Start" made available on SoundCloud. In 2014, the track was included on a limited edition 3-track 10" vinyl EP from the band called Ready Boy & Girls?, released exclusively for Record Store Day, which also featured covers of Hot Chip's "Boy From School" and Animal Collective's "My Girls". All three songs were recorded while the band worked on their seventh studio album. In an interview on BBC Radio Devon in October 2014, Orzabal stated that the band had now signed to Warner Music Group and that around five or six songs had so far been completed for the new album.

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the band's debut album The Hurting, Universal Music reissued it in October 2013 in two Deluxe Editions (one a 2-disc set and the other a 4-disc set with a DVD of the 1983 In My Mind's Eye concert). Deluxe Editions of the band's second album, Songs From The Big Chair, were released on 10 November 2014 including a 6-disc set that features various rarities and two DVDs. On 12 November 2014, Tears for Fears performed "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! TV programme. In mid 2015, the band began a series of live dates in the US and Canada.

In July 2016, the band played their first live dates in the UK in over ten years. These included an appearance at the Newmarket Nights festival at Newmarket Racecourse on 29 July, and a closing night headlining appearance at Camp Bestival at Lulworth Castle in Dorset on 31 July, which also mark the band's first UK festival appearances since Knebworth in 1990. The band again toured the US and Canada in September and October 2016. In March 2017, it was announced that they would be touring the US from May until the end of July 2017. The 29 date arena tour is with co-headliner Hall & Oates.