Personal life of the members of the pet shop boys group. Biography of Pet Shop Boys

Genre: Synth-pop, new wave, house, techno, alternative dance

A country: Great Britain

Years of activity 1981-present

Biography:

Pet Shop Boys- a musical group from the UK, performing electronic music mainly in the genres of pop, techno and a new style. Over the entire period of its existence, the band's musicians were able to record four dozen singles, half of which reached the top ten of all kinds of charts in the UK. The group was founded in 1981 by N. Tennant and K. Lowe and was originally called West End after the prestigious London area. Having entered into an agreement with the famous producer B. Orlando in 1983, the musicians recorded several singles, but this did not bring much popularity. It was only after the break with Orlando, when the musicians signed an agreement with the new producer S. Haig, that the band’s affairs took a sharp turn. The musicians re-recorded their famous single West End Girls in 1985, and this composition immediately topped the charts in many countries, including the USA and Great Britain. The following year, Pet Shop Boys released their debut album, Please, which confirmed the group's success, reaching the top ten of the British and American album charts.

Until the fall of 1981, the life paths of Neil and Chris did not intersect and each of them lived his own own life. Both of them were born into middle class families, but despite this, they were very different families.

Neil Francis Tennant

Born on July 10, 1954 in Great Britain, a suburb of Newcastle - the north of the country. Older sister - Susan. Two younger brothers - Simon and Philip. He studied at the monastery school of St. Cuthbert's Catholic Grammar School in Newcastle, studied history at Polytechnic in London. Worked as an editor at Marvel Comics and a journalist at Smash Hits.

Christopher Sean Lowe

Born on October 4, 1959 in the UK, Blackpool. He attended the Arnold School and studied architecture at Liverpool University. He is a licensed architect, but has not worked by profession.

Until the fall of 1981, the life paths of Neil and Chris did not intersect and each of them lived their own lives. Both of them were born into middle class families, but despite this, they were very different families. Neil started writing songs at a very early age and organized his first group - Dust, when he was still 16 years old, after which he entered the North London Polytechnic, where he studied history and socialism. Then he changed several jobs - he was a book editor, worked at Marvel Comics, until he became a journalist at Smash Hits. Chris followed in the footsteps of his family, which had musical roots. He learned to play the trombone and performed in a group called "One Under The Eight", which emulated the styles of artists such as Hello Dolly and Moon River. At 18, he went to study architecture at the University of Liverpool. But one day, on August 19, 1981, in one of the music stores in London, namely on King Road, they noticed each other...

Neil went into the store to buy some supplies for his synthesizer and noticed a guy there who was "laughing a lot," his name was Chris Lowe. Chris himself ended up in this store also by chance - at that time he was doing an internship and was building a staircase not far from this store.

Chris recalls: "We were talking about emerging American pop music, and we had these different views about music, that we spontaneously decided to unite and invent something new!" But then, due to Chris's fault, everything suddenly burst! "Pet Shop Boys" almost did not happen! Out of guilt towards his parents, who saved money on their food for Chris's expensive education, he returned to Liverpool to continue his studies. But Neil did not leave him behind: for 2 years both sent each other draft songs by mail and made demo recordings during the holidays. They called themselves "Pet Shop Boys". how the London friends with whom Chris spent the night during his visits ran a pet store. Finally, big chance dropped out due to Neil's work on Smash Hits. In August 1983 he was scheduled to fly to New York for an interview with Sting. The famous dance producer Bobby Orlando ("Divine", "Lisa Lisa", "Cult Jam"), a big idol of both "Pet Shop Boys", also lived there. Neil arranged a meeting with Bobby and talked him into it for so long until Bobby agreed to release the single. In April 1984 Chris and Neil recorded "West End Girls" in New York, which became a club hit in America. Impulsive Neil immediately quit his magazine, Chris still successfully passed the exam.

In 1985 Chris moved to London. "That's when I finally decided to become a professional musician," says Chris, "Neil and I decided to rewrite our American hit 'West End Girls' and release it in the UK." The idea turned out to be very successful, the song became number one on both sides of the Atlantic, and the Pet Shop Boys were named the best composers in Britain. After the success of the first single, Pet Shop Boys began to be invited to perform concerts all over the world, but the guys were in no hurry to go on tour. “What kind of stupidity is this for a dance group to perform at a stadium?” say Pets, “We play disco music, not rock and roll.” This may explain why the band has only toured the UK three times in the band's history. Neil joked about this: "We would tour, we just have trouble finding a good drummer."

