Boys Don't Cry (band)

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Boys Don't Cry was a British studio band who had one hit in the United States, "I Wanna Be a Cowboy", which peaked at #12 in 1986. Brian Chatton had a brief stint on keyboards with 1970s progressive band Jackson Heights, contributing heavily to their Ragamuffin's Fool LP.

Boys Don't Cry were discovered by Paul Oakenfold, who was a talent scout for Profile Records in London in the mid-80's. The record was licensed by Profile Records in 1985, which was also Run DMC's record label at that time. Boys Don't Cry name was borrowed by the producers of the motion picture of the same name, but, it will always be remembered as the name of the band that created one of the classic 80's songs of all time "I Wanna Be A Cowboy." The song has been described as the perfect musical realization of a spaghetti western movie. "I Wanna Be A Cowboy" was Madonna's favorite song of 1986. The song "I Wanna Be A Cowboy" hit no. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1985-1986, and was R&R No. 8. "I Wanna Be A Cowboy" was also a top 10 hit in Australia and South Africa.

The band consisted of Brian Chatton who played keyboards; he has collaborated with Phil Collins, Meat Loaf, The Hollies, Flaming Youth, Jon Anderson of Yes, Tony Kaye of Yes, Sheena Easton, N'Sync and others. Jeff Seopardi on drums, has played with Paul Carrack andModern English. Nico Ramsden on guitar has played with The Proclaimers, Mike Oldfield and Rick Wakeman. Nick Richards featured on vocals; at that time Nick was a solo artist with RCA, and Mark Smith on bass; Mark played with The Waterboys.

On July 30, 1997, co-writer Nick Richards and Brian Chatton sued Paula Cole, Warner Brothers Records, and Imago Records for $7 million in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, claiming that Cole's remix "Where have all the Cowboys Gone?" used the phrase "I wanna be a cowboy" 24 times in the same style and syntax as their song and constituted copyright infringement.