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| The Fixx | |
|---|---|
 The Fixx, 2007. Cy Curnin and Jamie West-Oram. |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | London, United Kingdom |
| Genres | New Wave Pop rock Rock |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Labels | MCA, RCA, CMC, Rainman |
| Website | Official website |
| Members | |
| Cy Curnin Jamie West-Oram Rupert Greenall Adam Woods Dan K. Brown |
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The Fixx is an English rock band formed in London in 1979. Their hits include "One Thing Leads to Another," "Red Skies," "Stand or Fall," "Saved by Zero," "Sign of Fire," "Are We Ourselves?," "Secret Separation," "Driven Out," "How Much Is Enough?," and "Deeper and Deeper," which was featured on the soundtrack of Streets of Fire.
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Biography [link]
[edit] Formation and early years as The Portraits and The Fix (1979-1981)
College friends Cy Curnin on vocals and Adam Woods on drums formed the group in London in 1979, initially calling themselves The Portraits. The pair placed an ad for additional members, and recruited keyboardist Rupert Greenall, guitarist Tony McGrail and bassist Charlie Barret. Under the name The Portraits the band issued two singles for Ariola Records: "Little Women" (1979), and "Hazards In The Home" (1980).
Later in 1980, McGrail left. At this point, the band added guitarist Jamie West-Oram (formerly of Phillip Rambow's band) and changed their name to The Fix. This iteration of the band recorded for 101 Records, releasing their first single ("Lost Planes") in February 1981. This track, along with several live tracks issued by 101 on various compilations, received some radio exposure on the BBC.
The Fix's raised profile eventually led to the group being offered a contract by MCA Records.[1] Worried about the potential drug-user implication of the band's name, MCA insisted on a name change before signing them to the label. A compromise was reached as the band altered the spelling of their name to The Fixx, and a deal was duly inked.
The RCA and MCA years (1982-1991) [link]
Barret left The Fixx just after the recording of their first album, Shuttered Room, in 1982. This album featured the band's initial hits, "Stand or Fall" and "Red Skies," both of which charted in the US and the UK. The band found particular success in Canada, where "Stand or Fall" was an immediate top 10 hit.
Barret was replaced on bass by Alfie Agius for the Shuttered Room tour. Agius' stay in the band was short-lived, though, as he left during the 1983 recording of their next album Reach the Beach, after having recorded four tracks. Agius is credited as co-writer on all the album's tracks, but the group for this album was officially credited as a quartet (Curnin, Greenall, West-Oram and Woods).
Reach the Beach became (and remains) the group's most commercially successful album. Agius' bass work is featured on the album's first two singles "Saved by Zero" and "One Thing Leads to Another."[2] Both these singles cracked the US top 40, and "One Thing Leads To Another" became the band's biggest-ever hit (#3 Canada, #4 US). It was during these sessions that bassist Dan K. Brown joined the band. Brown played bass on the third single, "The Sign Of Fire" and continued with the band on its subsequent tour.
The 1984 album Phantoms contained the hits "Are We Ourselves" and "Sunshine In The Shade." Another song from the period, "Deeper And Deeper," was released as the B-side of "Are We Ourselves" (and also appeared in an edited version on the soundtrack for the film Streets of Fire). This track received substantial airplay on US modern rock radio stations.
In 1985 The Fixx recorded the song "A Letter to Both Sides" for the soundtrack of the film Fletch. The next year they released their fourth album Walkabout, containing "Secret Separation" (#1 on Billboard Magazine's "Album Rock" chart) and "Built for the Future." The 1987 album React, containing both live and new studio material, was the last for MCA Records.
1988 saw their return with a new album Calm Animals and a new label RCA Records. This album contained another U.S. hit "Driven Out" (another #1 on Billboard's "Album Rock" chart).
The band returned to MCA for their next album, 1991's Ink. The album featured "How Much Is Enough?" (#27 Canada, #35 US).
The post-major label years (1992-present) [link]
Dan K. Brown left the band in 1994. Chris Tate was later hired to play the bass. This line up recorded 1998's Elemental and the 1999 album 1011 Woodland. This last album consisted of re-recordings of previous hits and album tracks.
In 2002, The Fixx performed a cover version of Nancy Sinatra's 1960s classic "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" for a special album called When Pigs Fly, which featured unique remakes of songs from the 1960s through the 1990s.
In 2003, the band released their ninth studio album, Want That Life, with Gary Tibbs, formerly a member of Roxy Music, The Vibrators and Adam and the Ants on bass, replacing Tate.
Long-time bassist Dan K. Brown re-joined the band in 2008. The Fixx regularly tour the U.S., and recently celebrated 25 years of making music together, accompanied by the release of the 2 CD set Twentyfifth Anniversary Anthology compilation.
With the classic lineup back intact, The Fixx are recording their 10th studio album "Beautiful Friction" due for release in July 2012.