Albums:

INTROSPECTIVE (1988)

BEHAVIOR (1990)

DISCOGRAPHY [compilation] (1991)

RELENTLESS (1993)

ALTERNATIVE (1995)

BILINGUAL (1996)

ORIGINALS (1998)

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Biography, life story of Pet Shop Boys

By tragic coincidence, Pet Shop Boys have always been considered a long-lived analogue Modern Talking, although in England Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant are treated with much more respect. All the alternative bohemians are their friends, the cult director Derek Jarman shot their videos, their albums feature the guitar of Johnny Marr from The Smiths, their next disc is rumored to be produced by Brian Eno, and David Bowie and Blur are giving them songs for remixes. Such an elite environment does not prevent the Pet Shop Boys singles from constantly hanging around in the charts, and the “boys” themselves from rejecting the slightest attempts to portray them as postmodernists. But the duet is perceived perfectly on any level - both as an exquisite mockery and as a melodic disco with intelligent lyrics. Pet Shop Boys formed in 1981, when music journalist Neil Tennant and architecture college student Chris Lowe met in a music store on King's Road. Neil was already 27, Chris was five years younger.

After several unsuccessful auditions, they were noticed by the famous New York disco producer Bobby Orlando. With him, the “boys” created their first single, “West End Girls.” This plastic did not have the slightest success, nor did the next one, “Opportunities”. However, the Pet Shop Boys managed to secure a contract with EMI, and, reworked by Stephen Hogue (who would later become famous for his collaborations with post-punks Siouxsie and James), the version of "West End Girls" suddenly becomes a smash hit, reaching number one in England and the States. and half a dozen other countries. In 1986, the debut album “Please” was released, in the next one their most famous song “It"s A Sin” was released, and the Pet Shop Boys began to be talked about as one of the most interesting groups 80s The duo brings pop music new image and opens up new, unknown facets of the disco, which had already been traveled up and down the length and breadth of it. As it turned out, and dance music can be smart and even gloomy. The detached, emotionless vocals of Neil Tennant, the minimalist and hypnotic rhythms of Chris Lowe only at first glance seemed gray and colorless, but upon closer examination they suddenly blossomed with all sorts of colors and pulled the listener into a completely special world, from under the disastrous charm of which it turned out not so -it's easy to break out. The concept of the group did not originate empty space, the Pet Shop Boys simply adapted the work of their less successful (but more interesting) predecessors for a wider audience. In particular, Manchester's New Order invented “melancholic disco for smart people” back in 1983, but they valued their status as an alternative group too much to run for fame and money at MTU.

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Fellow Manchester natives The Smiths also introduced an ambiguous image and tricky lyrics at the beginning of the decade, but Morrissey and Marr remained faithful to the old-fashioned guitar music, so they were barred from going to discos. Having crossed latest achievements British underground with extreme commercialism, Pet Shop Boys achieved success in the charts, simultaneously becoming darlings of the alternative music press. Indeed, mystery is an integral part of the Pet Shop Boys' image. How so talented musicians can they play despicable disco? Why on earth would a pop group write such ambiguous and ironic lyrics? Who the hell are they really? Maybe just “smart people who hate rock and roll” (literal quote from one of the songs)? In the late 80s, the Pet Shop Boys experienced a real heyday - everything they touched turned to gold. The “boys” set out to make Elvis Presley’s old soulful hit “Always On My Mind” as far from the original as possible - and a daring dance single was born, repeating the success of “West End Girls”. 60s star Dusty Springfield has long forgotten how a hit differs from a candelabra, but who knows where, the Pet Shop Boys who dug her up wrote the song “What Have I Done To Deserve It?” for the singer, which again brought Dusty to the top of the charts. A completely unexpected collaboration with Liza Minnelli results in a very unusual album, “Results,” both for Liza and for the “boys.” IN different years they also collaborated with Tina Turner and Boy George.

On the “Actually” disc, one of the tracks was recorded with Enio Morricone - few disco performers can boast of such stylistic diversity. But closer to the 90s, the fashion for disco subsided, and it seemed that the Pet Shop Boys would share the fate of their colleagues on the charts of the 80s. They could have gone into techno, for the development of which they did a lot: “Sound Of Atom Splitting” and the remix of “It"s All Right” from the album “Introspec-live” - an acid house classic, but, fortunately, they did not do this. Because that it turned out that they did not need to chase fashion - the Pet Shop Boys had formed their own audience, which consisted not only of flighty disco regulars. The 1990 disc “Behavior” turned out to be unexpectedly serious, in some ways even depressing. Only the song “So Hard”. had success comparable to their previous achievements, but this album showed the enormous progress of Neil Tennant as a poet, and the music of “Behavior” turned out to be much more interesting and varied than on previous albums. Summing up the decade, in 1991 the Pet Shop Boys released the collection “Discography”. ", the sales of which showed that interest in their music is still great. The album included another interesting cover song - this time the Pet Shop Boys decided to have fun with the famous U2 hit “Where The Streets Have No Names”.

