Peter Cunnah

Infobox Musical artist


Img_size = 150
Name = Peter Cunnah
Background = Singer, songwriter, musician, producer
Birth name = Peter Cunnah
Born = birth date and age|1966|8|30
Derry, Northern Ireland
Genre = Pop
Synthpop
Dance
Occupation = singer
songwriter
musician
producer
Instrument = vocals, keyboards, guitar
Years_active = 1993-1997 (as )
1998-present as solo artist and writer/producer for other acts
Label = Magnet Records
URL =

Peter Cunnah (born on 30 August, 1966, in Derry, Northern Ireland) is best known as lead singer and song writer with 1990s dance-pop duo (alongside DJ Al Mackenzie).

Prior to forming D:Ream, he was lead guitarist with Belfast based band Tie The Boy who were briefly signed to the Mother Records record label owned by U2. When that deal foundered soon after the band's move from Belfast to London, in-fighting amongst the members of that band led rapidly to its split.

Finding himself in the heart of London's clubland, Cunnah, already accomplished as a producer, originally conceived D:Ream as a way of re-using songs from his previous band. With little by way of support in London, he teamed up with DJ Al Mackenzie on a series of dance records by a 'faceless' dance act which would be fronted live and on-record by a female diva, leaving Cunnah free to concentrate on songwriting and production and Mackenzie free to concentrate on building a DJ reputation.

However, after a live date when Cunnah stepped up to sing, he found himself enjoying and rapidly remodelled the concept around his own vocals. Initially performing as a duo, they received fairly immediate clubland acclaim and quickly found management and record and publishing deals.

By late 1991, D:Ream had built a solid club reputation through PA's and parties and were being touted as the act that could bring back vocal and the song onto the dance floor, at the time dominated by instrumentals and samples.

D:Ream's initial reputation lay in an ongoing series of 12" white label mixes, which soon produced a succession of number ones on UK and European dance charts.A combination of strong dance grooves and catchy songwriting kept records like of "U R The Best Thing" fresh on DJ-decks and dancefloors during an eighteen month of remixes by DJ friends such as Sasha, Leftfield, Sine and David Morales. This clubland success reached its peak with the anthemic optimism of "Things Can Only Get Better" reflecting the early 1990s clubland positivity and energy. It also marked a turning point as, having secured a reputation for hot low level marketing, Cunnah was already interested in evolving his tunes toward shorter formats suitable for daytime airplay.

In 1993, backed by the continuing currency of 12" club-remixes, crossed over to the UK singles chart Top 40 with a string of four radio-friendly 7" edits of "U R The Best Thing", "Things Can Only Get Better", and new songs "Unforgiven" and "I Like It".

Suspicions of a pop destination were raised by the latter's twinning as a double A-side with "Star", a straightforward pop song and by Al MacKenzie's sudden departure at the end of that year. In 1994, Cunnah went headlong for the UK top 5 with a refined "Things Can Only Get Better" hitting number one and finishing as that year's best-selling single. A fresh (Perfecto) edit of "U R The Best Thing" followed up, hitting number four in the UK and doing well internationally. A reissued "" album, whose ecstasy-inspired graphics had been replaced with iconic 'popstar' imagery focussed on Peter, confirmed the end of D:Ream's clubland ascendancy.

Unfortunately, the second album, 1995's "World" would suffer from a distinct lack of support from those who had previously championed D:Ream and this, combined with internal management troubles, left D:Ream's singles chart placings on a downward trot with only "Shoot Me with Your Love"' seeing the inside of the UK top 10.

Famously, however, "Things Can Only Get Better" was to enjoy a further life, this time as a political anthem for New Labour in the 1997 election campaign and has therefore featured as background music in numerous television programmes examining New Labour's record - Often as a shorthand way of asking if things really have gotten better.

Meanwhile, a third D:Ream album, the unreleased "Leap of Faith", would falter as Cunnah decided that the D:Ream game was up and acceeded to record company demands to issue a compilation, "", culled from the first two albums.

Cunnah subsequently developed solo and collaborative material while working as a writer/producer behind the scenes.

He sang lead vocals on Chicane's 2003 single "Love on the Run".

Cunnah also helped compose music for the anime "Inuyasha".

Recently, Cunnah has returned to live performances with a new guitar-based band, 'Shane' whose debut single "The Weight of It" was released in May 2006.

External links and references

* [http://www.d-ream.net www.d-ream.net] : D:Ream's Official Website
* [http://www.everyhit.com EveryHit.com] : UK Top 40 Database

*Paul Gambaccini, Tim Rice, Jonathan Rice (1995), "UK Hit Singles", Guinness Publishing