Discography [link]
Studio albums [link]
- Shuttered Room (1982) – US #106, UK #54, CAN #52, AUS #77
- Reach the Beach (1983) – US #8, UK #91, CAN #8
- Phantoms (1984) – US #19, CAN #18
- Walkabout (1986) – US #30, CAN #26
- Calm Animals (1988) – US #72
- Ink (1991) – US #111, CAN #49
- Elemental (1998)
- 1011 Woodland (1999)
- Want That Life (2003)
- Beautiful Friction (10th studio album scheduled for 2012 release)
Live albums [link]
- React (1987) – US #110 (Also includes three new studio tracks and a remake of "Red Skies")
- In Concert (King Biscuit Flower Hour) (1995)
- Real Time Stood Still (1997)
- Stand or Fall (2002) (European reissue of In Concert (King Biscuit Flower Hour) with re-ordered track listing)
Compilation albums [link]
- Greatest Hits - One Thing Leads To Another (1989)
- Missing Links (1994) (Previously unreleased tracks and remixes)
- Ultimate Collection: The Fixx (1999)
- Elemental + 1011 Woodland (1999) (German 3CD large jewel-cased reissue of both albums)
- 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of the Fixx (2000)
- Extended Versions (2000) (Selected tracks from 1011 Woodland)
- Happy Landings and Lost Tracks (2001)
- Then and Now (2002) (Selected tracks from Elemental and 1011 Woodland)
- Stage One (2004) (New versions of hits and album tracks)
- The Twenty-fifth Anniversary Anthology (2005)
Singles [link]
| Year | Title | Chart Peak Position | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK[3] | Australia | Canada | US | US MOD | US MSR | US Dance | |||
| 1979 | "Little Women" (as The Portraits) | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | Non-LP singles |
| 1980 | "Hazards In The Home" (as The Portraits) | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| 1981 | "Lost Planes" (as The Fix) | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | Shuttered Room |
| 1982 | "Stand or Fall" | 54 | 33 | 37 | 76 | – | 7 | – | |
| "Red Skies" | 57 | – | – | 101 | – | 13 | – | ||
| 1983 | "Saved by Zero" | – | 98 | 45 | 20 | – | 9 | – | Reach the Beach |
| "One Thing Leads to Another" | 86 | 38 | 1 | 4 | – | 2 | 14 | ||
| "The Sign of Fire" | – | – | – | 32 | – | 20 | – | ||
| 1984 | "Deeper And Deeper" | – | – | – | – | – | 3 | 47 | Streets of Fire Soundtrack § |
| "Are We Ourselves?" | – | – | 29 | 15 | – | 1 ‡ | – | Phantoms | |
| "Sunshine in the Shade" | – | – | – | 69 | – | 37 | – | ||
| "Less Cities, More Moving People" | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| 1986 | "Secret Separation" | 83 | – | 39 | 19 | – | 1 | – | Walkabout |
| "Built for the Future" | – | – | – | – | – | 13 | – | ||
| 1987 | "Don't Be Scared" | – | – | – | – | – | 32 | – | React |
| 1989 | "Driven Out" | – | – | 49 | 55 | 11 | 1 | – | Calm Animals |
| "Precious Stone" | – | – | 78 | – | – | 23 | – | ||
| 1991 | "How Much Is Enough?" | – | – | 27 | 35 | 10 | 11 | – | Ink |
| 2000 | "One Thing Leads to Another (J. Benitez Remix)" |
– | – | – | – | – | – | 54 Ω | |
- §: Originally appearing on the "Streets of Fire" soundtrack, "Deeper and Deeper" can now also be found on the reissue of "Reach The Beach."
- ‡: The official Billboard web database has some errors in it and differs from the original print issues, including listing "Are We Ourselves?" as having peaked at #2 on the rock chart when in fact it spent two weeks at #1.
- Ω: The 2000 "One Thing Leads To Another" remix was listed as #4 on the Top 5 Dance/Clubplay Breakouts List. This list features tracks with future potential to hit the Top 50 and can be considered a Bubbling Under chart for the Top 50.
Sources:
- Australian charts at Australian-charts.com (see pre 1989 chart thread at australian-charts.com )
- Canadian charts archived at [www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm]
- US charts: All information taken from Billboard Magazine Archive Print Issues.
In popular culture [link]
- "One Thing Leads to Another" appears in an episode of the TV series Knight Rider, and the episode "Nobody Does It Better" features a FIXX poster framed in the background of an office.
- "One Thing Leads to Another" appears in the popular videogame Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, playing on Pop radio station Flash FM.
- "One Thing Leads to Another" was featured in an advertisement for the television show Lie to Me.
- "One Thing Leads to Another" appears in the horror film The House of the Devil.
- Cy and Jamie both appear in Tina Turner's "Better Be Good to Me" music video, which is produced by Rupert Hine, who worked on early The Fixx albums.
- "Saved by Zero" appears in a national American television commercial for Toyota.
- All is Fair from the album Ink is featured in the soundtrack to the film If Looks Could Kill.
References [link]
- ^ allmusic ((( The Fixx > Biography )))
- ^ Mann, Brent (2005). Blinded By the Lyrics. New York, NY: Citadel Press Books
- ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 204. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
External links [link]
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https://wn.com/The_Fixx
Podcasts:
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Secret Separation
by: The FixxSECRET SEPARATION
The Fixx
(Cy Curnin)
We are passengers in time
Lost in motion, locked together
Day and night by trick of light
But I must take another journey
We must meet with other names
You touched my heart so deeply
You rescued me now free me
Don't watch me cry just see me go
I'll take away the strongest feelings
You will ever know
There will be no more isolation in our secret separation
You touched my heart so deeply you rescued me
Now free me
We are passengers in time
Lost in motion, locked together
Day and night, by trick of light
But I must take another journey
We must meet with other names
If you hold me you will hurt me
Be brave
There will be no more isolation in our secret separation
You touched my heart so deeply you rescued me
Now free me
We are matching spark and flame
Caught in endless repetition
Life for life we'll be the same
I must leave before you burn me
I am the stranger who deserts you only to love you
In another life
There will be no more isolation in our secret separation
You touched my heart so deeply, you rescued me
Now free me I'll bear one precious scar that only you will know
From: MARK RIOS