Neil Tennant replaced the emotional anguish and pain for all sufferers characteristic of Bono with his bored, indifferent vocals, and to top it all off, mixed the verses of the original with the frivolous song by Andy Williams “Can't Take My Eyes Off You.” The Pet Shop Boys tour is not even a rare event , but simply exceptional, so the advertising campaign for the records is based on spectacular video clips, on which leading specialists of this genre are involved. Moreover, for each album, a new image, costumes and hairstyles are developed for Chris and Neil. The most memorable, perhaps, was their appearance from the time of the disc. 1993 “Very”: multi-colored overalls and fancy helmets The design of the duo’s records is a topic for another discussion, but suffice it to say that for the last three projects the disc cases were made specially: orange for “Very”, with a hologram for “Alternative”, with embossing - for "Bilingual". In the 90s, the Pet Shop Boys, having remained, in fact, the only group of the previous decade that was not released, may no longer care about commercial success, but they still play disco - they are the only ones. . It is unlikely that now on this basis they can be branded as pop ephemera, and they have stood the test of time with honor. The latest Pet Shop Boys hit coming from the radio is as familiar as the change of seasons.

In recent years, the duo's creativity has acquired new dimensions. The album “Electronic”, which appeared in 1991, was not at all the soundtrack to the famous Soviet television series, but a collaboration between New Order vocalist Bernie Sumner and guitarist of the already mentioned The Smiths, Johnny Marr. As it turned out, these musicians did not harbor a grudge against the “boys” who took advantage of their ideas, but, on the contrary, retained the warmest attitude towards them: Neil Tennant’s vocals are featured in three songs, and Chris Lowe is also featured on several tracks. "Electronic" was hailed as one of the best records of the decade, and the Pet Shop Boys deservedly received their share of the fame. In 1995, the double CD “Alternative” was released, collecting 30 songs from the flip sides of Pet Shop Boys singles, and it turned out that they contained true masterpieces that were ahead of their time: here there was musical innovation (“I Get Exited”), And most interesting texts(“Miserablism”) and even a dance adaptation of the theme from “The Threepenny Opera” (“What Keeps Mankind Alive”).

By recording B-sides, the Pet Shop Boys did not have to worry about commercial success, and “Alternative” turned out to be stronger than any of their numbered albums, and it is these songs, and not pompous hits, that will remain in the annals of pop music. In general, this technique was so fashionable in the 90s (putting on the back sides of singles not trash that was ruined by the producer, but songs that are not inferior to greatest hits) - it was Pet Shop Boys that came into use ten years ago. And in the mouthpiece of the British alternative, the New Musical Express newspaper, they somehow agreed that this was the main contribution of the duo to world culture. In the 90s, they tried to make the first remix, and they approached this problem with the same irony: when the lively group Blur released the single “Girls & Boys”, in which they rather tactlessly mocked the “boys”, Chris and Neil were not offended, but on the contrary , offered their own version of this song, which can still be heard on the radio. Two years later, as soon as David Bowie once again recorded the brutal and heavy composition “Hallo Spaceboy”, the Pet Shop Boys did not lose their heads and made a dance version of this thing, which became David’s biggest hit in the last ten years. The album “Bilingual” was released in 1996 and is deservedly considered the pinnacle of their work. The music of "Bilingual" is both fashionable and conservative - Chris and Neil managed to find perfect proportion old and new.

The disc demonstrates the entire spectrum of moods, from euphoria (“Se A Vide E”) to fierce melancholy (“Discoteca”), and the entire palette of styles: from orthodox disco of the 80s (“Saturday Night Forever”) to Electricity - a completely experimental thing, which would have sounded unexpected even on “Alternative”. The influence is noticeable on the record. latin music, and Johnny Marr's guitar returns on six songs. And now, the Moscow concert. This is not the first time the duo has been in Russia - back in 1992, they shot a video clip for “Go West” on Red Square (Soviet athletes in this video were portrayed by a New York gay club in in full force), and already in 1998 we went to visit Brian Eno in St. Petersburg. Male choir on the 1997 single “A Red Letter Day” - this is the choir of the Moscow Music Academy. The concert took place in Luzhniki - foreign guest performers quite rarely perform there: alternative bands the walls of “Gorbushka” are shaking, “living legends” are sprinkling sand on the stage of the Palace of Congresses, which is completely unsuited for this kind of event. The ticket prices turned out to be divine: from 100 to 400 rubles, but there was no sold-out crowd, although the stalls were packed extremely tightly.

