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David H Fears Biography & Facts

Tears for Fears are an English pop rock band formed in Bath in 1981 by Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal. Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, Tears for Fears were associated with the synth-pop bands of the 1980s, and attained international chart success as part of the Second British Invasion.The band's debut album, The Hurting (1983), reached number one on the UK Albums Chart, and their first three hit singles – "Mad World", "Change", and "Pale Shelter" – all reached the top five in the UK Singles Chart. Their second album, Songs from the Big Chair (1985), reached number one on the US Billboard 200, achieving multi-platinum status in both the US and the UK. The album contained two US Billboard Hot 100 number one hits: "Shout" and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", both of which also reached the top five in the UK with the latter winning the Brit Award for Best British Single in 1986. Their belated follow-up, The Seeds of Love (1989), entered the UK chart at number one and yielded the transatlantic top 5 hit "Sowing the Seeds of Love". After touring The Seeds of Love in 1990, Orzabal and Smith had an acrimonious split. Orzabal retained the Tears for Fears name as a solo project, releasing the albums Elemental (1993) – which produced the international hit "Break It Down Again" – and Raoul and the Kings of Spain (1995). Orzabal and Smith reconciled in 2000 and released an album of new material, Everybody Loves a Happy Ending, in 2004. The duo have toured on a semi-regular basis since then. After being in development for almost a decade, the band's seventh album, The Tipping Point, was released in 2022, giving the band their sixth UK Top 5 album and their highest chart peak in 30 years, and reaching the Top 10 in numerous other countries, including the US. In 2021, Orzabal and Smith were honoured with the Ivor Novello Award for 'Outstanding Song Collection' recognising their "era-defining Tears for Fears albums" and "critically acclaimed, innovative hit singles". History Formation and influences Orzabal and Smith met as teenagers in Bath, Somerset, England. Their professional debut came with the band Graduate, a mod revival/new wave act whose influences included the Jam and two-tone music. In 1980, Graduate released an album, Acting My Age, and a single "Elvis Should Play Ska" (referring to Elvis Costello). The single just missed the top 100 in the UK, but performed well in Spain and in Switzerland. The band split in 1981. Shortly afterwards, Orzabal and Smith became session musicians for the band Neon, where they first met future Tears for Fears drummer Manny Elias. Neon also featured Pete Byrne and Rob Fisher, who went on to become Naked Eyes. The pair continued working together, drawing inspiration from artists such as Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno.Orzabal and Smith were impressed by the synth-pop sound of Gary Numan's "Are 'Friends' Electric?" (1979), aspiring to make such music themselves. Their new electronic direction was assured upon hearing the work of bands like Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), Depeche Mode and the Human League. Post-punk band Joy Division were also influential, inspiring Orzabal to write more introspective and personal songs.The likes of OMD and Soft Cell had popularised the "duo" presentation within the synth-pop scene, inspiring Orzabal and Smith to package themselves as a two-man unit, initially under the name History of Headaches. The name Tears for Fears was inspired by primal therapy, developed by the American psychologist Arthur Janov, which gained tremendous publicity after John Lennon became Janov's patient in 1970. When Orzabal and Smith finally met Janov in the mid-1980s, they were disillusioned to find he had become quite "Hollywood" and wanted the band to write a musical for him.As Tears for Fears, Orzabal and Smith intended to form the nucleus of the group and bring in surrounding musicians to help them complete the picture. Around this time they met local musician Ian Stanley, who offered them free use of his home 8-track studio. Stanley began working with the duo as their keyboard-player and, after recording two demos, Tears for Fears were signed to Mercury Records in the UK in 1981 by A&R manager Dave Bates. Their first single, "Suffer the Children", produced by David Lord, was released on that label in November 1981, followed by the first edition of "Pale Shelter" (produced by Mike Howlett) in March 1982, but neither release was successful. The Hurting and first hit singles (1982–1983) The band achieved their first taste of success with their third single, "Mad World", which reached No. 3 in the UK in November 1982. Their first album, The Hurting, was released in March 1983. They decided to take this album on tour and kicked it off at Holt Village Hall then touring around other small areas. The album, produced by Chris Hughes and Ross Cullum, showcased guitar- and synthesizer-based songs with lyrics reflecting Orzabal's bitter childhood and his interest in primal therapy. The album was a big success and had a lengthy chart run (65 weeks) in the UK, where it reached No. 1 and platinum status. It also reached the top 20 in several other countries and yielded the international hit singles "Mad World" (top 5 hit in South Africa), "Change" (top 40 hit in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and South Africa – their first single to reach the US Billboard Hot 100), and a re-recorded version of "Pale Shelter". All three of these singles reached the Top 5 in the UK. Towards the end of 1983, the band released a new, slightly more experimental single, "The Way You Are", intended as a stopgap while they worked on their second album. The single was a top-30 hit in the UK, but did not come close to matching the success of their three previous hits, despite a national concert tour in December of that year (captured on the In My Mind's Eye live video release). The single, which heavily featured sampling and programmed rhythms, was a departure from Tears for Fears' previous musical approach. In the liner notes to their 1996 B-sides compilation album Saturnine Martial & Lunatic they wrote "this was the point we realised we had to change direction", though the somewhat experimental style of the single continued to be reflected in their forthcoming B-sides. Songs from the Big Chair and worldwide fame (1984–1986) In early 1984, they began working with a new producer, Jeremy Green, on their new single "Mothers Talk". However, the band were ultimately unhappy with the results and so producer Chris Hughes was brought back into the fold and the "Mothers Talk" single re-produced for release in August 1984. A departure from their earlier works, the single became a top-20 hit in the UK, but it was the follow-up single "Shout" (released in the UK in November 1984) that was the real beginning of the band's international fame. "Shout", a top-5 UK hit, p.... Discover the David H Fears popular books. Find the top 100 most popular David H Fears books.