Animotion

Animotion
Live At Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk - Santa Cruz, CA - July 27, 2012
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, California
Genres	New wave, synthpop
Years active	1983–90, 2001–present
Labels	Mercury Records, Polydor Records
Associated acts	Red Zone, Device
Website	Animotion Web Site
Members	Astrid Plane Bill Wadhams Charles Ottavio Don Kirkpatrick Greg Smith Kevin Rankin
Past members	Paul Antonelli Frenchy O'Brien Jim Blair Cynthia Rhodes Paul Engemann

Animotion is an American band from Los Angeles, California best known for their songs "Obsession", "Let Him Go", "I Engineer", and "Room to Move".^[1]

Formed in 1983 from the remnants of a retro science-fiction band called Red Zone, they signed a record deal with Polygram Records in 1984 and made three albums.

History

Animotion originally had six members, four of whom (lead singer Astrid Plane, keyboardist Paul Antonelli, bassist Charles Ottavio, and drummer David "Frenchy" O'Brien)^[2] had originally been members of the band Red Zone. After the demise of that band, the four aforementioned members set about creating a new group. Lead singer/guitarist Bill Wadhams joined soon thereafter to co-front the new band with Plane. After the formation of Animotion around this nucleus, lead guitarist Don Kirkpatrick was brought on board, completing the line-up. They released their self-titled debut album in 1985. That year, a single from this album, "Obsession", written by hit songwriter Holly Knight and noted British singer/actor Michael Des Barres (who originally cut the song themselves as "Knight and Des Barres" for the 1983 movie A Night in Heaven), became a worldwide success and the band's first US Billboard Hot 100 Top Ten single. The follow-up single from this album, "Let Him Go" also cracked the US Top 40. The radio edit of "Let Him Go" was remixed for release in order to sound more like its predecessor, "Obsession".

Session keyboardist Greg Smith, who had played on the band's debut album, became an official member of the band prior to the recording of the follow-up album, Strange Behavior (1986), which also saw Jim Blair replacing O'Brien on the drum kit. While several singles were released from this album, its success in the US paled in comparison to the debut album, whereas the band became very famous in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and South Africa, thanks to the LP's single "I Engineer", another Holly Knight composition which was co-written with Bernie Taupin and Mike Chapman. "I Engineer" reached the Top 20 (and sometimes the Top 5) in those countries. During 1986 and 1987, Animotion toured extensively, appearing alongside such performers as Phil Collins, Depeche Mode, Eurythmics, Genesis, Howard Jones, INXS, and Simply Red.

In the midst of recording their third album, Animotion went through personnel changes, as all three of the remaining founding members (Bill Wadhams, Astrid Plane and Charles Ottavio) departed. Following their departure, Ottavio and Plane married. Actress/dancer/singer Cynthia Rhodes, known for her performance as the character "Penny Johnson" in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing, replaced Plane as female lead singer, and former solo artist/Device member Paul Engemann replaced Wadhams as the male lead for Animotion's second self-titled album, informally known as "Room to Move" (due to the success of this song) to distinguish it from their first LP. Incidentally, Engemann's former band, Device had also included Holly Knight (co-writer of "Obsession"). By the time of this third album's release, only Kirkpatrick and Smith remained officially in the "band" backing Rhodes and Engemann, and other session musicians were used during its recording. The single "Room to Move", a remake of a 1988 song by the group Climie Fisher, became a radio hit in April 1989, and their second Top 10 hit in the US, aided by its inclusion in the movie My Stepmother is an Alien. However, the album itself failed to chart, and Animotion broke up after that.

Reunions

Many of the original members reunited on February 8, 2001, in response to a request from Alex Hart and 94.7 NRK Radio Station in Portland, Oregon, performing for a sold-out crowd. Astrid, Bill, Don and Greg have continued to perform as Animotion, with drummer Kevin Rankin joining in 2002, and Bill's son Chris Wadhams joining as bass player in 2011. Don Kirkpatrick also plays in Rod Stewart's band. When he is unavailable, Portland, Oregon guitarist Kevin Hahn fills in. They have performed many shows with Flock of Seagulls, Wang Chung, Berlin and the Motels in recent years.

In the summer of 2005, founding members Wadhams, Plane and Ottavio appeared as Animotion in the American version of the TV show Hit Me Baby One More Time, performing their hit "Obsession" and a cover of Dirty Vegas' "Days Go By".

Legacy

In 2009, Animotion was thrust into pop culture again as it was featured on VH-1's Top 100 One Hit Wonders of the 80s (in spite of the fact that Animotion are technically not one-hit wonders, as their second single "Let Him Go" made it into the top 40 in 1985, and "Room to Move" cracked the top ten in 1989, albeit with an almost entirely different line-up). Animotion came in at No. 12 with the hit "Obsession". Both Astrid Plane and Bill Wadhams were interviewed and featured.

"Obsession" was the opening theme of the World Wrestling Federation's Saturday Night's Main Event from 1985 to 1988. It was also featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. "Obsession" was the opening theme for the speciality TV show FashionTelevision from 1985 to 2012.

Animotion performed a cover of "Dancing in the Street" which featured in the 1985 film Girls Just Want to Have Fun.

UK based specialist reissue label Cherry Red Records re-released deluxe editions of both the Animotion (1985) and Strange Behavior (1986) albums via its Cherry Pop imprint on August 17, 2009 (UK) and a week later in the US (according to Amazon.com). Extensive sleeve notes are by long-time fan Steve Thorpe; some visual archive material for the booklets was supplied by Charles Kennedy of Invisible Hands Music. The audio was remastered by Tim Turan in Oxford UK. The CDs each include several bonus tracks including 7" remixes and 12" remixes gathered from various singles released between 1984 and 1986 in Europe and the United States.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Singles

References

External links

• Official Website
• Bill Wadhams' Website
• Bill Wadhams Interview following Hit Me Baby One More Time appearance
• Brief Don Kirkpatrick Bio
• Booking Agency