The audience, although predictable, was nevertheless pleasant - middle class, students, bohemian youth. Or more simply - intelligent people. No outcasts or juvenile drug addicts, whose ears were delighted by Exploited and Scooter, respectively, immediately before the Pet Shop Boys’ visit. A lot of foreigners came - oddly enough, Pet Shop Boys rarely give live performances, and usually in small halls. The concert was delayed for almost an hour, during which the audience was lulled by viscous ambient music. Finally the lights went out, and the Pet Shop Boys ran onto the stage in dazzling white suits, followed by two black women in black, one portly, the other frail. The program started one of the most famous hits duet, “It"s a Sin.” Maintaining their reputation as controversial and mysterious characters, the Pet Shop Boys did something strange from their old hit: not only did the sunny disco towards the end of the song somehow imperceptibly give way to the darkest jungle, but in the middle there was a black woman, the thicker one sang (she has an excellent voice) “I Will Survive,” a disco hit of the 70s that made Gloria Gaynor famous. On subsequent numbers, the audience more or less relaxed, when suddenly: “We wrote this song together with David Bowie.” years ago,” Neil Tennant announced, and “Hallo Spaceboy” began to sound, and the plump African-English Mrs. Sylvia James coped with Bowie’s vocal part quite adequately, and the other one, who is fragile, when naked, suddenly turned out to be... a rather muscular man.

The concert was generally rich in surprises: for example, the song “Rent” (which already has a rich history: Liza Minnelli recorded it in an orchestral arrangement by Angelo Badalamenti, and a year ago Neil sang it in a duet with Brett Anderson from Suede), the Pet Shop Boys performed it. ..acoustic, with one guitar. “Modern Talking” can’t do that, that’s for sure. The famous cover versions were also performed: “Always On My Mind”, which also began acoustically, and “Where The Streets Have No Name”, which met with a particularly warm reception from the audience. Among the shortcomings of the concert, one can note only the poorly tuned sound.

The Pet Shop Boys were distinguished by their good language skills: while the Nazaret group never learned anything beyond “thank you” during their six visits to us, Neil Tennant also knows “thank you very much,” “goodbye,” and even “I love you.” Despite the assurances of the organizers that the group had prepared a special program for Russia, the Pet Shop Boys played the same things as at the summer concerts in London and Turku (Finland), where the author of this text happened to visit. Moreover, not only the order of the songs was the same, but also the entire production of the show. Having performed their new single “Somewhere” (arrangement of the theme from the musical “West Side Story”) at the finale of the concert, the duo left, but they, of course, came out for an encore - you can’t leave Russia without singing “Go West,” especially that in the summer they closed their performances with this song. Hearing the chords of the popularly beloved composition, the entire stadium jumped up from their seats - the Pet Shop Boys left the stage triumphant. “Applause turning into ovation. Shouts of "Hurray!" Everyone stands up” - something like this.

Discography: Please (1986) Actually (1987) Introspective (1988) Behavior (1990) Very (1993) Relentless (1993) Alternative (1995) Bilingual (1996) Nightlife (1999) Release (2002)

Before the Pet Shop Boys, Neil Tennant worked as a music journalist and Chris Lowe studied to be an architect. They first met in August 1981 in a musical instrument store, where Neil was buying parts for his synthesizer, and Chris was looking at the shelves, laughing hysterically. It was this abnormally loud laugh that attracted Neil.
Original name the duo was West End, in honor of the elite London area of the same name. To the question “Why was the group called Pet Shop Boys?” Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe answer that they themselves did not work in any pet shops, but they often had fun in one of these London shops where Chris's friends worked.
From the very beginning of their career, the friends determined that they would play electronic music based on Italo disco and electro. So it's not surprising that the band's sound was particularly influenced by Giorgio Moroder, Kraftwerk, Bobby Orlando, New Order and New York club music.
The duo went on their first tour 8 years after their founding, in 1989. The group prepared for real concerts for a long time and carefully, as a result of which their once static performances turned into theatrical shows with scenery, disguises, dancers and so on. Concerts took place in Hong Kong, Japan and the UK.
In 1993, Pet Shop Boys released the album Very, which is considered by many to be the masterpiece of Eurodance of that time. Filming of the international album hit Go West partially took place in our capital, where the musicians were captured walking along Red Square (the Pet Shop Boys were in Moscow at the invitation to the opening of the MTV television broadcast in Russia; the group drove around the city in the former limousine of Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev).
Over the course of their career, the Pet Shop Boys have made numerous covers of songs by other famous musicians, with some of these versions becoming more popular than the originals, such as covers of Elvis Presley's Always On My Mind and Village People Go West.
Pet Shop Boys are known for their fruitful collaborations with other musicians: Dusty Springfield, Liza Minnelli (in 1989 they wrote and recorded the entire Results album for her), the pop group Eighth Wonder (the song I'm Not Scared), Robbie Williams (the songs No Regrets and She's Madonna). In the 1990s, Pet Shop Boys began to remix songs by other artists: Blur - Boys And Girls, David Bowie - Hallo Spaceboy, Yoko Ono - Walking on the Thin Ice, Rammstein - Mein Teil, Madonna - Sorry, The Killers - Read My Mind and so on.
The titles of the Pet Shop Boys compositions tend to be in two polar directions: they are either short, minimalistic titles (Rent, Before, Minimal), or, conversely, long sentence titles (You only tell me you love me when you're drunk, This must be the place I waited years to leave, I don't know what you want but I can't give it anymore, where contrary to practice music industry In song titles, only the first word is capitalized); title-questions are also common. Interestingly, the albums also have one-word names: Please, Release, PopArt and others.
Pet Shop Boys also special attention pay attention to fashion, which is not only reflected in the everyday clothes of musicians, but is also an integral part of their stage image. The role of the dandy is assigned to Tennant, while Lowe prefers a semi-sporty style (baseball caps and sneakers) and projects an aloof image, which he also helps to strengthen with fashionable sunglasses, which he has hardly taken off since the early 90s.

