Tears for Fears

The band formed in 1981 by Roland Orzabel and Curt Smith and were part of the New Wave electronic scene that dominated the British and American charts in the early 1980s.

The boys left an earlier band Called Graduate which was heavily influenced by the MOD scene and they decided to branch out into the electronic sound that had gripped the UK. They signed to Parlophone records and with most bands of that era, there first few releases were not commercially successful.
They released singles 'suffer the children' and 'Pale Shelter'. however, success arrived in November 1982 when they released 'Mad World' and the song peaked at number 3 in the UK charts just before Christmas and this gave the band huge exposure for the release of the debut Album 'The hurting' which was released in March 1983.


The album was produced by Chris Hughes who was the drummer with Adam and the Ants and the album touched on distress and therapy in pretty much every song.

The album was a huge success and stayed in the UK charts for over 12 months and peaked at number one in the UK. the album also spawned single success with 'Change' and 'pale shelter'.

In 1984 they began work on a new album and after a production change they went back to Chris Hughes, they released 'Mothers Talk' and this was followed by the huge international hit 'Shout' another top 5 hit. This was the prelude to the much anticipated album 'songs from the big chair' which debuted at number 2 and again like the first album hung around the album charts for over 12 months in the UK and was number one in the USA.

The album paved the way for a plethora of new singles releases including 'Everybody wants to rule the world', 'Head over heels' and 'I believe'. There success was huge on both sides of the pond. They performed at the MTV awards in 1985 and whilst in a hotel bar they discovered a singer/pianist Oleta Adams for whom they were do to later work.

The success in the UK continued with a BRIT award in 1986 for the best single plus countless nominations from best group to best producer. The band were also due to headline Live Aid in America but had to pull out on the morning as a number of backing band had quit due to the expiration of the contracts! the members were replaced but not in time so the band decided to give proceeds from the upcoming world tour to Band Aid.

They also got involved with Sport Aid and re wrote there classic to 'everybody wants to run the world'. The band were quiet for a while until 1989 came the release of the new album 'seeds of love' which saw a huge production budget of over a million pound. The album saw a more Jazz and Blues touch to the album and saw contributions from Phil Collins and Oleta Adams.

The album was a huge success and saw the release of the singles 'sowing the seeds of love' and 'woman in chains'. After the album the duo split and Curt Smith left due to management issues and the way the band was moving musically. This left Roland to carry on the name for pretty much all of the 1990s until they got back together in 2000.

During the 1980s They released 3 albums with 2 number ones. They released 16 singles including re-releases and enjoyed 7 top 10 hits and although a number one was avoided in the UK they did enjoy 2 number ones in America with Shout and everybody wants to rule the world.