- Eighth Wonder
Infobox musical artist
Name = Eighth Wonder
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Background = group_or_band
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Genre = Pop
Years_active = 1983 to 1989
Label =CBS Records
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URL =
Current_members =Patsy Kensit Jamie Kensit Steve Grantley Geoff Beauchamp
Past_members =
Notable_instruments =Eighth Wonder was a British pop band in the 1980s. They formed in 1983 and enjoyed major success in
Japan andItaly between 1985 and 1987, before having hit singles in the UK and acrossEurope in 1988.Biography
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 leadsinger in his new band Spice. She formed a line-up consisting of herself on vocals,Jamie Kensit andGeoff Beauchamp on guitar, Lawrence Lewis on bass,Jake Walters and a friend called Nigel on percussion. Their musical influences includedHaircut 100 andStimulin . 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 thatSteve Wooley , co-owner ofPalace Films , and directorJulien Temple offered Patsy the role of Crepe Suzette in the 1986 film "Absolute Beginners".uccess in Japan and Italy
In April 1985 they were signed by
CBS Records and began recording inLondon , 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 inJapan andItaly reaching #1 (it charted only at #65 in theUK ). 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 theirdebut album . There, they worked withMike Chapman , who was best known for his work with Blondie. They were also approached by many respectedsongwriter s, including Dave Stewart of theEurythmics (although the song was eventually not used) andBilly Steinberg andTom 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 theUK singles chart , yet it reached the Top 10 inItaly . In Japan, the band achieved another number one with another Chapman produced track "When The Phone Stops Ringing", which was written byHolly Knight andBernie Taupin ; the song was also a Top 30 hit inItaly . "Will You Remember?" was successfully released as a follow-up single inJapan . This was in turn followed by "Brilliant Dreams", a Japanese exclusive mini-album containing the singles andb-sides .uccess in UK
Whilst completing their first album, the band had another line-up change with
Alex Godson being replaced by drummerSteve Grantley . They worked withsound engineer , mixer and producerPete Hammond , with the exception of one track, "I'm Not Scared", which was co-produced and solely written byPet Shop Boys . "I'm Not Scared" was chosen as the next single for release inEurope . It was greeted with media andpublic enthusiasm, and "I'm Not Scared" became a Top 10 hit in almost every country inEurope , achieving number 1 inItaly , number 2 inSwitzerland andPortugal , number 3 inSpain , 4 inGreece , 5 inGermany , 7 in theUnited Kingdom , 8 inFrance and 20 inAustria .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 theUS , 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 inJapan with "Use Me" in 1989 and shortly after this, the band parted ways andPatsy Kensit began to focus solely on her acting career.Trivia
* Pet Shop Boys recorded their own version of "I'm Not Scared" for their album "Introspective"
Discography
Albums
*"Brilliant Dreams" (February 1987, Japan only)
*"Fearless" (July 1988) (UK #47, Japan #8)
*"" (1990, Japan only)Singles
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