Cutting Crew

Cutting Crew are an English band formed in 1985. Singer and songwriter Nick Van Eede (born Nicholas Eede)and guitarist guitarist Kevin MacMichael made demos that led to a recording contract, before bassist Colin Farley and drummer Martin Beedle joined in 1986.

Their first album, Broadcast, was released on Virgin Records in 1986. Their debut song, “(I Just) Died in Your Arms”, provided the first US hit for Virgin as a full-fledged label. Cutting Crew, the unknown band shot to No. 1 in the major US market, as well as smaller markets such as Canada and Norway, with their debut single. The single peaked at No. 4 in UK Singles Chart, as well as becoming a hit in Switzerland and South Africa. It went to No. 2 in Sweden and Ireland, and No. 9 in Austria.

Cutting Crew’s follow-up single, “I’ve Been In Love Before”, spent only three weeks in the UK Top 40, peaking at No. 31. Next song, “One for the Mockingbird”, was a relative commercial disappointment on both sides of the Atlantic, just cracking the Top 40 of the Hot 100 at No. 38 and hNo. 29 on the Mainstream Rock chart in the US, No. 47 in Canada and No. 52 in the UK Singles Chart.

The band took a chance on “I’ve Been in Love Before” again, this time with greater success. The song became Cutting Crew’s second US Top 10 on the Hot 100, peaking at No. 9, and was their first major hit on the US Adult Contemporary chart, where it peaked at No. 4. This success prompted a UK re-release, and this time it spent five weeks in the UK Singles Chart Top 40, peaking at No. 24. and it peaked at No. 8 in Canada. Cutting Crew received a Grammy nomination as the Best New Artist of 1987.

Cutting Crew’s second album, The Scattering, was eleased in early 1989. Its lead single, “(Between a) Rock and a Hard Place”, failed to reach the Top 40. Van Eede’s vocal style, however, did score a US Adult Contemporary hit with “Everything But My Pride.” That song peaked at No. 4 and stayed in the top 50 for 22 weeks. The prophetically named “The Last Thing” scaled the AC charts as high as No. 17 and has been their final chart hit to date. Although a video for the title track did air briefly in the UK and North America, The Scattering failed to chart.

Farley and Beedle left the group in 1991, and were not replaced. Cutting Crew’s third album, Compus Mentus, released in 1992. In 2003, Van Eede formed the group Grinning Souls that released the album Capture in 2005. The following year, Nick Van Eede decided to re-release the album under the title “Grinning Souls!, time crediting the work to Cutting Crew. Van Eede was the only original Cutting Crew member in the group. Nick Van Eede continues to lead a version of Cutting Crew that plays live gigs. The band’s official site states that a new Cutting Crew studio album “Add To Favourites” is awaiting a 2014 release. Source: Wikipedia.org Photo: Mattlegg42