Go West

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Go West
Richard Drummie and Peter Cox in 1985
Background information
Origin	London, England
Genres	Sophisti-pop, Dance, Blue-eyed soul
Years active	1982 - Current
Labels	Chrysalis EMI
Associated acts	Level 42
Website	http://www.gowest.org.uk/
Members
Peter Cox Richard Drummie

Go West is an English pop duo, formed in 1982, by lead vocalist/drummer Peter Cox (born 17 November 1955, in Kingston, Surrey, England); and guitarist/vocalist Richard Drummie (born 20 March 1959, in Twickenham, London, England). While they have had many successful singles in their native United Kingdom, they are generally best known in the United States for their hits "King of Wishful Thinking" and "Faithful."

On 16th October 2009 Peter Cox was announced as the new lead singer with Manfred Mann's Earth Band

Career

Go West had a publishing deal and possessed a portastudio, but lacked a band or recording company. Cox and Drummie decided, with support from John Glover, their manager, to find a musical producer, and record just two of their songs. The tracks "We Close Our Eyes" and "Call Me" found Go West developing a record deal with Chrysalis Records. The songwriting duo specialised in radio friendly, white soul sounds.

The band's debut single, "We Close Our Eyes", was released in 1985 and managed to reach Number 5 on the UK Singles Chart, and #5 on the US Dance Club PLay Chart and #41 on the Billboard Hot 100. The video for the song, directed by Godley & Creme, became an early favourite on MTV. This helped them to be voted the "Best Newcomers" at the 1986 Brit Awards. The song was part of the soundtrack for the Italian low-budget horror film Dèmoni, also known as Demons. The single would prove to be their highest-placing UK single, and only appearance in the UK Top Ten.

The band's self-titled debut album was released in 1985 as well. It included "We Close Our Eyes" and "Call Me" as well as "Don't Look Down", which served as the prequel to what would be the band's first top 40 hit in the U.S.. The album itself was not only very successful in Britain but also moderately successful in America. Bangs and Crashes, an album of remixes, b-sides and live tracks, was released in 1986.

In 1987, the band released the proper follow-up to their debut, Dancing on the Couch. Although several singles were released from the album, its success paled in comparison to the first album, particularly in the U.S. Ironically, it did yield the band's first American top 40 hit with the single "Don't Look Down (The Sequel)", a continuation of the track "Don't Look Down" from the debut album. However, "Don't Look Down (The Sequel)" wasn't included on UK versions of the CD, and instead included the track "Let's Build A Boat" in its place.

In 1990, Go West finally broke through to American audiences in a big way, when they scored a Top 10 U.S. hit with the song "King of Wishful Thinking" from the movie, Pretty Woman. Unlike many hits from soundtracks of major movies that are written by outside songwriters and merely performed by a musical artist, "King of Wishful Thinking" was actually written by Cox and Drummie themselves (in collaboration with Martin Page). In 1991, the song received an ASCAP award for being one of the most played songs in America the previous year.

In 1992, the band released the Indian Summer album, which included "Faithful", another big hit in the U.S., peaking at #14, and also a UK hit, peaking at Number 13. This track later received airplay recognition awards in the U.S. (in both 1992 and 1993) as well.

In 1997, Peter Cox took a break from Go West to release his self-titled first solo album. He has gone on to release several more solo albums into the 2000s. His most recent album, Motor City Music was released in 2006.

Cox and Drummie appeared on Jim'll Fix It: Strikes Again in 2007 to re-create a popular 'fix-it' from 1986; in the original show, a fifteen-year girl had sung We Close Our Eyes with the band as a back-up singer. ^[1]

Their new album futurenow was released on 23 June 2008.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

• Official Peter Cox Website http://www.peter-cox.org
• Official Go West Website and Forum http://www.gowest.org.uk
• Unofficial Go West fans forum.. http://langersandginge.yuku.com
• Official Japanese Go West-Peter Cox Website http://www.gowest-petercox.jp
• Go West at Allmusic
• Unofficial Go West Fansite 'Go West Arena' http://www.gowest-arena.co.uk