Frankie Goes To Hollywood

  • Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Welcome To The Pleasuredome [Island / ZZT Records  7 90232-1-H] (29 October 1984)
  • Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Liverpool [Island Records 90546-1] (20 October 1986)

Biography

Frankie Goes to Hollywood (FGTH) were a British band formed in Liverpool, England, in 1980. The group was fronted by Holly Johnson (vocals), with Paul Rutherford (vocals), Peter Gill (drums, percussion), Mark O'Toole (bass guitar), and Brian Nash (guitar).

The group's 1983 debut single ''Relax'' was banned by the BBC in 1984 while at number six in the charts and subsequently topped the UK Singles Chart for five consecutive weeks, going on to enjoy prolonged chart success throughout that year and ultimately becoming the seventh best-selling UK single of all time. It also won the 1985 Brit Award for Best British Single. Their debut album, Welcome to the Pleasuredome, reached number one in the UK in 1984 with advanced sales of over one million. After the follow-up success of ''Two Tribes'' and ''The Power of Love'', the group became only the second act in the history of the UK charts to reach number one with their first three singles; the first being fellow Liverpudlians Gerry and the Pacemakers. This record remained unbeaten until the Spice Girls achieved a six-single streak in 1996-97. In 1985 the band won the Brit Award for Best British Newcomer, and also received Grammy Award and MTV Video Music Award nominations for Best New Artist.

Songwriters Johnson, Gill and O'Toole received the 1984 Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy for Best Song Musically and Lyrically for ''Two Tribes''. In 2015, the song was voted by the British public as the nation's 14th favourite 1980s number one in a poll for ITV. [wikipedia.org]