EURYTHMICS
(UK, eighteen Top 40 hits, eight Top 40 albums)

Waitressing is usually a job taken on by the desperate, the unambitious or the poor. Scottish music student Annie Lennox was all three of these when she cleaned tables and served crass and sexist idiots in a London eaterie in the early 70s, hoping for a better world as she struggled through classical college. It arrived one evening when a bearded, drug- crazed scruff asked her to marry him as she served his hors d'oeuvre. She declined, but a personal and professional relationship did begin there and then, setting the standards for one of the most influential, diverse, genuinely gifted and intriguing partnerships of British musical heritage. We would wait ten more years for that - firstly, there were the Tourists to get through - a so-so new wave band who did a bit at the end of the 70s and also split Lennox up with the eccentrically trichological Dave Stewart in terms of bedroom allocation. Crucially, they continued working together in the studio once working out together between the sheets became part of the past, and the result was awe-inspiring.  

 IMAGE

The twosome known as the Eurythmics were so different, not just in gender, but in role too, in that Lennox looked mumsy and playful as she took her hugely ranged voice through many a self-penned ditty, while Stewart remained stoic, bizarrely dressed background fodder, playing on and producing just about everything they did. The breakthrough was in '83 with "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" ("some of them want to use you, some of them want to get used by you") which hit No.2 and introduced the world to this odd couple, made all the odder by Lennox's seemingly weekly image change - punkette, diva, spinster, she-male - you name it, she did it. But the fact will always remain that just the mere mention of a song title is enough to recall the tune in question - the re-released "Love Is A Stranger" ("and I want you, and I want you, and I want you") "Who's That Girl?" ("running around with you");  "Right By Your Side" ("give me so much love that I forget myself") and "Here Comes The Rain Again" ("falling on my head like a memory") took them into '84 and huge stardom, in that they could produce and play the pop without scream factor getting in the way. The most abiding image so far had come on the '84 album "Touch" which pictured a shirtless Lennox with cropped orange-hair, an eyemask and a clasped dual-fist salute parodied and plucked out of the 80s cupboard for many a documentary to this day.  

 UNMATCHABLE

Their ill-advised journey into movie soundtracks "Sex Crime (1984)"  ("whoop-ee-doop-ee-doop-doop-doop, nineteen eighty four") was just that, but '85 saw them back on song, and then some. This was the year where Lennox showed just how adaptable she was. "Would I Lie To You?" ("my friends know what's in store, I won't be here any more") was their hardest tune to date (and remained so) in which Lennox's unmatchable voice raged through a pounding, raucous, Stones-esque rock-out backing from Stewart, yet the next single "There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)" ("I walk into an empty room and suddenly my heart goes boom") allowed Lennox to purr through angelically on what, criminally, was to prove their only UK No.1, additionally featuring Stevie Wonder on the middle- eight harmonica, sparking laughable attempts by Lennox to mime it during TOTP. Finally, as '86 emerged, we got the tempting, coercing Lennox (probably her best vocal style, though she was terrific at them all) on the gently majestic "It's Alright (Baby's Coming Back)" ("and I don't really care where he's been) though just to prove she could do more, the slamming "When Tomorrow Comes" put her into bash out mode, enthrallingly superior vocal on a storming backdrop of headstrong guitars. Every song taught us something new, and Stewart's genius in production allowed Lennox (who was dressing as a man, convincingly) total freedom to display and expand upon a colossal compendium of larynctical stylings, all of which were as perfect as the next. Next up was the last Top 10 hit, the exquisite, sax-drizzled "Thorn In My Side" ("to run away from you is all that I could do"), trailed quickly by the only real bash at all-out serenading in "Miracle Of Love" ("comes your way again") which was their last instantly recognisable single.  

STATURE

From '87 onwards, and with other projects in tow (Stewart produced for just about everyone, Lennox was looking at charity work and familial plans) the Eurythmics' instant commercial stature slipped a little and the tunes were less consumable. Much hanging about between 20 and 30 would occur, with only one more Top 20 offering in "You Have Placed A Chill In My Heart" which sounded the death tolls in '88. They split in '91, releasing what was to be the biggest selling Greatest Hits album in the process, with Stewart, who was still dressing like a glorious idiot, doing instrumental duets ("Lily Was Here") and production, as well as enjoying his marriage to ex-Bananarama jailbait Siobhan Fahey, while Lennox enjoyed a brief but awesome solo career with the phenomenal "Diva" album, had children and worked for homeless charity Shelter. A surprise but welcome comeback in '99 spawned a new era, a new set of intrigued fans and, less than coincidentally, a lifetime achievement award at the BRITS, all of which proved that they are still nonchalantly capable of drawing a keen ear. It could have been so much worse had they stayed together as a couple as well as a duo.

Biggest Hit: "There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)", No.1, 1985
Defining Moment: The "Touch" cover.

Matt