Eighth Wonder

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This article is about the pop band. For other Eighth Wonders, see Wonders of the World (disambiguation).
Eighth Wonder
Genre(s) Pop
Years active 1983 to 1989
Label(s) CBS Records
Members
Patsy Kensit
Jamie Kensit
Steve Grantley
Geoff Beauchamp

Eighth Wonder was a British pop band in the 1980s. They formed in 1983 and enjoyed major success in Japan and Italy between 1985 and 1987, before having hit singles in the UK and across Europe in 1988.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early years

Eighth Wonder's roots start in a band called Spice. In 1983, Jamie Kensit auditioned his sister Patsy Kensit, then aged 14, for the vacant job of lead singer in his new band Spice. She formed a line-up consisting of herself oN vocals, Jamie Kensit and Geoff Beauchamp on guitar, Lawrence Lewis on bass, Jake Walters and a friend called Nigel on percussion. Their musical influences included Haircut 100 and Stimulin. Spice made their live debut in autumn 1983, and then spent the next year playing further gigs to gain some attention from record companies.

In late 1984, Nigel left and Alex Godson, a keyboard player, joined the band. They renamed themselves Eighth Wonder and Patsy began to write songs for the band. Their first gig as Eighth Wonder was in November 1984 in Wimbledon and further gigs followed. It was at one of these that Steve Wooley, co-owner of Palace Films, and director Julian Temple offered Patsy the role of Crepe Suzette in Absolute Beginners.

[edit] Success in Japan and Italy

In April 1985 they were signed by CBS Records and began recording in London, working around Patsy's filming on Absolute Beginners. In October 1985, with the filming completed, Eighth Wonder's first single "Stay With Me" was released and achieved success in Japan and Italy reaching #1 (it charted only at #65 in the UK). Shortly after, Lawrence Lewis (bass) and Jake Walters (drums) left. They then started using drum machines and using keyboards for bass.

In August 1986, they went to Los Angeles to record new tracks for their debut album. There, they worked with Mike Chapman, who was best known for his work with Blondie. They were also approached by many respected songwriters, including Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics (although the song was eventually not used) and Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, writers of many hit singles including Madonna's "Like a Virgin".

In February 1987, one of the Chapman produced tracks "Will You Remember?" was released in the United Kingdom but only entered at number 83 in the UK singles chart, yet it reached the Top 10 in Italy. In Japan, the band achieved another number one with another Chapman produced track "When The Phone Stops Ringing", which was written by Holly Knight and Bernie Taupin; the song was also a Top 30 hit in Italy. "Will You Remember?" was successfully released as a follow-up single in Japan, and was, in turn, followed by a Japanese exclusive mini-album containing the singles and b-sides which was called Brilliant Dreams.

[edit] Success in UK

Whilst completing their first album, the band had another line-up change with Alex Godson being replaced by drummer Steve Grantley. They worked with sound engineer, mixer and producer Pete Hammond, with the exception of one track, "I'm Not Scared", which was co-produced and solely written by the Pet Shop Boys. "I'm Not Scared" was chosen as the next single for release in Europe. It was greeted with media and public enthusiasm, and "I'm Not Scared" became a Top 10 hit in almost every country in Europe, achieving number 1 in Italy, number 2 in Switzerland and Portugal, number 3 in Spain, 4 in Greece, 5 in Germany, 7 in the United Kingdom, 8 in France and 20 in Austria.

May 1988 saw the release of another single "Cross My Heart" which proved to be almost as successful chart wise as "I'm Not Scared" (#6 in Switzerland, #10 in Italy, #13 in UK and France and #56 in the US, where it was their only American Top 75 hit single). Eighth Wonder's next album "Fearless" followed in July 1988, and by October it had achieved almost 500,000 sales internationally.

However the follow-up single "Baby Baby" reached a disappointing number 65 in the UK Singles Chart. They had one more hit in Japan with "Use Me" in 1989 and shortly after this, the band parted ways and Patsy Kensit began to focus solely on her acting career.

[edit] Trivia

  • The Pet Shop Boys recorded their own version of "I'm Not Scared" for their album Introspective

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

  • Brilliant Dreams (February 1987, Japan only)
  • Fearless (July 1988) (UK #47, Japan #8)
  • Eighth Wonder: The Best Remixes (1990, Japan only)

[edit] Singles

Year Title Album JPN ITA UK GER FRA
1985 “Stay With Me” Brilliant Dreams 1 1 65 - -
1986 “Having It All” Brilliant Dreams - - - - -
1986 “Will You Remember?” Brilliant Dreams 1 9 83 - -
1987 “When The Phone Stops Ringing” Brilliant Dreams 1 26 - - -
1988 “I'm Not Scared” Fearless - 1 7 5 8
1988 “Cross My Heart” Fearless 42 10 13 - -
1988 “Baby Baby” Fearless 2 13 65 - -
1989 “Use Me” Fearless 3 - - - -