“Pet Shop Boys” - electronic duet with history. They started in the UK in the 1980s and are still going strong. Today, “The Pet Shop Boys” is one of the most successful musical projects in the United Kingdom. And the guys are not going to stop there. On August 19, 1981, Neil Tennat met Chris Lowe in a London music store: This meeting determined the fate of world synth-pop, new wave and all discos combined.

For the first few years of its activity, the group worked hard on its style. New wave, Italo disco and Electonic music. The guys gathered at a good time, when the so-called “Madchester” reigned in England - a new phenomenon that combined a retreat to electronics and the roots of rave culture. In addition, Tennat, who at that time worked as a journalist, managed to visit New York and meet with producer Bobby Orlando. At the same time, the group recorded their first singles, which were later re-released in the UK. In 1985, the single “West End Girls” climbed to the top of the charts in Europe and the USA. The same luck awaited the debut album “Please”.

In 1987, the group’s second album, “Actually,” was released. The guys are blowing up the charts with the songs “It’s a Sin”, “Heart” and the duet with Dusty Springfield “What Have I Done To Deserve This?”. Having released their third album “Introspective”, the group goes on their first tour. In the 1996 BBC documentary About Pet Shop Boys, Tennett refers to this period as the "Imperial Phase".

In the 1990s the group is in search of new musical forms. The result of this is the album “Behaviour” in 1990. Totally conceptual, recorded with chamber orchestra, guitars and synthesizers, it received positive reviews from critics and defined the experimental stage of the group's work.

The 1993 album “Very” is absolutely the opposite of the previous album, which received the status of “eurodance standard”. A number of hits, including “Go West” and “Liberation” entered the top twenty of the British charts. In 1996 the album “Biliguan” was released, in 1999 - “Nightlife”. The group goes on a world tour and performs in Russia for the first time.

Deciding to finally surprise their fans, “Pet Shop Boys” released the acoustic album “Release” in 2002. The beginning of the 2000s for the group - work on remixes, performances and conceptual creativity. The 2006 remix of Madonna’s hit “Sorry” returns the band to the dance format.

In 2009, the group received the Brit Awards for their outstanding contribution to the development of world music. What follows are some outstanding albums. The publication is published musical arrangement ballet “The Most Incredible Thing”, which premiered on March 17, 2011. In 2016, the group released the album “Super”, which took first place in the American “Top Electronic Albums”.

In 1993, during a visit to Moscow on the occasion of filming the “Go West” video, the group drove around the city in M.S.’s limousine. Gorbachev;

The “Go West” motif is used in one of the fan charges of the St. Petersburg football club Zenit;

The first concerts of the 2009 world tour were given in St. Petersburg and Moscow;

Almost all of the band’s albums were designed by artist Mark Farrow, who painted covers for “New Order” and “Happy Mondays”;

Collaborated with a number of famous performers, including David Bowie, Elton John, Madonna, Ricky Martin and many others;

In the Guinness Book of Records the group is presented as the first music project, possessing the largest number singles that reached the Top 40 of the British charts;

In 1994, Neil and Chris came out, although before that they had not commented on rumors about their homosexuality. For a long time the guys were mistakenly considered a couple.